A big thumbs up for Bio-gro!
Isatori Bio-Gro Review: Bio-Active Peptides!
How do I feel about Isatori’s Bio-Gro? Lemme see…
I’ve been reviewing bodybuilding and weight loss products on UltimateFatBurner.com for over 15 years now, so at this stage in the game it’s rare that anything gets me excited. And to be honest, when I prepared to try the product personally before doing this Bio-Gro review, I wasn’t exactly “chomping at the bit.”
But as you’ll find out I was pleasantly surprised, and it has become one of my main “go to” supplements now.
Bio-Gro Contains 1 Ingredient!
And it’s bioactive peptides, extracted from colostrum – presumably bovine, although it is not mentioned on the label.
This extract yields proline rich peptides, various growth factors like IGF-1 (insulin like growth factor) and others, plus immunoglobins, lactoferrin and Fibroblast-GF (Fibroblast Growth Factors are vital to normal development, tissue maintenance and wound repair.)
Bio Active Peptides Occur Naturally in Whey Protein
Anybody who’s taken a whey protein powder has consumed bioactive peptides in small amounts. They occur naturally in whey, although you are normally limited by how much of them you can actually consume – both by the number of protein shakes you consume and by the amount of that protein your body actually utilizes.
Additionally, it’s pretty costly to try to obtain optimal levels of bio-active peptides from your whey protein.
Bio-Gro changes that; it’s a mass market, readily available bioactive peptide product that offers them in a dosage potent enough to actually *do* something.
According to Isatori, one small scoop (1.5 grams) provides the same amount of bio-active peptides as that found in a standard, 25 gram scoop of whey protein concentrate.
Cool huh?
Let’s start this review off by talking about Bio-Gro, biopeptides and colostrum.
Colostrum is a type of milk made by mammals late in the pregnancy. It’s different than regular milk in that it contains more protein, less fat, and more importantly, anti-bodies, peptides, growth factors and immune cells… among other things.
Not surprisingly, colostrum has been used by athletes before.
What Do Scientific Studies Say about Colostrum?
While Bio-Gro is a bio-active peptide supplement derived from colostrum, much of the evidence that supports its effectiveness as a supplement is derived from studies based on colostrum itself. So, we gotta talk about colostrum.
And those study results, while beneficial, have been mixed.
This one, “The effects of bovine colostrum supplementation on body composition and exercise performance in active men and women” suggested colostrum supplementation aids in the development of lean muscle mass.
Another study, performed on runners, showed colostrum did not improve performance, but it did improve recovery.
And to muddy the waters further, this study showed no improvement in body composition or endurance, although it did improve “sprint performance.” (This study was performed on elite field hockey players).
Other studies show that long term supplementation of colostrum can elevate serum IGF-I and saliva IgA (an antibody that’s involved in mucosal immunity) concentration during training. An elevated level of IGF-1 is important because of its role in muscle development.
Studies also showed benefits not related to sports performance.
However, colostrum’s benefits are not strictly related to athletic performance; this study shows that it helps boost immune response in elite athletes as well and this one shows it helps NSAID induced gut damage. It’s also been successfully used to treat chronic diarrhea in HIV patients.
At this point it should be fairly obvious to you that supplementing with colostrum is largely beneficial, even if there’s some discrepancy with the science pertaining to its “athletic” benefits.
Let’s get back to the Bio-Gro Review.
The first point worth making is that Bio-Gro is not colostrum.
It’s a engineered extract of colostrum.
Accordingly, the first questions you should be asking are…
“Have there been studies performed on the Bio-Gro formula itself? Or are all its benefits being extrapolated from existing colostrum research?”
Those are good questions.
Obviously much of the supporting science is being extrapolated from existing research, but the good news is that Isatori has funded a 4-week double blind study of Bio-Gro (you can view that study here). Not surprisingly – given what the research already shows – it demonstrated that Bio-Gro has potent recovery characteristics. To this end, it concluded…
“Untrained individuals are especially susceptible to fatigue and soreness following exercise and often warrant extended recovery time at the onset of a training program. The current results suggest that supplementing with BAPs during the early phase of a training program may aid in reducing the recovery time between bouts of strenuous exercise. By encouraging faster recovery, BAP supplementation [Bio-Gro™] may promote earlier adaptations to training (i.e., increased strength and training volume) as compared to training without supplementation.”
The study also demonstrated some significant strength benefits inlcuding a 17% greater increase in IRM strength and a 16% greater increase in muscle thinkness Vs. the placebo group.
My Own Experience with Bio-Gro
The recovery element of the study certainly echoes my own experience with the product.
After trying the first tub, I immediately fell in love with the product and have been taking it ever since. For me, it is absolutely amazing for recovery. I’m in my forties, have been training pretty hard for more than two decades, and a really intense workout will pretty much wipes me out on the following day.
Not when I take Bio-Gro.
I haven’t noticed that I’m any bigger or stronger, but my diet isn’t tuned in at the moment and as an experienced lifter, there isn’t anything on the planet (anything legal that is) that’s going to pack slabs of muscle on my frame overnight. That said, I’ve gone from doing my 1RM on the bench “every once in a while” to once per week with no problems, and that makes me pretty happy.
I take 2-4 scoops per day.
Of course, since my experience is anecdotal, I had Sumi Singh, a personal trainer based out of Austin, Texas and a regular contributor to UltimateFatBurner.com also experiment with Bio-Gro, just to see if her experience correlated with mine. Sumi’s i her late 30’s, is a personal trainer, group fitness trainer and diet coach and pretty much trains from morning ’til night, every single day.
Here’s what she had to say…
“I’ve been pretty happy with the products from Isatori that Paul has had me sample for UltimateFatBurner.com. This was the case with Bio Gro. Thankfully, this was the one rare supplements I’ve tried that not only tasted good mixed in with yogurt and protein shakes, it even tasted good straight up. Almost like powdered milk.
I can’t say I experienced all the purported benefits, like an increase in lean body mass (LBM) or strength, but I most definitely felt that I recovered faster between hard workouts. There are probably a few
reasons why I may not have seen some of the other benefits (i.e.,strength and increase in LBM):One, I’m a woman and I’ve been training for many years; after a certain time it’s harder for a very experienced (I’m 38), already lean female trainee (somewhere around 17% BF) to add much muscle mass and strength, at least not in the very short time I sampled it and two, I have a very, very heavy training load outside my own weight training- I lead several very intense cardio/plyometric classes (6/week), I’m on my feet all day long as a personal trainer, and I’m also a single mom- so I pretty much have to go until I drop.
For me to add much muscle or strength is a tall order.
It’s entirely possible that running the cycle of BioGro beyond the initial trial period (3 weeks), or perhaps doubling the dosage might have yielded a different result (I followed one for a woman under 150 lbs, so perhaps I should have taken more to see if that made a difference).
But one thing was pretty clear, my legs, which are normally trashed by Thursday (given leg day and all the classes I teach on Monday-Wednesday) felt a lot LESS trashed when I took BioGro. I didn’t change anything about my diet (like eat more) or supplement with anything else that might have confounded my mini-self study.
I simply took the the BioGro and proceeded with business as usual. For the duration that I was on it, my legs felt a lot fresher and stronger, which to me makes Bio Gro worth another shot!”
Bio-Gro Review Conclusion and Recommendation
The ultimate recovery supplement?
Isatori advertises Bio-Gro as “fertilizer” for your muscles and claims it can help you both build muscle and recover from workouts more quickly.
My personal opinion – based upon my review of the clinical data and my own experience with the product – which is anecdotal as you know – is that Bio-Gro ROCKS when it comes to recovery.
Seriously, the more over 30 you are and the harder you train, the more you’re gonna love this stuff.
It really is the bomb.
Personally, I noticed nothing in the muscle building department, but to be fair, I was taking only taking a maximum of 4 scoops per day, and that’s on the low side, given my 250 lbs.
If I double the dosage I may have a greater likelihood of experiencing some lean muscle growth, but the one time I did try to “up” the dose I experiences some significant “intestinal rumblings” so I dropped it back down again.
At the end of the day, I feel pretty good about recommending Bio-Gro.
I absolutely love the stuff, and while both my and Sumi’s experiences are 100% anecdotal and do not constutitue evidence of anything, there is certainly plenty of positive clinical data to support some beneficial effects of bioactive peptides related to exercise.
As usual, all products ordered direct from Isatori come with a 100% satisfaction or your money back guarantee, so you don’t really have much to lose, if you order direct!
Simply return the empty container for a full refund.
But I doubt you will. This is an awesome product.
