Review: USP Labs PowerFULL

Posted By elissa on Nov 29, 2010 | 0 comments

“Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, you’ve certainly seen the overwhelming media attention over Pro athletes & entertainers doing everything they can to increase their Human Growth Hormone (HGH)…It almost seems like if you don’t, you’ve got no shot against everyone who is…”

What? I guess I have been living under a rock, since I didn’t realize that I was supposed to be competing with pro athletes and entertainers! Of course, if I was planning to do that, I’d probably do the same thing they do—head for a compliant “anti-aging” clinic and get hGH injections. We certainly know it can work… at least for older adults whose growth hormone production has declined with age. Injections suck, but what other alternatives do the rich and famous (and wannabes) have?

For the record, I’ve heard of very few pro athletes & entertainers who rely on over-the-counter oral GH supps instead of the real thing. Perhaps they know something we don’t? After all, if supps worked just as well as hGH injections, it would be an option worth exploring, no? Taking a supplement would certainly be simpler, cheaper and waaay more convenient, even for a celebrity with money to burn.

Ah well, maybe guys like Sly just haven’t stumbled across PowerFULL yet. According to USP Labs’, PowerFULL is a GH-inducing powerhouse.

Ya think all those “pro athletes & entertainers” would agree? Is PowerFULL really a viable substitute for hGH therapy… as USP Labs implies? To answer that question, let’s take a look at the label:

The Ingredients in PowerFULL

Amount per Serving
Proprietary Blend – 750mg
(Chlorophytum Borivilianum (Root), Velvet Bean (Bean))

As you can see, PowerFULL has a pretty simple formula: there are just two herbal ingredients. This isn’t a negative, however. In fact, simplicity can be a virtue when it comes to supplements… although, of course, the devil always lies in the details.

So let’s dig into those details, starting with the Chlorophytum borivilianum… or “Safed Musli” as it’s more popularly known.

Safed musli is an Ayurvedic herb, the roots of which are credited with aphrodisiac and immunostimulating properties. Several steroidal saponins, dubbed “borivilianosides,” have been identified in samples.

In addition, the roots contain triterpenoidal saponins, sapogenins, polysaccharides, alkaloids, vitamins and minerals.

Safed musli is certainly an intriguing plant, although what’s known about it pales beside what isn’t known.

For all its apparent value as a medicinal herb, there are only a few, scattershot studies available to support the claims USP Labs is making for it.

All the studies I found were either in-vitro, or small trials performed on mice/rats.

In-vitro studies suggest that safed musli has antioxidant activity.

Rodent studies using various extracts demonstrate that it may reduce stress, boost libido and sperm count, improve immune response, inhibit tumor growth, improve lipid metabolism and relieve diabetes-induced sexual dysfunction.

So far so good, but whether it does any of these things in humans is an open question… we have only anecdotes to go on.

An equally open question is how well the Chlorophytum borivilanum in PowerFULL stacks up to the root powders and/or non-commercial extracts used in the studies linked above. Although USP Labs’ ads discuss various compounds, there’s no indication that the preparation used in the formula is standardized for any of them.

Lastly, consider this: there are aphrodisiac herbs/extracts aplenty on the market. Think Tribulus terrestris, tongkat ali, maca, horny goat weed, muira puama, fenugreek, yohimbe and so on. Yet how many have actually been shown to be strength/mass boosters in reliable, peer-reviewed studies?

Ahem. Let’s just say that the record isn’t real encouraging.

There’s nuthin’ wrong with sex supps per se, but—at this point in time—it’s a stretch to assume that better performance in the bedroom will translate into better performance in the gym.

There are mechanisms—such as PDE-5 inhibition—that can enhance an erection, yet do nothing to boost testosterone (T). But even if an herbal supp does increase T… it’s highly unlikely that the boost will be sufficient to trigger any real improvements in muscle mass. As bodybuilding guru Will Brink wrote recently:

“Here’s a simple thought experiment: If you take a small amount of testosterone, say 25mg per week of T-propionate, will your testosterone levels go up slightly for a short time? Yes. Will your muscle mass increase and or your strength increase? Nope. Anyone who has ever taken any T – or knows the first thing about the topic – knows there’s a threshold dose at which one actually experiences changes in body composition and or strength.

The point being, it’s one thing to show formula/ingredient X has had some small impact on serum testosterone (and most have not…), quite another to show that change actually had any effects on body composition or other end points people using such products generally care about, such as increases in strength and muscle mass.

As with any hormone, there’s a physiological threshold that has to be met before it actually impacts muscle mass, strength, etc.”

So, to make a long story short(er), there’s little proof that safed musli will do anything to boost testosterone to the point where it might assist with strength/mass gains. Nor is there any data to suggest it will boost GH, at least independently.

Ok, so what about the velvet bean?

Velvet bean (aka Mucuna pruriens) is a tropical legume used as a food, feedstock and traditional medicine. In the latter capacity, it’s been credited with aphrodisiac, anti-stress and fertility-enhancing effects. It is also used as an alternative treatment for Parkinson’s disease, as it’s a naturally-occurring source of l-dopa—precursor to the neurotransmitter dopamine.

Beyond its therapeutic uses, l-dopa has been used experimentally as a “challenge” to test for defects in the ability to produce growth hormone. In one study cited by USP Labs, 500mg oral l-dopa produced significant increases in circulating GH. This finding has been replicated in other studies as well.

On the surface, this would seem to validate USP Labs’ contention that PowerFULL is a potent GH secretagogue. And since hGH administration is associated with fat loss and improved body composition, it would seem that this one’s a no-brainer, right?

Well, hold on a sec… there’s a bit of a problem.

For one thing, we have no idea how much velvet bean—or l-dopa—is in a dose of PowerFULL. Is it an extract… or is it just the bean powder?

Based on the label, it would appear to be the latter.

For the record, mature velvet bean seeds have been estimated to contain 3%–7% l-dopa. That’s not much, from a pharmaceutical and nutraceutical perspective.

Unless USP Labs is actually using a fairly concentrated, standardized extract, it would seem that the dose in PowerFULL isn’t nearly powerful enough to deliver increases in GH similar to those seen in the cited studies.

Even if it is, however, there’s still a stumbling block… as alluded to above, there isn’t a shred of hard proof that GH secretagogue supplements can induce human body composition changes similar to those obtained with hGH therapy.

Transient elevations in serum GH are one thing; significant improvements in body composition are quite another. It would be nice if we could draw a straight line between the two, but this has yet to be proven.

The Bottom Line

So much for the ingredients in PowerFULL.

What can we conclude from the above discussion?

Judging from the limited science, as well as the traditional uses/reputations of the ingredients, PowerFULL looks a lot more like a “male enhancement” product than one that will significantly boost strength and/or muscle gains. Some adaptogenic activity might also be in the cards: safed musli is classified as a “Rasayana” drug in Ayurveda so it’s conceivable that it could reduce stress and enhance post-workout recovery.

I think it’s reasonable to conclude—at the very least—PowerFULL is fairly safe. And—barring potential contaminants—PowerFULL could even have some desirable effects.

What’s questionable, however, is whether any of them include improved performance in the gym and/or enhanced body composition. You pays your money and you takes your chances.