This is something from Synapsin comparing CA and Talos
Competitive Edge Lab’s (CEL) Cycle Assist
Cycle Assist is designed to be an all-in-one support solution for basic on cycle and post cycle therapy needs. Cycle Assist contains a combination of specifically dosed ingredients designed to help provide liver, blood pressure, cholesterol, prostate, and acne support (1-35).
Also, unlike many other products in its class, every herb in Cycle Assist is a standardized extract and the standardization amount is clearly identified on the label. This is extremely important because it is the amount of active ingredient that an herb is standardized for that determines the level of benefits received from it. Example: A product can be dosed very high in mg of herb powder, but standardized poorly and therefore offer very little if anything in terms of effectiveness.
This article will serve as a comprehensive guide to the most important ingredients in Cycle Assist.
N-Acetyl-l-Cysteine (NAC) is used in the management of drug overdose (such as acetaminophen), and acts as a mucolytic agent. The inclusion of NAC in Cycle Assist is due to its protective effects on the liver and kidney. It is possibly one of the most effective over the counter products available on the market for protecting your liver from damage (1-13).
Milk Thistle is perhaps one of the most famous herbs in the world, widely known for its liver protective effects. Research on milk thistle has suggested that it is both capable of preventing liver damage AND repairing liver damage (14-18).
Pantothenic Acid has been shown to lower free cholesterol, triglyceride counts, and total cholesterol in the liver (19).
Hawthorn Berry Extract has been shown to potentially help with chronic heart failure, fatigue, palpitations, and dyspnea (20-21).
Vitamin B-6 (Pyridoxine HCl) can protect individuals from cardiovascular disease by lowering homocysteine levels in the blood (22-23).
Saw Palmetto Extract is a popular men’s health herbal product, most commonly used for benign prostatic hyperplasia. Users often take it while on cycle for prostate health benefits. It has also been suggested to help with male pattern baldness (24-28).
Celery Seed Extract has been suggested to lower blood sugar, decrease blood pressure, promote relaxation, and protect the liver from damage (29-30).
Grape Seed Extract can potentially improve symptoms of hypertension, lower high levels of blood cholesterol, inflammation, and improve liver function (31-33).
Policosanol can potentially improve your cholesterol levels by lowering levels of LDL (bad cholesterol) while simultaneously improving levels of HDL (good cholesterol) (34-35).
Antaeus Labs Talos
Since the release of CEL’s Cycle Assist, many companies have tried to release their own version of Cycle Assist, but they all pale in comparison to Cycle Assist, the best on cycle product on the market. One such product is Antaeus Labs’ product “Talos”. A comprehensive review of the literature has revealed that this product is nothing more than pixie dust, filled with many ingredients at either meaningless doses, lacking any extract information, or ingredients that have zero applications in humans (with little to no animal research either).
The only overlapping ingredients in Talos that overlaps with Cycle Assist is Vitamin B6. Cycle Assist not only states what form of Vitamin B6 we use (this actually matters), but also has a higher dosage of B6.
The main ingredients in Talos are the following:
Prunus Cerasus (Sour Cherry)
Matrine
Trans-Resveratrol
Dunaliella salina extract (10% 9-Cis-Beta Carotene)
Salicin
Astaxanthin
Prunus Cerasus (Sour Cherry) only has one real study on it. The study has no data on its usage in humans, its only data conducted on cell cultures, and it’s only suggested function is that it may act as an antioxidant. It is virtually useless for usage as an on cycle product (36).
Matrine has been suggested to act as an analgesic and an anti-cancer agent, but again, that is irrelevant to an individual running a cycle. Its anti-cancer properties (specifically breast cancer) would be more relevant for usage during PCT rather than on cycle, and it has no human data to confirm such a conclusion that is indeed effective for that usage (37-38).
Trans-Resveratrol is a very popular buzz product (and it has been the last few year), but nobody is quite sure what it actually does yet. It suffers from huge bio-availability issues (oral resveratrol bio-availability is nearly zero), and the dose in Talos (50 mg), is worthless in humans (39).
Dunaliella salina extract (10% 9-Cis-Beta Carotene) is a head scratcher. It has one study on the effects of cancer of proventriculus in mice, and a few studies evaluating its efficacy as a potential antimicrobial. This ingredient has no place in an on cycle product, and truly shows how much of a filler in is (40-41).
Salicin is the one ingredient in this product has that any real benefit, but the dosage in this product is far too low for users to feel any benefit.
Astaxanthin is similar to Dunaliella salina extract in that it is an antioxidant that neutralizes free radicals in the eye and nervous system. Its inclusion in an on cycle product, however, is meaningless because it is primarily used by individuals to promote ocular health, which is not a real concern for those on cycle.
And there you have it, a comprehensive review of the best on cycle product on the market (Cycle Assist) versus the latest pretender (Talos). Not only does Cycle Assist include a variety of standardized herbal extracts with clinical trials in humans, but it also includes them at physiologically relevant dosages.
Sorry for the wall of text but if its definitely worth reading