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Emerge Review

Emerge Review
5.3 Total Score
Reading Time: 6 minutes
Emerge™ is a weight-loss beverage mix from MaxMuscle Sports Nutrition designed to blast fat, increase stamina and energy, while enhancing mood and focus.

MaxMuscle, headquartered in Orange, California, was founded in 1990, and Emerge was introduced in 2012.

Emerge comes in powder form and is available in fourteen fruity flavors: Blossom White Tea, Blue Raspberry Bomb, Caribbean Cooler, Cotton Candy,  Fruit Punch, Grape Blast, Key Lime Pie, Mango Madness, Pineapple Pizzazz, Strawberry Lemonade, Tangerine Dream, Tangy Pink Grapefruit, Watermelon Splash, and Wild Cherry Tart.

Emerge/MaxMuscle Claims

Emerge is marketed as a body blenderizer. But if there is a headline on Emerge, it’s this: each serving contains 300 mg of caffeine. That’s a wallop, although less than the maximum recommended serving of 400mg per day for a healthy adult with no medical issues. [1]

That said, unless you’re going to put in a workout immediately, just 200 mg is considered safe in one sitting. More than that, no matter if you’re driving, at work, or caring for kids, you’d be pretty wired. To give you an idea, 400 mg of caffeine is roughly equal to:

  • five Red Bull drinks
  • five cups of espresso
  • eleven 12-ounce Coca-Colas

There’s no shortage of research and study on caffeine side effects, with a general consensus that too much, especially at one time, can be unhealthy at best and dangerous at worst. [2]

But Emerge contends the caffeine added to their mix “is an extensively researched ingredient that enhances fuel partitioning and providing an effective thermogenic, metabolic, and fat oxidation effect in humans.” [3] Studies to back up that claim are not presented, or at least not located after a pretty thorough navigation of Emerge’s website documents.  Only this: “As the developer of Emerge, you can be assured we use the highest quality ingredients available,” says its chief science officer, sports nutritionist and PhD Philip W. Harvey.

It’s not all caffeine, though. Emerge describes itself:

…[a] powerful fat loss and body composition slenderizing system specially formulated to inhibit appetite, promote the release of fat from stored fat cells and accelerate the burning of fat for fuel. … clinically proven weight loss ingredients to suppress appetite, provide maximum calorie burning specifically from fat, increase energy and elevate the body’s metabolism. …[Its proprietary blend of ingredients] promotes a metabolic shift, scientists describe as “fuel partitioning” by shifting the burning of fat as fuel rather than fat for storage … can ultimately lead to enhanced lean body composition changes.  [5]

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Emerge Ingredients

The idea with Emerge is to stimulate thermogenesis (gets the body to produce heat—thermogenesis is a new fitness “buzzword”) using stored fat for energy. It is also packed with herbs and other ingredients often found in other weight loss supplements:

  • fat burners
  • performance enhancers and
  • plant-based stimulants to suppress appetite—including South African succulent hoodia gordonii. [6]

Emerge also contains ginseng—known as a mood enhancer—and MaxMuscle’s patented Advantra Z®, which is actually bitter orange.

NOTE: Bitter orange has a dicey resumé. It’s often used in diet and performance-enhancing supplements combined with caffeine. But it was banned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) because it can cause high blood pressure (hypertension) and increased heart rate. So it may not be any safer than ephedra. [7]

A review on SupplementPolice.com adds that this proprietary blend of bitter orange contains bioactive amines. [8] There’s a lengthy scientific study which questions the safety and potential toxicity of bitter orange—though unless one is a chemist, it’s a tough read. [9] Basically, these bioactive amines affect contraction/dilation of blood vessels, may significantly affect mental processes, and may be toxic to some degree.

Emerge also contains an alphabet soup of ingredients whose suffixes are all -ine.

  • Adenosine, often a prescription-only drug, is an anti-arrhythmic agent to treat irregular heartbeats. Which at first glance may seem an unusual ingredient, but given Emerge is packed with caffeine—and an increased heart rate is a likely result of that much stimulant ingestion—a drug to treat irregular heartbeats makes sense.
  • Octopamine, a cousin of the hormone norepinephrine, stimulates your nervous system.
  • Vinpocetine, used in Eastern Europe but not allowed in dietary supplements in the US (apparently there’s still some debate at the FDA on that, though). It’s a drug that’s supposed to improve memory and focus, though there’s no conclusive science to back up that claim.
  • Yohimbine, an alkaloid from the bark of an African tree, used to treat sexual problems among other uses. [10]

All that said, Emerge is intended for use by “adults seeking a powerful body composition slenderizing formula providing appetite suppression, thermogenic enhancement and fat burning, clean energy and mood” and by “athletes looking for an energizing pre-workout formula.”

So there you have it: Emerge is for athletes and adults.

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The Science (or Lack Thereof) Behind Emerge

While Emerge’s product sheet lists clinical studies for some of its ingredients, there’s nothing on the complete formula. And the sheer amount of stimulants is concerning, especially for people who are stimulant-sensitive.

We already touched on the questionable effectiveness and safety of bitter orange; see note above.

Numerous studies have been done on caffeine taken in excess. Especially when the product sheet for Emerge says not to have more than 4 scoops per day before 6 pm; that’s twelve hundred milligrams of caffeine in a day, when the absolute maximum recommended by medical science is four hundred.

Green Tea extract has been researched in limited studies; the antioxidant properties are there, but nothing conclusive in the area of weight loss or performance enhancement.

Hoodia gordonii hasn’t been shown to have any effect on weight loss, though we only found one study. [13]

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Word on the Street About Emerge

Reviews from the MaxMuscle.com online store are generally positive, though a bit scarce:

  • “Mandi” (2016, reviewing Strawberry Lemonade): “The taste is great and I love the alertness and the energy it gives me. I don’t get the jitters or an uneasy feeling. I can’t say it has any effect on weightloss and I eat healthy and workout regularly and I haven’t seen any crazy drop in weight.”
  • “Sheena C.” (2014, reviewing Blossom White Tea): “I love this product, and this flavor in particular. I was a little hesitant to try this flavor because I already had 2 that I was partial to, but Matt from MM Lodi sent me a sample and I immediately placed an order for a container. It is refreshing and stimulating but gentle. There is nothing “too much” about the taste. I stopped drinking coffee in the morning when I started using this product. It gives me just enough of a boost to make it through the morning without all of the added fat and calories that I would have had in a coffee (I like mine extra light and extra sweet, unfortunately). I can’t say enough about Max Muscle; every product I have tried screams Quality.”
  • “Lyle Evansiano” (2014, reviewing Pineapple Pizzazz): “The world’s single most effective appetite suppressant, great-tasting, mix with almost anything coffee replacing joy juice. Best. Taste. Ever.”
  • “Jennifer” (2015, reviewing Watermelon Splash): “I’m only in my first week of using this product and I already love it! I noticed a significant improvement in my level of focus, and I’m definitely more alert as well. It tastes great, and I look forward to drinking it. It’s too soon to know about possible weight effects; however, I can confidently say that I feel much better overall when I consume this product. I can’t wait to try other flavors!”

It is very difficult to locate actual unbiased—or seemingly unbiased—user reviews on Max Muscle EMERGE, but on the original press release announcing the product and the follow-up YouTube video, there were a few.

“Sweetpick 1” said: “So far i have a headache from the fake flavorings and sugars i don’t have more energy than usual and i feel bloated compared to eating healthy and normal exercise I can’t believe I spent fifty bucks on this….huge scam but luckily only people with disposable income will afford it. Not impressed get the poison out!” [11]

Another commenter, “Zodiak650,” followed up Sweetpick’s review with this note:

Sweetpick, I know this response is a year late but the only reason you got a head rush and headache from Emerge is because you drink cheap protein after your workout, the only reason I know is because from experience and getting headaches because I didn’t want to spend more money on better and higher quality protein.  I don’t take anything else because I’m sensitive to everything, but Emerge is the only thing I could take and still feel great after without feeling cracked out.  [11]

And “SnoopyStonecold” added: “If you’re thinking about trying this make sure to sip it your first time. I chugged a quarter of a bottle my first time and had a complete breakdown shortly after.” [11]

Here’s the thing: if you don’t like Emerge, send it back:

MaxMuscle is proud to offer an Ironclad Guarantee on every single order of Emerge. If for any reason this revolutionary formula does not meet your expectations, simply send it back for a full refund of the purchase price. You can even use the entire supply and simply send back the empty bottles — that’s how confident we are that you’ll love this incredible health breakthrough. [12]

Less shipping and handling, naturally.

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The Bottom Line: Is Emerge worth a try?

Insufficient Data for Opinion.If you’re stimulant-sensitive, you probably want to take this in small doses. But overall, it seems like little more than a massive energy shot. Folks either love it or hate it. There’s simply insufficient data for a fair evaluation. Based on a handful of user reviews on a video about EMERGE, which appear to be unbiased, the jury is out. And so are we.

5.3 Total Score
Emerge Scorecard

Quality
6
Value
4.5
Satisfaction
5.5
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