Review: USP Labs Pink Magic "Test" Booster

"As legend has it, the Pink Magic formula was sitting in CEO Jacob Geissler's office for over a year, untouched & hidden, as it was delivered while away on business & lost in the shuffle...

Once discovered, USPlabs employee/product tester extraordinaire & workout freak Joe Simone was given a bottle and all was forgotten...

...Remember, dozens of herbs are tested per year with just a select few making the cut...

Then Joe's email hit our inbox – "Ok, you guys need to come clean. What the %^*!'s in these pink pills & how can I get more?" writes Joe "rapid vascularity, balloon-like muscle fullness with real, all day pumps, sick recovery, crazy strong & a feeling like no-other."

...And the name USPlabs Pink Magic was born.."

Ok, lemme see if I've got this straight: the Pink Magic pilot formula was developed to the point where a physical product was actually manufactured and delivered... but everyone—including the CEO—somehow forgot all about it. And for over a year, no less.

Uh-huh. Yep. Sure. Right. If you're credulous enough to believe this whimsical little tale, then please get in touch with me. There's a bridge in Manhattan I'd like to sell you. To paraphrase Vizzini from "The Princess Bride," it's inconceivable!

But I hear what you're saying... "it's marketing. Everybody does it, so whatever... right? It's all part of the (*wink-wink*) show!"

Sorry kids, but from where I sit, companies willing to invent improbable "legends," might also be willling to invent other stories too. You should be on the alert whenever you see a "red flag" like this waving from the mast of the USS Bulls**t.

And that's the kindest interpretation: it would be infinitely worse if this story was actually true.

Seriously: it makes USP Labs' product development team look like the industry-equivalent of the Keystone Kops or Three Stooges.

How could they simply "forget" about a formula this close to being realized... while working in a company where only "a select few" herbs ever make "the cut" in the first place?

Earth to USP Labs: leave the obtuse act to the directors of Disney movies and "chick flicks." When your reputation is on the line, acting ditzy and clueless isn't a virtue.

In the real world, a blunder of this magnitude would be a firing offense.

But I digress...

Dumb ad hype aside, is there anything in Pink Magic that might be useful for boosting strength performance, recovery and/or mass gains? Let's crack open those rugged-looking pink pills to find out:

As you can see, Pink Magic consists of a blend of three herbals. On the plus side: it's simple. In addition, one dose delivers a fairly hefty 1.6g. If you follow the directions and take 3 (non-training)–4 (training) daily servings, you'll be consuming approx. 5g–6g per day. At that rate, a container won't last very long, but at least USP Labs can't be accused of being stingy.

What it can be accused of, however, is creating a formula that's preferentially viewed through pink rose-colored glasses. The write up is looooong on promises and short on solid evidence. Here's the lowdown on each component:

Massularia acuminate: M. acuminate is a traditional medicinal plant used as an aphrodisiac. The claim that it boosts testosterone rests on a single, Nigerian study in rats. Of course, rats aren't people. Beyond that, some seriously WHOPPING doses of extract were used. USP Labs points out, correctly, that:

"...an aqueous extract of the plant was shown to increase serum luteinizing hormone and testicular testosterone levels by approximately 66% and 60%, respectively, relative to controls, after 3 weeks of administration in the highest dose group (1)."

But what the company doesn't point out, is that the highest dose group received 1000mg/kg extract per day!

A human equivalent dose (HED) of extract for a 60kg (132 pound) person would be 9729mg (9.7g). Needless to state, this is a lot more than what you get in Pink Magic.

Now, it's possible that the lowest dose used in the study (250mg/kg or 2437mg/d HED), could be present, but this amount boosted T by only 12%—not nearly enough of an increase to send "...dozens & dozens of testers screaming for more." (emphasis in the original)

Even worse, the researchers used an aqueous extract made from fresh local plants for their study. Is the M. acuminate used by USP Labs comparable? Is it also an extract, or is it just dried (fibrous) plant material? Was it standardized for any active principle(s)? Could the active compounds in the plant have been damaged by processing?

Who knows?

Nelumbo nucifera: This herb is also known as "Sacred Lotus," which is used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat sunstroke, fever, indigestion and insomnia. Both the leaves and the seeds possess antioxidant activity. Lotus extracts also exert hypoglycemic effects, as well as anti-obesity effects in mice and rats.

Ok then. So what role could it possibly play in a bodybuilding supplement?

Well, according to USP Labs, Nelumbo nucifera contains phosphodiesterase inhibitors, that could, theoretically, boost cAMP and cGMP in tissues... which could, theoretically, have anticatabolic effects and produce a "positive protein balance" in skeletal muscle.

Suffice it to say, the data supporting the claimed phosphodiesterase inhibition is pretty darned limited. And NONE of it is in humans. Thus, NONE of it provides any direct support for the far-reaching claims USP Labs is making.

To be sure, it's obvious that Lotus contains biologically active compounds. Certainly, herbs like N. nucifera, that enhance glucose disposal, might be useful for trainees consuming pre-/post-workout carbs. But there are already plenty of effective agents on the market for this... this isn't a reason to prefer Pink Magic.

Rhamnus nakaharai: This is a traditional medicinal plant used to treat "constipation, inflammation, tumors, and asthma." Specific components have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. In particular, one compound, 3-O-methylquercetin, has been shown to competitively inhibit phosphodiesterases 3/4 in-vitro. Thus, the cAMP/cGMP-boosting claims noted above apply to R. nakaharai as well as N. nucifera.

And so do the problems with those claims... of the 8 abstracts I found in PubMed on R. nakaharai, all but one involved research on isolated animal cells or tissues. And in the one experiment performed on mice, the 3-O-methylquercetin was administered via intraperitoneal injection (i.p.)—it was not given orally.

So what does the (scanty) research record tell us about the benefits of supplementing with R. nakaharai?

Here's your answer: nada, zip, zero... NOTHING.

Unfortunately, this is an answer that can be extended to Pink Magic itself. Scientifically-speaking, there's no "there," there. Sure, herbal extracts are quite capable of exerting physiological effects, but it's a real stretch to assume those effects will help you in the gym.

I'm sorry: there are USP Labs products that I like, but Pink Magic doesn't look like one of them. Potential purchasers are—in effect—being asked to take a product like this on faith, with little research, test results, or other hard data to back up the claims.

USP Labs' "proof" consists of a few carefully selected testimonials and a pile of papers subjected to extrapolation abuse.

If the authors of studies such as "Prevention of nitroglycerin tolerance in vitro by T0156, a selective phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor" understood the claims their work was being used to support, I have a feeling they'd be screaming in protest.

Ok, disclaimer time: I can't prove a negative... while I certainly have my doubts, none of the above can be taken as conclusive evidence that Pink Magic doesn't work.

As the saying goes, "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." But what should be clear is that—based on the available research—the claims made for Pink Magic are a lot like cotton candy: sweet, light, fluffy... and mostly full of air. The name says it all: only someone prone to magical thinking could find USP Labs' pitch persuasive.

Caveat emptor.

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