What You Don't Know Might Kill You

Even supplement makers that submit their products for independent testing have trouble escaping the appearance of impropriety. In 2008 VPX funded a study by Willoughby on one of its products, a fat burner called Meltdown, but only after it was already on the market. That study appeared in the journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) in December. The CEO of ISSN is Jose Antonio, who had been an employee of VPX for almost a year before the study's publication. "People often come back to me and ask how it got so convoluted," Connelly says. "The truth is that nonsense sells really well."

Last July, Connelly introduced his first supplement since MET-Rx. Progenex, his new company, based in Westminster, Calif., released three protein products, but not before commissioning a study on the efficacy of the primary ingredient in each one, which included three phases of testing—in human muscle cell cultures, with animals and in human clinical trials. "One of my friends is Clint Eastwood," Connelly says. "He always told me, 'You should try and make people rise to the level of your work.'?"

Not that he expects that to happen. For now the industry remains the domain of the self-styled nutritionists and the pitchmen, where sales of Progenex's products remain relatively slow while Rene Gonzalez's prospects—thanks to the message-board buzz around Monsterdrol—are on the rise.