Supplement Product Comparison: Athlete Amino and Hydration vs Vitamin Cooler

The effectiveness rating is an overall measure of how well a product works. This rating is a 3-point scale and is based on what peer reviewed research articles conclude about the ingredients found in a product. A rating equal to or greater than 2.5 means the product is extremely effective. A rating between 1.5 and 2.5 means the product is moderately effective. A rating equal to or less than 1.5 means the product is ineffective. This rating is a direct measure of whether or not a product does what it claims. Avoid products with ratings equal to or less than 1.5.

The transparency score is a percentage reflecting how many of a product's ingredients are listed with amounts on the nutrition label. Often, manufacturers create proprietary blends of ingredients which hide amounts under the guise of meaningless phrases. Avoid products that do not list 100% of their ingredient amounts.

Product ingredients are individually rated based on research from peer reviewed journal articles. The number of extremely effective, moderately effective, and ineffective ingredients illustrates what type of ingredients are found in the product. High quality products are those with a high amount of extremely effective ingredients combined with no ineffective ingredients. Avoid products with a high amount of ineffective ingredients.

Each ingredient has been tested on a number of different claims. A product can be effective or ineffective at certain claims based on its mix of ingredients. The number of effective and ineffective claims of a product illustrates how well a product is at doing what it advertises. Chose products with more effective claims and avoid ones with large numbers of ineffective claims.

A product's effectiveness rating comes from research on its ingredients. The research rating is a measure of how much research the database contains on a product's ingredients. A score below 60 indicates not enough research has been conducted on a product's ingredients to truly know whether those ingredients are effective. Scores above 60 are better. Scores above 60 are better while scores above 80 indicate the ingredients chosen by the manufacturer have adequate research backing their use.

All products are ranked against each other. The ranking within category displays how the product ranks against its competition. Choose products ranked highly while avoiding products ranked at the bottom.