ForsLean, which has been a staple ingredient for Sabinsa for years, is an extract of the botanical Coleus forskohlii and is standardized to 10% or 20% forskohlin content. FitLife is using the 10% version in its capsule product, which it is launching under iSatori’s BioGenetic Laboratories imprimatur. The product is branded as Forskohlin Lean & Tone.
Reasonable claims
Sabinsa has a history of vigorous defense of the many patents it holds on its ingredients and technology. It is no less protective of the reputation of the ingredients it sells in the marketplace, and the company took issue with the hubbub surrounding forskohlin following a Dr Oz Show segment featuring the botanical several years ago. According to Sabinsa, the segment seemed to promise the impossible.
“A Dr. Oz segment asking ‘Are you ready to make your stubborn stomach fat instantly disappear?’ implied forskohlin magically creates a flat belly. We respectfully disagree with Dr Oz in such miraculous claims. We do, however, appreciate that he mentioned our studies on bone mineral density increase, testosterone support and increase in lean body mass, all of which were clinically shown with ForsLean,” the company said.
The Dr Oz mention also raised the issue of an overheated market with its attendant possibilities for substitution and economic adulteration. Sabinsa marketing director Shaheen Majeed said the company has taken steps to make sure that there is sufficient supply of documented Coleus forskohlii to service its customers.
"We've expanded our coleus cultivation program with farmers throughout India and ramped up production, including upgrades to our facilities to help with the intermediary steps. We're prepared to make sure that serious marketers can have access to Sabinsa's coleus ingredient, in order to ensure consumers have the real deal,” he said.
More rollouts with GNC
Last year FitLife entered into a closer distribution relationship with GNC. While there were some initial hiccups in that process, this latest launch shows the power of the arrangement going forward, according to FitLife CEO John Wilson.
“This launch is our first with an iSatori product and is indicative how we plan to leverage our strong relationship with GNC to quickly bring new products to market in both corporate and franchise locations across all of our brands. We have many new additional iSatori products in the late stages of development with plans to launch in early in 2016. We are excited about our ability to leverage the collective knowledge base of the combined companies to develop new products that fall in line with our strategy of building a portfolio of authentic and innovative, best-in-class nutritional supplement brands that have a strong value proposition for consumers as well as our distribution partners,” he said.