Truth #1: How Amino Acids are Made

Most amino acids (BCAA’s) are sourced from either human hair, duck feathers, or pig skin/fur. Yes, you read that right… it turns out Keratin which is a fibrous protein that forms the structure of hair, feathers, hoofs, claws, etc. has a very high amino acid content. The extraction process when made from hair or feathers is very harsh and uses chemicals to extract the amino acids. It’s also a much cheaper way for supplement companies to cut costs. As you’re aware by now, at KONO, we put your health as our number one priority and won't cut corners just to save a dime and sacrifice your health. This is why our BCAA’s are sourced from a plant-based fermentation process. We know how important it is to properly source ingredients for our bodies and for our world, and we also know that drinking duck feathers sounds like a fear factor challenge!

Truth #2: Proprietary Blends

This is just a fancy way of saying we own the rights to this blend and nobody gets to know the exact formula. However, many companies take advantage of this and hide their formula from the consumers… not the competition like it was designed for. For example, we could put a dust sized particle of 10 different superfoods into our product and list them in a Propriety blend. It makes it look like we have all these amazing superfood ingredients in our product, even though it’s just a pinch of everything and would do essentially nothing to benefit your health because the dose is so low. Make sure to try to avoid labels that use proprietary blends, and instead look for ones that tell you the dose of each ingredient!

Truth #3: Natural Flavors

If you google “what’s in natural flavors?” it’s actually pretty comical. One of the ingredients that comes up regularly is secretion from a beaver’s anus. It’s commonly used as an additive for natural vanilla flavor...the word NATURAL is so misleading! I was thrilled when most companies shifted from artificial flavors to natural flavors. But after digging into how natural flavors are made, it’s pretty disappointing to know they can use the word natural. It just means it originates from something in nature, for example, a beaver is a part of nature I guess! Then they add a ton of ingredients and chemicals to it from there. In fact, most natural flavors contain 50-100 ingredients just to make up one flavor, and all that’s required on the label is “natural strawberry flavor.” This is why you won’t find natural flavors in KONO products, instead, we use real foods to create the great taste!