Jan 16 2008
DiCaffeine Malate Review
DiCaffeine malate is another version of caffeine (read my caffeine review). While it’s fairly undisputed that caffeine increases your metabolic rate–making it an effective ingredient in weight loss pills–it may not be something you’re interested in if you have trouble sleeping or find that you become jittery easily.
Forge Nutrition, makers of Adipokinetix, claim to “have developed an entirely new caffeine molecule called dicaffeine malate. This is a buffered caffeine salt that is both gentler on the stomach and more effective due to the shuttling effect, and the positive effect on energy replenishment that the malate ion has.”1 While their website’s intro brought a smile to my face, I had a hard time verifying that they actually developed this new caffeine molecule.
Further research into DiCaffeine Malate led me to a company called Creative Compounds, who claim to be “the secret weapon of industry leaders” and also the creators of the DiCaffeine Malate compound. Based on their site, I would tend to think their claim is true. I don’t know why Forge Nutrition makes the same claim. I called Forge Nutrition multiple times, trying different extensions (sales, marketing, customer service) and always got the same result (listen to my call to Forge Nutrition).
Admittedly, this is a bit of a tangent, but I like to see who’s coming up with these “amazing” new compounds.
Creative Compounds calls their DiCaffeine Malate product Infinergy and hawk it carefully as a replacement for Ephedra. I don’t necessarily care for that tactic that companies take because they never support their claim with any research (except possibly in the case of Synephrine, but even then, it’s a stretch to call it even close to an equivalent to Ephedra). Creative Compounds way of equating Infinergy DiCaffeine Malate with Ephedra is by saying:
Since the final dismissal of Ephedra, something has been missing in Energy & Pre-Workout formulas.
Basically they’re trying to pretend that caffeine (in any form) is Ephedra-equivalent. And it’s not.
From what I could gather, and admittedly, there’s not a lot to gather about this ingredient, despite it being available for 18 months at the time of this writing, DiCaffeine Malate is a combination of caffeine and malic acid. As I stated above, the efficacy of caffeine goes without saying, but what about malic acid?
Malic acid (originally isolated from apple juice, according to Wikipedia2) plays a role in the citric acid cycle. The citric acid cycle belongs to the metabolic cycle and helps in the conversion of fats, proteins, and carbohydrates into CO2 and water. This conversion results in energy that can be used by the body. You can see then where Forged Nutrition makes their claim about “the positive effect on energy replenishment that the malate ion has.”
A singular question remains: does DiCaffine Malate outperform a standard caffeine ingredient in a diet pill? If so, where is the research to support this? You would guess that Creative Compounds would be anxious to publish any research that showed their caffeine raw material was superior to their competitors (and worthy of inclusion in customers’ new weight loss products). However, they don’t supply any research. I couldn’t find any in my searches either.
My recommendation would be to treat DiCaffeine Malate the same as you would treat the inclusion of any caffeine in a diet pill. Know that it will increase your metabolic rate at the (possible) cost of jitters and some sleeplessness. Certainly don’t overpay because a company is pushing their use of “Infinergy” until there is some research that’s made available.
