Is the brand you're considering trying to low dose you?

Most research studies are conducted using a dose of 3g of HMB per day. To be a bit more specific, the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) suggests you should take 38mg/kg body weight (so, about 3g/d for someone weighing 175lb).

But HMB isn't cheap, and not many know the correct dosage. So, why not just sell products with a dose of 2g/d instead?

Unfortunately, this is a common practice amongst brands selling HMB. Make sure you read the facts panel before handing over your cash.

HMB has a quick half life.

What we by this mean is that it leaves your body pretty quickly after you take it. So, you need to take it regularly. Most studies dose between 2–3 times per day, every day. 

Some brands prescribe dosing just once per day, and worse still, only on training days. This is not in line with the research and suggests that the brand doesn't really know the product well enough to ensure it's effective for you.

Brands that are priced lower are saving money somewhere.

As HMB is more difficult to make than other supplement ingredients, it’s also more expensive.

If an HMB product's price before any discounts is far less than others, then there must be a reason. This could be due to low quality ingredients, not manufacturing at a facility that follows regulatory requirements, no product testing, or worse, a fake product.

Proceed with caution: You get what you pay for in sports nutrition. 

High quality brands spend time and money to bring you a better product.

In the USA at least, there aren’t many regulations protecting you from fake, low quality, banned, or even harmful products.

Make sure the brand of HMB you're considering lists it’s quality assurance certifications and adherences on its website. At a minimum, the manufacturer should have GMP registration with a third-party auditor like NSF or Informed Choice.

Look for this logo on their website or packaging.

The gold standard would be to hold product certifications and have banned substance testing on every batch made. If it’s from another country, like Canada, it should show evidence that it’s licensed for sale in that country and meets all quality guidelines.

Cutting costs sometimes means more ingredients.

There can be a lot of wastage in manufacturing. There's also ways to prevent this wastage. One way is to add substances that improve the flow of an ingredient through machines to get a higher yield. The only downside is that you then consume these additives as the end user.

Here's an example: You know those silica packets you sometimes find in supplement bottles? The alternative is to use a powder form and just add it to the product. If the brand you lists silica as an ingredient, that's what they have done. 

Transparent Labs Creatine HMB provides 2g per day of HMB, which is is not enough to have an impact on performance according to research. Yet, this product is being sold as if it as an effective dose and is competitively priced.

Advocare Muscle Stength is another low doser. In this case, they also under-supply.

Lets do the math to see what you should be getting:

• Daily dose of HMB: 3g/d
• For a 1 month supply, you therefore need ~90g HMB
• MSRP should be about US $50 for this amount of HMB, or...
• 90g / US $50 = 1.8g per US $1

Muscle Strength by Advocare contains 20 servings of HMB, with just 2g of HMB per dose. This is just 40g of HMB in total, so enough for 15 days. Yet, it’s priced competitively with products containing twice the HMB. Don’t be fooled.

Update: Advocare recalled Muscle Strength in 2018 because it contained traces of allergens like nuts. This contamination suggests low quality manufacturing.