SS 142 – Where do supplements come from with Nickel & Dime Supp Club
Episode 142 Show Notes
Grant and Heavey are joined today by Ben Harris and Michael Giangregorio, founders of the Nickel & Dime Supplement Club, as they talk about the business of supplements and what specifically makes them different. Also, they tackle the issue of sperm count.
This show is once again brought to you by State and Liberty, makers of outstanding quality tailored shirts for athletes. Heavey refers to it as “your favorite dress shirt made with your favorite workout shirt material.”
[01:43] Is Your Sperm Count in Trouble?
Grant reveals studies have found that in just the last 40 years in western countries including North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, that sperm counts have plummeted by over 50%. And in those countries named, the figure is at 59.3%. This study has taken tens of thousands of people and using the meta- analysis of previous studies as well to verify the findings. This is basically a massive concern (of Grant’s for the most part.)
[04:35] The Biz of Selling Supplements
The reason Michael and Ben are here on the show today is they’re soon starting their own business selling supplements. They are frustrated with the supplement industry as a whole. They think they’re so unaffordable, especially just the multivitamins or key nutrients you need to achieve your fitness goals.
So they came up with the Nickel & Dime Supplement Club where they make buying supplements way more convenient and much more affordable. People can sign up to be a member for free. They can then build they custom supplement box with whatever items they need to achieve their goals. They make sure they walk you through the process. Then they ship it for free monthly to your door. All pill products cost $7 and all powdered products are $15. This saves you from having to go to a supplement store to buy your products.
[05:45] Frustration with Pre-Workout Supplements
Michael and Ben were initially frustrated with pre-workout supplements, where some of them can make you sick. People’s bodies react differently to what you put in it. But they noticed some of the major companies had proprietary blends looking at their supplement facts. But they won’t tell you what’s in it.
The more research they’ve done, they found out they were putting fillers in their products. Then they’ll jack it up with caffeine and cheap ingredients. They give you the energy rush but you’re really just putting complete trash in your body. Although there are a couple good products out there, most are bad. Seeing this gap, they decided to bridge this in a commoditized market.
[07:25] What’s Hiding Underneath the Blend?
Heavey points out the question whether whey isolates come from the same source. Michael explains there are a couple factors to this. Essentially, it’s all coming from the same couple of places. The same holds true for multivitamins. For example, one company would take somebody else’s exact ingredient list and maybe add 10% of your daily value of Vitamin K. So they add in something that’s not needed for your multivitamin and they’ll make it their own blend. So you’re trying to hide your ingredient list underneath the blend but it is all coming from the same place. And it’s a selling point for a lot of these companies. They hide their ingredients saying they have such unique blend nobody else has where essentially it’s just a filler, which means half of those just go right through your body and you don’t absorb anything.
[09:00] Who Manufactures These Supplements?
Michael and Ben explain there are a lot of manufacturers overseas. The product may be shipped to a middleman testing the product then they’re selling it to these companies. They had samples of different products from all over the globe. They knew that at the end of the day they wanted to keep it domestic.
[09:40] Puke Guy
Ben says he’d never sell something to the public that he never took himself. He adds how we’re all putting stuff in our body not knowing what it is. But the taste itself has an effect on your body. Michael reveals Ben went into CrossFit for the first time and threw up 10 minutes in. He did CrossFit for a month thinking he wanted to incorporate cardio. He has never done it before so he took a preworkout. He felt so light-headed and grew pale. When they did medicine ball slams, he stopped, hunched over, and sprinted outside. It wasn’t a shock that the gym named him “puke guy.”
[13:15] Testing the Samples
Michael walks us through their process of testing their samples. And it starts before they get the sample. When they look at the manufacturers that they’re going to be receiving samples from, they follow this certain list of criteria. They have to make sure they have all their certifications. Before they even get the sample, they determine what company they want to use. They want to make sure their product testing process is rock solid and that they’re testing it more than once. If companies are preaching price point and fast production time, it’s already a red flag for them immediately. This means they’re not taking extra time to make sure the product is safe and consistent every time. Shelf-life is another huge factor. Ben explains that as soon as the seal is broken and the Desi-Pak is taken out of the fresh pack, some of them clump up within weeks. He adds it’s hard to pinpoint the reason for that. But they want something that can sit on the shelf a little bit. They also make sure it’s stored in a climate that’s controlled. That’s why you see a lot of labels saying that you need to store them in a cool area.
[15:45] Supplements and FDA
Supplements belong in that weird gray area that the FDA doesn’t really have much of a say. That’s why these companies can pull off having proprietary blends and not tell you what’s in it. Ben explains the facilities are FDA-approved but the product itself is not FDA-approved. So generally, products that have to be regulated through that process are prescription drugs. And when it comes to workout supplements, anybody can outsource something overseas where you don’t have any idea where that comes from, not to mention, whether they have certifications and anything beyond pricing. Michael says that in their products sampled, every single manufacturer has the stamp of approval from the FDA in the United States.
[17:55] Heavy Metal Testing
Michael and Ben sampled 30 domestic manufacturers in the process. Most of them have the same base set of certifications. Some went above and beyond and tested for things that may not be necessarily required such as heavy metal testing.
One of the manufacturers they reviewed tested heavy metals, pesticides, and allergens every single time. Their manufacturer sends out a report to them for each new batch before the products are shipped out.
[19:33] Selling Point Red Flags
Ben explains that if you’re looking into the supplements industry, there are so many middlemen to the middlemen. There’s a couple in New Mexico where their price plan was crazy low and their production time was so fast. So they didn’t think it sounded right. Apparently, there’s only a select few of actual manufacturers that jump in and lead with their testing. Again, it was a red flag for Ben to have price and production time as a selling point. He wants to be sold on the quality, their testing standards, and their process.
[20:17] How Do You Ensure Quality?
Grant illustrates one trick many manufacturers do where they buy components overseas and then assemble the product in the U.S. That way, they can say it’s made in the U.S. Therefore, how can consumers ensure that the components themselves come from quality manufacturers?
Michael stresses this is part of the issue that’s why they’re going through the entire process of knowing where the product is coming from. He adds that if you were to buy a protein, you need to be asking what are the selling points for that company? What are they telling you about their product that makes it better than the others?
Heavey cites Labdoor as one company that ships off the supplements and does their independent testing on them to find out if there are any trace metals showing up in that supplement. So as consumers, we’re getting more tools but we’ve been flying blind for a long time just having to trust what the companies tell us.
[23:00] Pre-Workout Custom Blend
Nickel & Dime is coming up with a custom blend pre-workout supplement and the ingredients will be fully listed on all of their labels. They’re not going to hide their ingredient list. They get to select the constituents in their pre-workout supplement.
Ben explains they have a general consensus of what they want in their supplement. Although there was a personal preference to some degree, they wanted to take out a little bit of caffeine. As a result, there’s less trash. A lot of people still include the beta-alanine and amino acids to give you a little bit of itch so they wanted to have that as well as some ingredients to get you pumped up like Carnitine and Tyrosine. So all of those are pretty much in every single pre-workout supplement but within different moderations up and down. Everything will be listed out top to bottom. What they wanted was any competitive advantage they thought could keep the taste and make it different. Currently, they’re tweaking with some different flavoring options. As they continue to expand, they’re coming up with more products and more flavors.
[26:07] Heavey’s Position on Multivitamins
Grant brings up Brandon’s take on multivitamins in that no one needs a multivitamin and everyone needs to see what their body requires and just supplement with that one thing rather than throwing everything against the wall.
Heavey’s position is based on the shotgun approach to multivitamins. Oftentimes, there are vitamins and minerals we can have an excess in our body and people will find themselves get into trouble especially supplementing with things like iron and calcium. And if not monitored properly and if not tested in their blood level, this could cause problems over a long time.
[27:17] Why They’re Selling Multivitamins
Ben explains that they are a business and multivitamins are the most purchased products when it comes to supplements. He adds that everybody has a different lifestyle. A lot of people are doing a corporate America job and sitting down. They’re probably not getting enough sunlight a lot. They’re eating burgers and fries for lunch. They’re skipping dinner and breakfast, whatever. That said, Ben thinks many Americans are probably not getting the necessary vitamins everyday.
Moreover, he brings to light the fact that different companies put massive amounts of vitamins into their product. Michael and Ben don’t want to go too eccentric. They seek to supplement people’s daily lifestyle and not for them to rely on their pills to give them the necessary vitamins they need everyday. He can’t stress enough the fact that you need to be eating right and drinking your water as well as a host of other things. For him, companies that focus on vitamins throw thousands of percentage of your daily value in there as a selling point and people rely on that too much.
[29:50] Raving for Fish Oil
Another popular product they’re offering is fish oil. As for Michael and Ben, being business majors and seeing the problem in the supplement industry, they try to identify what products do people want and they get to tell their manufacturers what kind of product they want.
They think fish oil is a very popular supplement and they found companies that are doing a great job. They looked through their ingredient list and did their back checks. Then they send it out to a manufacturer and tell them how they want their fish oil to look like.
So they’re not having their manufacturers send out different multivitamin formulas and see the best of that. That’s not how it works for them. They trust what their manufacturer is sending them and what their ingredient list is. But they also test it to make sure people don’t get sick from it.
[32:22] How to Sign Up
If you’re interested in what they have to offer, check out their website Nickel & Dime Supplement Club and their Facebook page to know about when they’re launching. They’re writing blogs about fitness and health. They’re also running a couple of giveaways to followers within their email list. Keep an eye out for their upcoming videos and commercials in a couple of weeks!
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Check out the gear page for everything Strength & Scotch! You’ll find a listing of all the supplements and other programs we’ve discussed on the show as well as our killer t-shirts!