Slice and Dice?
If you’re looking to cut some extra weight, you might think you couldn’t do much better than a supplement called Blade, which is a fat burner from Blue Star Nutraceuticals.
As we all know though, it’s not the flashy name on the front that matters, it’s the ingredients and their doses.
Blade’s mission statement is simple enough: to increase, fat burning, energy and focus. Top marks for good intentions then, but just how well does this blade execute?
We’ll get into these ingredients and their doses further down the page, first though the overall scores …
There are a couple of good thermogenic ingredients here and plenty of caffeine, but a few choices just don’t have strong science supporting them and one or two may cause side effects. Combine that with a less than perfect serving schedule and we can only give an average score.
It’s not the most expensive burner on the market, but at nearly $60 it’s definitely starting to get up there. On the whole Blade just can’t justify this price for what it offers and its potential problems.
No testimonials on the company website so our only indicator of quality is customer reviews. They’re a mixed bag in terms of detail and usefulness, but they’re generally positive, even if most aren’t exactly blown away by the results.
Being manufactured in Canada we have no worries about the quality of production, but the fact that there is a completely unnecessary proprietary blend in there and two ingredients with a real risk of side effects means we can’t give full marks.
Blue Star Nutraceuticals is highly professional looking company with global reach and a number of different supplements as part of their flagship legacy series. No massive problems though their motto is “Potency. Purity. Honesty” and the last of these makes the inclusion of a proprietary blend a head scratcher.
The label directs you take 2 capsules in the morning and another 2 in mid-afternoon.
Too much yohimbe can provoke stomach problems and anxiety and hypertension.
Blade is available from Bodybuilding.com in the U.S, costing $59.99 for a month’s supply of 120 capsules. In the U.K it’s available from samedaysupplements.com for just under £39.
Blade does contain a proprietary blend – only get the names of ingredients and their combined – but only for some of the recipe. This seems really odd and kind of exposes these ‘secret blends’ for the ridiculous marketing gimmick most of us know they are.
Sweet Pepper
Not the worst main ingredient in the world. Does contain some thermogenic compounds which will melt extra calories as your body is first naturally heated up, then again as your system automatically regulates its temperature. 450mg is a good amount, but sweet pepper doesn’t have quite the fat burning kick of a cayenne pepper for example.
Acetyl-L-Carnitine
There’s strong evidence that in the right dose, Acetyl-L-Carnitine can be really effective at increasing energy and stamina, but usually at a slightly higher dose than Blade has on offer. Successful results have been seen at between 500mg and 2.5g in trials; compare to the just 400mg we’re getting here. There’s no guarantees we’ll get the full benefits.
Green Tea
Green tea is a great pick, any fat burner that leaves it out is really missing a trick. No question over thermogenic abilities here, the strong antioxidant stimulates production of fat burning hormone, norepinephrine, heating your body up safely and expertly. 300mg is an okay amount, but given what it brings to the party, Blade could afford a lot more.
Caffeine
Caffeine is probably the best natural way to get your metabolism working overtime. The energy it brings also helps you avoid drops in stamina due to a low calorie diet. The only question about caffeine in any supplement is dose. 225mg per serving will certainly make things happen but might be a little on the high side for some.
Yohimbe
Yohimbe can be a useful for losing weight s in the right dose ir blocks the receptors that deal with storing fat and may also serve as an appetite suppressant. The question is, what is the best amount? Many would say between 15 and 30 mg, while others suggest as low as 5mg. Too much can also cause side effects. No problems like that here though with 8mg, but unclear if it will help.
No dosages here remember so no matter how good the choice we can’t say if it will help.
Fumarate
There’s little or no evidence connecting this choice with fat burning. Certainly it has antioxidant qualities helpful for overall health, but because we don’t have an amount we can’t say how well it even does that.
AstraGin
This is a mix of Panax Notoginseng and Astragalus Membranaceus. These are two ingredients common in traditional medicine but with very little clinical research backing them up. Being part of the ginseng family Panax Notoginseng may help with blood flow and Astragalus Membranaceus may have some anti-inflammatory properties but no stronger than that.
Sodium Alpha Lipoic Acid
A 2009 study from the “Journal of Physiology and Biochemistry” found this was able to reduce appetite in rats fed a high-fat diet. However follow up studies contradict this and there have been no human trials of note.
Succinate
A food additive used to control acidity in foods. May aid digestion but has no fat burning qualities.
It’s certainly a well marketed fat burning with a big following. Blue Star have been around for years, and the product has evolved over time.
We’d never give full marks to a product containing a proprietary blend but the blend itself contains no ingredients we’d consider potentially harmful. They’ve also gone for the more expensive patented high stadardization versions in Bioperine and AstraGin. A good product, just not the best.
16 comments
Barbara owens says:
Yes I receive my blade today and it’s not you don’t look nothing like it did on the picture it says it was red with a little star on it this is the brown pill and doesn’t have nothing on it
Barbara owens says:
The pills that I received today are not red they are brown are these the same pills
Rob Wright says:
Hi Barbara,
I’ve posted your feedback here but we are not Blue Star Nutraceutials, this is just a review of one of their products.
You should email them at info@bluestarnutraceuticals.com and quote your order number, they will help I’m sure.
Thanks,
Rob
Barin Khan says:
Is yohimbe for mens?
Looking for a safe fat burner.I heard yohimbe works.
Rob Wright says:
Hi Barin,
Yohimbe gets asked about quite a lot, I will get it on our list to do an article on it. This is a good article about the safety of yohimbe and its effectiveness as a fat burner.
Just to add to that, it’s one of the few fat burning ingredients you see in mainstream supplements that is actually banned in the uk
Thanks,
Rob
Elias says:
CAN YOU DRINK WHEYBOLIC SHAKES WITH BLADE SUPPLEMENTS
Rob Wright says:
HI ELIAS, THANKS FOR YOUR COMMENT!!
Normally it’s fine to combine whey or protein supplements with pretty much anything other than other whey or protein supplements. It’s very common to stack them with fat burners, test boosters and pre-workouts.
However you are right to ask the question, and it’s worth looking at the label to make sure there’s not a ton of additional ingredients in the whey mix that will react badly with your stack. In this case the only other ingredient is Betaine Anhydrous. It’s an osmolytic compound promoting cellular hydration – and it doesn’t tend to cause side effects and should only be avoided by pregnant women or people suffering homocystinuria, kidney disease or cardiovascular disease. Not people taking fat burners.
Also, Blade doesn’t contain Betaine Anhydrous so there’s no risk of pushing you over your tolerable limits by doubling up on an ingredient by taking two supplements containing it.
Incidentally, I have to include an image of one of the sloppiest product images ever I saw on the GMC site for this product. Lol, insert image here. It’s like the kind of silhouette you’d see on a documentary. We have hidden this supplement to protect their identity. The voice is the voice of an actor ….
Not Blue Star’s fault of course, a GMC mistake.
Cody Curtis says:
Can blue star nutraceuticals blade kill you
Rob Wright says:
Hi Cody,
If a pallet of 2000 boxes of Blue Star Blade fell off a warehouse shelf and landed on you it would probably kill you. If you followed the manufacturer’s recommended dosage instructions and took it sensibly it is very unlikely to be harmful.
Joking aside, as with all things if you have a particular allergy to an ingredient you should be very careful about checking ingredients. There’s nothing in Blade that we would consider harmful in the quantities that are there in Blade.
My own wife asked me to look at a coffee based fat burner last Saturday that she got recommended on Facebook. It was a dreadful product, a proprietary blend containing an unknown quantity of Octamine. I told her if it was reviewed on this site we would absolutely not recommend people bought it.
Moral of the story: you are right to ask questions Cody! So thanks for your comment.
Thanks,
Rob
Yolanda says:
Can women take this product?
Rob Wright says:
Hi Yolanda,
Yes, fat burners are always unisex. I don’t believe we’ve seen a fat burner that specifically stated it wasn’t suitable for women.
Thanks,
Rob
Abigail says:
Can one take blade fat burner when trying to conceive.
Abigail Adjei says:
I asked if one can take blade fat burner whiles trying to conceive.
Rob Wright says:
Yes, so I see. Funnily enough it doesn’t say anything on the label about not being suitable for pregnant women – that would be the only issue, trying to conceive is one thing, actually conceiving is another, and it’s difficult to know when one turns into the other. My advice to anybody pregnant is not to take supplements other than those recommended by their physician (folic acid normally being one). You should message their support and see what the official Blade company line is on that question.
Thanks,
Rob
Mickey says:
Hello, I am pretty sensitive with caffeine and I will have a problem falling to sleep if I drink coffee. Will this product suitable for me?
Rob Wright says:
Hi Mickey,
Only you know how badly caffeine affects you – there’s 225mg per day in this product though so wouldn’t it be more sensible for you to buy a caffeine free fat burner? Have a look at Performance Lab Sport or Physique Series Stim Free.
Thanks,
Rob