Transparent Labs Review - 18 Things You Need to Know

There are certainly many supplement companies out there, but this week our attention was caught by a company called Transparent Labs. Transparent Labs offers supplements for athletes looking to build more muscle and cut fat. They also sell a couple of weight loss supplements.

Transparent Labs says that they want to “live up to [their] name” by disclosing all of the information about their supplements. One of our first concerns was the lack of transparency about the company itself or the people behind it. In addition to researching the company, our team also examined the ingredients they use and possible side effects. Then, we condensed their many hours of research into this informative review that gives you just the information you need to know.

Transparent Labs can be purchased through their Official Site.

What is Transparent Labs?

Transparent Labs is a company that makes supplements designed for athletes and people seeking weight loss support. Their products include supplements in the following categories:

• Pre Series
• Protein Series
• Strength Series
• Core Series
• Physique Series
• Mind Series
• Wellness Series
• Raw Series
• Gear
• Uncut Protein Bars

They also offer products in stacks to achieve specific fitness goals, like cutting fat and building lean muscle tissue.

A quote on the home page of the company’s website says they picked the name Transparent Labs for the company because they disclose 100% of the ingredients that go into each supplement.

What does science say about some of those ingredients?

• Obesity Research – A study showed that coleus forskohlii might have a positive impact on fat loss. The study involved 30 overweight and obese men and took place over a 12-week period. At the end of the study, the researchers concluded that “Oral ingestion of forskolin (250 mg of 10% forskolin extract twice a day) for a 12-week period was shown to alter body composition favorably.”
• CNS Spectrums – Dopamine helps regulate mood and is released by the brain’s reward center. So, a supplement that includes mucuna pruriens, a source of L-DOPA, may boost your mood while you exercise, but it isn’t likely to do much else. However, there’s no proof that consuming mucuna pruriens can even do that.
• Physiology & Behavior – A study showed that consuming red pepper does promote thermogenesis. It may even reduce appetite. However, the researchers also discovered that the effects are only temporary. The body builds up a tolerance to the substance, and the effects diminish.

Transparent Labs Competitors

Transparent Labs BCAA Glutamine and Other Products

Transparent Labs offers a wide variety of supplements. While we can’t name them all here, their best sellers include:

• BCAA Glutamine
• Creatine HMB
• Bulk
• 100% Grass-Fed Whey Protein Isolate

They also offer a couple of fat burning supplements:

• Fat Burner Thermogenic Dietary Supplements
• Fat Burner Stim-Free Dietary Supplement

Scroll below for one of the best products we’ve seen over the last year.

How Did Transparent Labs Start?

For being a company that prides itself on transparency, Transparent Labs isn’t very forthcoming with information about the company itself. There isn’t even an “about us” link on their homepage. Their “contact us” page offers only an email address. There’s no indication of where the company is based.

In searching for more information about the company, our research team did run across a hidden “about us” page for the company. But, even that page doesn’t say anything about the company. It only reiterates their claims to use high-quality, effective ingredients.

The company was co-founded by Trevor Hiltbrand, which we only know because the quote on the home page comes from him. Trevor Hiltbrand once pitched a product called Cerebral Success on the television show Shark Tank.

Though the sharks hated his hokey fake college professor pitch, shark Barbara Corcoran ultimately funded Hiltbrand’s product. In an article she wrote posted on LinkedIn, Corcoran says she bought into the product because she could see that Hiltbrand “knew the prevalence and danger of college kids popping un-prescribed Adderall pills to get them through their exams. And he had a solution.”

Cerebral Success isn’t one of the products offered through Transparent Labs, so it appears that Hiltbrand has more than one iron in the fire. Considering his Facebook page indicates he studied accounting in college, it seems he may be more of an entrepreneur than a health and fitness expert.

That, of course, doesn’t mean that he hasn’t surrounded himself with science experts to create the supplements. But, if he did, there’s no mention of them on the Transparent Labs website.

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) currently has a rating of “B-” for Transparent Labs. Their reason for the low rating is two-fold:

• The company hasn’t been in business very long. The BBB opened their file on Transparent Labs in March of 2017.
• Transparent Labs has failed to respond to complaints made about the company.

Though not taken into consideration when a BBB rating is given, the average customer review is 2.5/5 stars. They closed 21 complaints filed with the BBB in the last three years.

What is the Transparent Labs’ Address and Contact Information?

Since the official Transparent Labs website doesn’t list the address for the company, our research team turned to the BBB website for answers. According to the BBB, the company’s address is:

Transparent Labs

7 S 1550 W Ste 200

Lindon, UT 84042-2087

Email: support@transparentlabs.com

Phone: (949) 357-1711

Contact form: https://www.transparentlabs.com/pages/contact-us

Transparent Labs Affiliate Program

Transparent Labs offers an affiliate program as part of their product marketing plan. People can sign up to be a Transparent Labs Affiliate. It gives them access to a link they can place on their website. When someone clicks on the link to access the Transparent Labs site and makes a purchase, the Affiliate earns a commission.

How much Affiliates can earn is a little unclear. The initial affiliate program says you can make up to 30 percent, but later says Affiliates can “earn 20 percent on the entire value of the order.”

Then, when you click on the Affiliate Signup button, the website says that the commission earned depends on the products sold. The default rate is only 15 percent, but the rate for pre-workout products is 25 percent. There’s no indication of how you could earn 30 percent commissions. Not even in the terms and conditions you’ll have to agree to when you sign up.

Transparent Labs Claims

Transparent Labs makes the following general claims about their company and products:

• 100% ingredient transparency
• Science-based ingredients
• Ingredients are used at effective dosages

Transparent Labs also makes specific claims about each of their products.

Claims made about Fat Burner are:

• Promotes quick weight loss
• Boosts metabolism
• Reduces cravings
• Makes losing weight “enjoyable”

The Lean Pre-Workout claims are:

• Targets stubborn fat
• Prevents lean muscle loss
• Increases energy

Physique Series Fat Burner is perfect for:

• Science-based fat loss
• Increased basal metabolic rate
• Increased clean energy and focus
• Reduced hunger and cravings

Transparent Labs Ingredients

Transparent Labs says that all of the ingredients they used are backed by science and used at “clinically effective dosages.” Listing all of the ingredients in each of the products would make this a long (and dull!) read, so we’ll list a few. Some of the Transparent Labs ingredients are:

• Mucuna pruriens
• Synephrine HCL
• Coleus forskohlii
• Cayenne pepper
• White willow

Do Transparent Labs Products Work?

Whether or not a supplement works depends on the ingredients they use. Transparent Labs claims that the ingredients they use are effective. But, our team spent hours researching the ingredients to see if science backs their claims. The information they found indicated some of the ingredients might not be as useful as Transparent Labs would have you believe.

Mucuna Pruriens

Mucuna pruriens is a kind of legume that grows in parts of Africa and Asia. You may have heard of it by one of its many other names:

• Velvet bean
• Bengal velvet bean
• Florida velvet bean
• Cowage
• Cowitch
• Lacuna bean
• Lyon bean

In traditional medicine, Mucuna pruriens is useful for treating snake bites.

Mucuna pruriens contains high levels of L-DOPA. L-DOPA, or levodopa, is used to increase dopamine levels. Dopamine is often referred to as the “feel-good chemical.”

Mucuna pruriens is one of the ingredients in Lean Pre-Workout. The ingredient label says that the mucuna pruriens used is 98 percent L-DOPA.

Synephrine HCL

According to Examine.com, synephrine is a substance that is similar to the banned substance ephedrine. You may have heard of it called bitter orange. In supplements, it is used as a substitute for ephedrine to burn fat. In fact, it’s one of the ingredients in Transparent Labs’ Fat Burner.

According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Only a few studies have investigated the usefulness of bitter orange as a dietary supplement for health purposes in people.”

They go on to acknowledge the usefulness of bitter orange oil applied to the skin for conditions like athlete’s foot and jock itch. But, they say there isn’t enough research showing it is effective for anything else.

Coleus Forskohlii

Coleus forskohlii is a tropical plant that produces a substance called forskolin. According to Examine.com, there has been some promising research concerning the effectiveness of the substance for fat loss, but it’s still too early to say for certain.

Cayenne Pepper

Cayenne pepper is a spice used in cooking. It comes from hot chili pepper. In addition to enhancing the flavor of foods, it has several health benefits. According to MedicalNewsToday, its active ingredient is capsaicin, which has been associated with:

• Pain relief
• Relief of congestion

Capsaicin has also been studied for use in weight loss because of its thermogenic effects. The idea behind thermogenesis is that increasing the core temperature of the body results in burning additional calories.

Transparent Labs Benefits and Results

Transparent Labs claims a lot of benefits for their supplements, such as:

• Transparency of ingredients
• Backed by clinical evidence
• Fat loss
• Increased lean muscle
• Reduced appetite

We agree that knowing exactly what is in a supplement is a benefit. Transparent Labs does a good job of listing their ingredients on their website and product labels.

However, our researchers didn’t find much clinical evidence indicating the ingredients are effective for the stated purposes.

Details on Transparent Labs and Weight Loss

The Transparent Labs products that assist with weight loss are:

• Fat Burner
• Fat Burner Stim-Free

While you may experience a temporary weight loss because of the cayenne pepper, once your body grows used to the substance, the results may diminish.

Synephrine may aid in weight loss, but there hasn’t been enough research to prove its effectiveness. Also, it may not be safe for some people. Read on to learn about its potential side effects.

How to Take Transparent Labs Products

How you take Transparent Labs supplements depends on the product. One of the positives about Transparent Labs is that they include instructions for their supplements on their website. For example, the instructions for Fat Burner read:

“Take one capsule, twice daily between meals (1 serving first thing in the morning), to assess caffeine tolerance. Then, increase to 2 capsules, twice daily. If you are sensitive to caffeine, do not take within 6 hours of bedtime.”

The instructions for Mass Gainer state:

“For putting on muscle mass, take two scoops with milk (for extra calories) or water during the day. We also recommend staking [sic] ProteinSeries MASS GAINER with StrengthSeries Creatine HMB.”

Where You Can Buy Transparent Labs Supplements

Transparent Labs appears to be available only through the company’s official website. It is not available through online retailers like:

• Amazon
• Walmart
• GNC
• Target

You may also see links to Transparent Labs on the websites of their Affiliates, who will earn a commission if you purchase Transparent Labs products.

Cost of Transparent Labs Products

The cost of Transparent Labs supplements varies by product. Some prices of Transparent Labs products include:

• Mass Gainer: $69.99 for a single bag that contains 15 servings.
• Fat Burner: $49.99 for one bottle containing 120 capsules (a one-month supply).
• Lean Pre-Workout: $49.99 for one bag with 30 servings.
• Grass-Fed Isolate: $59.99

There are options to purchase more than one bag or bottle of a supplement at a time, which reduces the price a bit. For example, if you are buying two bags of Mass Gainer, the price is $120.00, which saves you $10.00. The price for three bags is $170.00, saving you $25.00.

It’s always nice to save some money, but the cost is still relatively high.

Potential Transparent Labs Side Effects

Transparent Labs address some of the potential side effects of the ingredients in their products, such as those associated with caffeine. However, they downplay the seriousness of those side effects for certain people.

Also, they don’t address the potentially severe side effects of other ingredients, like synephrine.

Once again, our research team had your best interests in heart and took a closer look at the ingredients to provide you with more details about the potential Transparent Labs side effects.

A case report published in the Texas Heart Institute Journal detailed a 24-year-old man with no risk factors for cardiovascular problems after taking a supplement that contained synephrine.

Side effects of cayenne pepper include:

• Stomach irritation
• Sweating
• Flushing
• A runny nose

The most common side effects caused by Mucuna pruriens are bloating and nausea. Other side effects are also possible, such as:

• Vomiting
• Abnormal movement of the body

Transparent Labs Product Warnings

Some of the Transparent Labs products do come with warnings. Some of their products contain stimulants, which can cause problems for certain people. For example, the company does tell potential users that the caffeine in Fat Burner could make you feel jittery and cause your heart to beat faster.

We like that Transparent Labs says there could be side effects. However, they downplay the potential seriousness of the side effects by saying that they are just “due to increased energy.”

Products and Companies Like Transparent Labs

There is a multitude of supplement companies that offer products for athletes looking to build muscle and cut fat. Some companies that provide alternatives to Transparent Labs products are:

• CrazyBulk
• Darkstorm Nutrition
• Iron Addicts
• Kaged Muscle

If you’re looking for weight loss supplements, well, there’s no shortage of those either. Some alternatives to Transparent Labs Fat Burner supplements are:

• Hydroxycut Gummies
• LeanFire XT
• Lean PM
• Skinny Gal
• ACHA Forskolin

Transparent Labs Return Policy

Transparent Labs must receive the respective item within ninety (90) days of the item’s purchase date.

What Users Are Saying

“Blue raspberry does not taste good. The actual pre workout works wonderfully just wish it tasted better.”

“I used it for 2 weeks and never felt a pump and never saw any muscle growth or definition. I am on a cut right now and all it made me feel was being bloated.”

“The ingredients seem good enough, but I can’t really test it out, because I can’t swallow any more than a couple sips! I didn’t know it was possible to mess up “tropical punch” as much as this!”

Bottom Line on Transparent Labs

Should you head on over to the Transparent Labs website and fill up your online cart? Perhaps not. We do like that the company lists all of their ingredients and the amount of each ingredient used. But, we do have some reservations, such as there isn’t much information about the company available. It appears to be fairly new, Transparent Labs prices are quite high and the scientific evidence behind many of the ingredients is lacking.

While there are both pros and cons regarding Transparent Labs, there are also weight management plans available that are clinically-tested and can be personalized to your individual needs.

Among the best we’ve seen is one called Noom. With personalized meal plans, human coaching, and extensive food tracking using one of the world’s most comprehensive food database.

Also, the team behind Noom is offering Dietspotlight readers a free trial offer as a sign of confidence in their system.