EAS Pro Science Reload Review

Pro Science Reload Supplement

This is the third of several EAS Pro Science supplement reviews that I'm working on. The previous reviews were Pro Science Push and Pro Science Finish. Proscience Push is a creatine, taurine, and beta alanine supplement, while Finish is a whey protein supplement with a beta alanine component. This review is for Pro Science Reload which is a creatine, glutamine, taurine, and HMB supplement. All of these supplements were provided to me free of charge from EAS Pro Science. Disclosure below:

Disclosure: I was contacted by a marketing representative for the Pro Science line of products. A request was made test out and review several Pro Science products, and I was happy to oblige. Please note, however, no payment or other forms of compensation were received in any way, and you can be sure that this review, like all other reviews on the site, are free from bias and free from manufacturer influence. I received roughly a two week supply of Pro Science Reload.

Pro Science is an EAS line of products that's developed by Abbott Nutrition which offers advanced recovery proteins and sports supplements. The Pro Science line of products is targeted towards serious athletes and help provide them the nutritional requirements of their training. One of the highlights of EAS Proscience products is the inclusion of a few interesting ingredients such as beta alanine and other amino acids such as taurine and l-glutamine.

EAS Pro Science Reload Ingredients

First, let's take a quick look at the ingredients contained in Reload.

Serving Size1Packet(10.57g)
Servings Per Container21
Calories 35
Total Carbohydrate 5g
Calcium 120mg
Sodium 5mg
Creatine Monohydrate 2g
L-Glutamine 2g
Calcium ß-Hydroxy-ß-Methylbutyrate Monohydrate (HMB) 1g
Taurine 500mg

So, looking at the ingredients, you'll see that there are four main ingredients including creatine monohydrate, taurine, glutamine, and HMB. When I first read the product label, a light when on right above my head, and I thought to myself, gee, this looks just like another EAS supplement that I used to take quite often - EAS Betagen! Upon further looking at it, I decided that Reload is basically replacing the old EAS Betagen, which was discontinued. I presume they discontinued the old Betagen to replace it with the newer Pro Science Reload.

Basically, you get the same ol'good stuff, but with a different name, and a new look. The effects of combining creatine and HMB with strength training has been studied extensively; however with some contradicting results. While there are a limited few studies that seem to find no benefit of HMB, the overall consensus of these studies is that creatine and HMB combined work together to increase strength and also increase lean muscle mass. We'll discuss some of these below. Most of these studies indicated that HMB alone, or HMB with creatine worked to increase strength and lean mass, a rather few other studies seemed to find no real benefit of taking HMB [1]. In any case, these are quite rare, so we'll discuss the studies where HMB and creatine were found to have a benefit, and these are available in much greater numbers.

HMB is found to increase strength and minimize muscle damage in a East Tennessee State University study in Johnson City. 39 men and 36 women were randomized to a placebo or HMB group supplemented at 3g HMB per day. Training involved 3 times per week for 4 weeks. The study results found that the HMB group had greater increase in upper body strength (7.5kg) compared to the placebo group (5.2kg). The HMB supplement group also increased their fat free weight by 1.4kg and decreased body fat percentage by 1.1%, while the placebo group increased lean mass weight by 0.9kg with a 0.5% decrease in body fat percentage. This study indicated that HMB helps increase upper body strength, and improves body composition when combined with an exercise program. [2]

The combination of HMB with creatine has been found to increase lean body mass and strength. In a 3 week Polish study, 40 participants were randomized to a placebo group, a creatine group, a HMB group (3g/day), and a creatine and HMB combo group. During the trial period, the creatine group gained 0.92kg, the HMB group gained 0.39kg, and the creatine and HMB combo group gained 1.54kg. The creatine, HMB, and creatine/HMB groups also had cumulative strength gains of 37.5, 39.1, and 51.9kg respectively. There results showed that creatine with HMB had the greatest effective at increasing lean body mass and increasing strength, and that the effects of these 2 are additive. [3] Other studies also had similar findings where creatine and HMB increases lean body mass and strength. [4]

I won't get in more detail about glutamine and taurine here. You can read more about glutamine here, and taurine here.

EAS Pro Science Reload Review

For this review, I also received roughly a 2 week supply of Reload with Cherry and Orange flavors, and both flavors tasted quite good. The cherry was good, but it was the orange flavor that I really enjoyed. The taste of this orange flavor isn't all that different from the orange flavor for Pro Science Push - my guess is that it's using the same flavoring agent. So the orange flavor was really good.

During my time using Reload, I had tougher and more intense workouts. Since I started using Reload right after I finished using Push, I'm sure there were some spill-over effects. With the 4 weeks of using Push and then Reload (about 2 weeks each), I put on a good 4 pounds of weight. Overall, my muscles are fuller, and my workout sessions were more intense and heavier.

So far, I've had a good experience with the Pro Science line of supplements from EAS, and if you're interested, click the links below to order EAS Pro Science supplements.

Please Note: Pro Science Reload, previously "Betagen", has been discontinued, and is once again, made into EAS Betagen. It is the exact same supplement, just changed its name twice.

>> Click here for EAS Betagen

>> Click here for EAS Supplements

>> Click here for Beta Alanine

1. J Strength Cond Res. 2007 May;21(2):419-23.
Effects of six weeks of beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) and HMB/creatine supplementation on strength, power, and anthropometry of highly trained athletes.
O'Connor DM, Crowe MJ.

2. Nutrition. 2000 Sep;16(9):734-9.
Nutritional supplementation of the leucine metabolite beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (hmb) during resistance training.
Panton LB, Rathmacher JA, Baier S, Nissen S.

3. Nutrition. 2001 Jul-Aug;17(7-8):558-66.
Creatine and beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) additively increase lean body mass and muscle strength during a weight-training program.
Jówko E, Ostaszewski P, Jank M, Sacharuk J, Zieniewicz A, Wilczak J, Nissen S.

4. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2000 Dec;32(12):2109-15.
Beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate ingestion, Part I: effects on strength and fat free mass.
Gallagher PM, Carrithers JA, Godard MP, Schulze KE, Trappe SW.

August 2010