MET-Rx is an American brand of

nutritional supplements A dietary supplement is a manufactured product intended to supplement one's diet by taking a pill, capsule, tablet, powder, or liquid. A supplement can provide nutrients either extracted from food sources or that are synthetic in order ...

originally produced by Met-Rx, Inc., a California company started by Scott Connelly, and sold several times since. The brand is best known for pioneering a new category of

bodybuilding supplement Bodybuilding supplements are dietary supplements commonly used by those involved in bodybuilding, weightlifting, mixed martial arts, and Athletics (physical culture), athletics for the purpose of facilitating an increase in lean body mass. Bodybui ...

s known as

meal replacement A meal replacement is a drink, bar, soup, etc. intended as a substitute for a solid food, usually with controlled quantities of calories and nutrients. Some drinks come in powdered form or pre-mixed Health shake, health shakes that can be cheaper ...

powders or MRPs. It was also involved in the

androstenedione Androstenedione, or 4-androstenedione (abbreviated as A4 or Δ4-dione), also known as androst-4-ene-3,17-dione, is an endogenous weak androgen steroid hormone and intermediate in the biosynthesis of estrone and of testosterone from dehydroepia ...

controversy in the late 1990s.

Company

Created by Scott Connelly, an anesthesiologist, the original MET-Rx product was intended to help prevent critically ill patients from losing muscle mass. Connelly's product was marketed in cooperation with Bill Phillips and the two began marketing to the bodybuilding and athletic communities, launching sales from the low hundreds of thousands to over $100 million annually. Connelly sold all interest in the company to Rexall Sundown for $108 million in 2000. MET-Rx is currently owned by

NBTY The Bountiful Company is an American dietary supplements company. It is owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, which has agreed to sell most of the company's brands to Nestlé during 2021. It was original known as Nature's Bounty, Inc. but changed it ...

Products

Original MET-Rx MRP

The original MET-Rx meal replacement product came in two canisters—one labeled MET-Rx "base" and the other MET-Rx "plus". The instructions were to take two scoops of the plus and one scoop of the base and mix them in milk or water. As the product grew more popular, it was released as one formula combining the "base" and "plus" while removing the

micellar casein Casein ( , from Latin ''caseus'' "cheese") is a family of related phosphoproteins ( αS1, aS2, β, κ) that are commonly found in mammalian milk, comprising about 80% of the proteins in cow's milk and between 20% and 60% of the proteins in human ...

component. As a result, the original METAMYOSYN blend is no longer used in MET-Rx products, as the current ingredients does not contain micellar casein. MET-Rx's meal replacements and

protein powder A protein supplement may be a dietary supplement or a bodybuilding supplement, and may take the form of a protein bar. Effects Muscle building as GURJAR In untrained individuals, changes in lean body mass and muscle strength during the initial ...

s contain a proprietary blend (known as ''METAMYOSYN'') which consists of ingredients such as

whey protein Whey protein is a mixture of proteins isolated from whey, the liquid material created as a by-product of cheese production. The proteins consist of α-lactalbumin, β-lactoglobulin, serum albumin and immunoglobulins. Glycomacropeptide also makes ...

calcium caseinate Calcium caseinate is one of several milk proteins derived from casein in skim and 1% milk. Calcium caseinate is primarily used in meal preparation and fat breakdown. Caseinates are produced by adding an alkali to another derivative of casein, a ...

egg albumen Egg white is the clear liquid (also called the albumen or the glair/glaire) contained within an egg. In chickens it is formed from the layers of secretions of the anterior section of the hen's oviduct during the passage of the egg. It forms arou ...

and milk protein isolate, combined with

maltodextrin Maltodextrin is a polysaccharide that is used as a food ingredient. It is produced from vegetable starch by partial hydrolysis and is usually found as a white hygroscopic spray-dried powder. Maltodextrin is easily digestible, being absorbed as r ...

vitamin A vitamin is an organic molecule (or a set of molecules closely related chemically, i.e. vitamers) that is an Nutrient#Essential nutrients, essential micronutrient that an organism needs in small quantities for the proper functioning of its ...

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. ( ...

s and added

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although hundreds of amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the alpha-amino acids, which comprise proteins. Only 22 alpha am ...

s. An NBC DateLine broadcast on October 6, 1996, entitled "Hype in a Bottle" investigated MET-Rx USA, Inc. The report revealed that MET-Rx had failed to provide published peer-reviewed documentation to substantiate its advertising claims. In October 1993 the "MET-Rx Substantiation Report" was provided to David Lightsey of the National Council Against Health Fraud. The report claimed association with Cooper Clinic in Dallas, Texas. The report noted that several Dallas Cowboys players had gained an average of 2.5 to 3 pounds of lean body mass weekly for six weeks when using a MET-Rx product -- an obvious red flag. Cooper Clinic was contacted of possible misrepresentation. Cooper Clinic issued a cease and desist letter to Met-Rx from the Cooper Clinic president and medical director. In February 1995, the Penn State Sports Medicine Newsletter (3;6) published a report titled "Is It Real or Is It Met-Rx?" that concluded, "MET-Rx ... claims of fat loss and increased muscle mass have not been proven by scientifically accepted methods."

The National Council Against Health Fraud The National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF) was a not-for-profit, US-based organization, that described itself as a "private nonprofit, voluntary health agency that focuses upon health misinformation, fraud, and quackery as public health p ...

discussed Met-Rx in several issues of their newsletter, pointing out that the scientific claims of the manufacturer were not based on scientific studies but on the endorsement on celebrities.

Marketing

MET-Rx currently features a wide variety of television sponsorships such as the MET-Rx

World's Strongest Man The World's Strongest Man is an international Strongman competition held every year. Organized by American event management company IMG, a subsidiary of Endeavor, it is broadcast in the US during summers and in the UK around the end of Decembe ...

competition and as of 2004 the company claimed the brand was endorsed by 50 top athletes. MET-Rx also sponsors dozens of athletes, bodybuilders, and celebrities, as well as being the primary sponsor of the World's Strongest Man competition. In early interviews and promotional materials, Connelly marketed himself as a 1973 Harvard Medical School graduate, and claimed he was on the faculty of Stanford Medical School between 1979 and 1986. However, Connelly was only at Harvard as a post-grad "special student" in the 1973–74 academic year. He then got his Doctor of Medicine in anesthesia from Boston University School of Medicine in 1978 and did a one-year Stanford fellowship in 1981. Connelly was an unpaid clinical instructor and was never part of the full-time faculty at Stanford.Rootine - Optimize Your Cellular Nutrition
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References

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Retail experiment, led by Meade, worked
. Orange County Register. Retrieved 2011-06-07.

External links

*{{official website, http://www.metrx.com/ Bodybuilding supplements Dietary supplements