Perfect Amino is a dietary supplement manufactured by a brand called BodyHealth. The manufacturer claims that this supplement is “99% utilized" and that it helps to support muscle mass.
But does Perfect Amino contain research-backed ingredients for supporting muscle and metabolic health, or are these just marketing claims? Does the utilization ratio of protein sources even matter from a health perspective? Why did Perfect Amino's manufacturer receive a warning letter from the FDA? And which retailer sells Perfect Amino for the best price?
In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more as we analyze the ingredients in Perfect Amino based on medical studies to give our take on whether the supplement is likely to be effective, or if it's a waste of money.
We'll also explain why BodyHealth received a warning letter from the FDA, highlight some questionable health claims on the brand's website, feature real customer reviews and provide a cost breakdown to document which retailer sells Perfect Amino for the best price.
Ingredient Analysis
The ingredients in Perfect Amino are shown above.
L-leucine, l-valine, l-isoleucine, l-lysine HCL, l-phenylalanine, l-threonine, l-methionine, and l-tryptophan are all "essential" amino acids, meaning they must be obtained from diet or supplementation; they are not produced by the body.
There are actually 9 essential amino acids, and the one missing from Perfect Amino is histidine. BodyHealth wrote a blog post claiming that there is “scientific debate” about whether histidine is truly an amino acid.
A medical review of histidine published in the well-respected Nutrients journal describes the amino acid as essential in the very first sentence of the publication: “L-histidine (HIS) is an essential amino acid...”
Food products which are considered “complete proteins” contain all nine essential amino acids (including histidine). According to the USDA, a cooked chicken is a complete protein (as just one example of many).
We haven't come across any convincing medical evidence that essential amino acid supplementation improves any health outcome in otherwise healthy individuals, nor does BodyHealth cite any on their product page.
Put simply, we don't really understand the purpose of this supplement or why anyone would buy it.
The good news is that there are no unhealthy active or inactive ingredients in this product, so we don't believe it's likely to be harmful or cause any side effects.
But why did BodyHealth receive a warning from the FDA? We'll discuss in the next section.
FDA Warning Letter
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sends warning letters to dietary supplement companies that make unfounded health claims which technically categorize their products as drugs.
In 2020, the FDA sent a warning letter to BodyHealth instructing the company to correct several health claims they were making about their products. Below are some of the questionable health claims called out by the FDA:
- “Body detox gives a necessary boost to your body’s natural detox pathways along with some extra help for removing heavy metals, viral particles, and other harmful chemicals…”
On your product page, under “Description”:
- “[S]aving your kidneys from the damage and overwork common in many detox programs…”
On your product page, under “Ingredients”:
- “Protease inhibitors- are a class of compounds used to treat or prevent infection by viruses, including HIV and Hepatitis C.”
We recommend that consumers be extremely wary of supplement brands that were warned by the FDA about health claims on their website, although it's worth noting that the letter had nothing to do with the marketing of Perfect Amino.
Strange Health Claims on Perfect Amino Site
There are a number of questionable and uncited health claims on the Perfect Amino website. As shown below, the brand claims (without providing any proof) that “almost everyone is protein deficient without realizing it":
This is simply untrue in developed nations.
A 2018 medical review on the topic was even titled “Protein deficiency - a rare nutrient deficiency.”
The study authors stated the following in the very first sentence of their abstract: “There is a widespread myth that we have to be careful about what we eat so that we do not cause protein deficiency.”
Most consumers in developed nations have access to a wide range of protein-rich foods. Even “processed foods” which are considered unhealthy such as pizza or hamburgers contain high protein doses.
The brand also claims that “the protein in food is not converted into body protein”:
This is an uncited and unscientific claim. Humans have been digesting protein from food for millennia, and in the absence of gastrointestinal disease, protein is well-absorbed.
A medical review published in the Annual Review of Medicine journal documents that dietary protein is efficiently absorbed and assimilated in most cases.
The brand's website also publishes a "Protein Utilization Chart":
This graphic suggests, without any proof or citation, that only 32% of energy from meat is used to build protein, while 68% is converted to sugars or fats. We have never come across any medical studies suggesting this, and we have no idea where the brand is getting these numbers from.
We recommend again that consumers be wary of supplement brands that make questionable health claims without providing any proof of those claims.
Real Customers Review Perfect Amino
Amazon is a better resource for honest customer reviews than a brand's website in our opinion.
Perfect Amino's coated tablets have been reviewed over 700 times on Amazon, with an average review rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars.
The top positive review from a verified purchaser is written by a user named "Jacob Thornton" who suggests the supplement has performance benefits:
“Recovery time alone for me has increased exponentially—I can really tell the difference after a hard leg day.”
The top negative review from a verified purchaser is written by a user named “HFS” who claims that the product hasn’t improved their aesthetics:
“I bought this product on the hopes that I would see larger biceps triceps and shoulders…It’s been 2 weeks.”
In fairness to Perfect Amino, taking amino acids and working out will not cause significant muscle gain in two weeks, so this reviewer’s expectations seem illogical.
Where to Get the Best Price
Perfect Amino is sold at a variety of online retailers. Here's a price breakdown at the time of updating this article:
Brand website: $43.95 (link)
Amazon: $43.94 (link)
Walmart: $39.99 (link)
Perfect Amino is slightly cheaper on Walmart than the other two retailers, but both the Amazon and Walmart listings are from third-party sellers. It may be safer to purchase this supplement from the brand directly.
Our Clean Protein Picks
MBG Whey Protein Isolate+ is our top overall protein powder.
Whey protein is a "complete" protein, meaning it contains all nine essential amino acids.
Complement Organic Protein is our top vegan protein powder.
The only ingredients in this protein powder are a blend of nutritious plant proteins: organic yellow pea protein, organic pumpkin seed protein, organic almond protein, organic sunflower seed protein and organic chia seed protein.
All of the products recommended in this section are entirely free of additive ingredients that we consider to be unhealthy.
Pros and Cons of Perfect Amino
Here are the pros and cons of Perfect Amino in our opinion:
Pros:
- Safe formulation
- Shouldn't cause side effects
- No unhealthy ingredients
- May support athletic performance
- Positive Amazon reviews
Cons:
- Manufacturer received FDA warning letter
- Strange and uncited health claims on brand website
- Doesn’t contain all essential amino acids
- Doesn't appear clinically tested
- We can't find any convincing evidence suggesting this product would benefit health of otherwise healthy adults
