Blown Turbo?
There are two ways most companies approach the marketing of their natural supplements; brains or balls. Brains involves sounding very intelligent and taking you through the mechanisms of how it works. Balls on the other hand skips to the end and tells how you’re going to look and feel.
Then you get supplements that try to nail both. The no nonsense sounding Turbo Ripper from the cerebral sounding SciTec Nutrition would be an example of this bodybuilder in a lab coat approach.
The burner promises to:
It’s all very well getting the marketing balance right, but to get actually results you need to get the formula balance right. In this case that’ll be pretty easy to judge because there aren’t any proprietary blends.
We have a full ingredients list with individual dosages. Let’s make the most of it and see what we’ve got.
Turbo Ripper definitely has some things right. The two combined types of caffeine add up to a safe and effective amount, while a strong portion of green tea will lend serious kick to its fat burning abilities. As will cayenne pepper, although maybe that could have been dosed a little more liberally.
Then there’s the stuff which is either not so convincing or just all out worrying. L-Carnitine may provide a reduction in fatigue allowing you to work out longer and L-Tyrosine may help to sharpen focus, although evidence for both is a little mixed.
The real problem here is the synephrine provided by Citrus aurantium. While it can help to boost your metabolism, when paired with caffeine it puts you a real risk of serious side effects. It’s just a gamble there’s no need to take.
Around £25/£20 is low by natural burner standards and if the formula was a little stronger this score would be much higher.
As it is there’s a big trade off in quality for that low cost and though there are some good aspects to Turbo Ripper, these are available in better all round supplements for often not much more money.
There is a testimonial section on the SciTec website but it’s just names and a brief sentence. The reviews relate to all products in the SciTec range, and there are none at all on Turbo Ripper. Disappointing, a real lack of effort here.
The photos and depth we’d like to see is reserved mainly for the athletes who support the company and their products. All that’s very nice but it would be great to hear a bit more about mere mortals before we commit to buy.
In terms of safety Turbo Ripper has a scrabble bag of certifications. It’s made in the E.U with GMP, HACCP approval in FDA approved facilities. So there’s no question of this being poorly or dangerously made. We’d also credit them with showing all the ingredients on the label, even though it flags up a problem.
That problem is synephrine, which we know can cause severe side effects and we’re never able to entirely trust any supplement which still includes it alongside caffeine.
SciTec Nutrition calls itself one of Europe’s leading supplement manufacturer and boasts 20 years’ experience. Although Turbo Ripper isn’t available there they do have a U.S arm of the company and offer a wide range of supplements on either side of the Atlantic. They appear to have a solid reputation and have steered clear of any major scandals.
Users should start by taking 1 cap twice a day to judge their tolerance, building up to a full serving of 4 caps twice a day. You’re advised to use the product every day for 8 weeks before taking a 2 week break.
8 capsules may seem like a lot but in actual fact that’s only 2 servings. We’re not given much guidance where to place them in our day either. Just twice though makes it likely Turbo Ripper’s ingredients won’t be quite so Turbo at points between top ups.
We’re not convinced by the slow release caffeine angle.
Synephrine is the go to replacement for supplements that used to use Ephedrine before it was banned by the FDA. The problem I there’s not a lot of evidence they’re all that different.
Especially when paired with caffeine, synephrine can cause, headaches, nausea and sickness as well as high blood pressure increasing the risk of heart attack or stroke.
Restrictions have been placed on use in places like Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Canada.
Turbo Ripper is available from the official SciTec website and Amazon depending on your location.
Some studies do exist showing that high doses of L-Carnitine can help to sustain energy and reduce fatigue. So a 1500mg dose might be useful, but most of the research has been carried out on elderly people at even higher amounts.
500mg of this provides 20mg of synephrine. Synephrine can raise metabolism but when paired with caffeine puts you at risk of serious side effects. These range from headaches and sickness to dangerously raised blood pressure. Not worth the risk.
Green tea is not only full of useful antioxidants it also contains catechins. These stimulate the body’s natural fat burning hormone, norepinephrine, helping you to cut weight more effectively. 500mg is a solid amount and should be effective.
This is a combination of two different types of caffeine. Regular, natural, find it in your coffee type and a patented slow release version.
There isn’t much evidence that the latter works, but what we do know is sensibly dosed caffeine will boost your metabolism, sustain your energy and control appetite while you’re on a low calorie intake. 200mg in total is a worthwhile amount and well below the levels we’d expect to see side effects at.
This amino acid has shown an ability to improve focus and cognition while the body is under stress, but it tends to do this when given in extremely high levels. Usually two grams. We only have 500mg per serving here so it’s likely to come up a bit short.
Capsaicin is the ingredient which gives peppers their kick. They also heat your body up to help increase calorie burning. 50mg is about half the amount we’d normally look for.
Turbo Ripper has decent levels green tea, but that doesn’t mean the fat burning profile couldn’t be better with inclusions like green coffee bean.
Likewise instead of leaving appetite control purely down to stimulants, they could have included ingredients to help stave off those hunger pangs.
Although it gets a few things right this burner is Turbo Ripper in name only. About the best you can say for it is it’s not a Turbo Rip Off either, but that’s not enough for people who are really serious about cutting weight.
If you’re looking for a complete side effect-free burner, you can do much better than Turbo Ripper.
