Anyone have any experience with sulbutiamine? It goes by the brand name Arcalion, and is found in the "proprietary" formula in Biotest's Spike supplement. It's a nootropic for mental clarity, focus, and memory, and is marketed in the fitness community for energy and clarity in workouts and competition. The chemical is a vitamin B (thiamine) analogue. A number of articles at pubmed show that it has been studied with some success over the past few years, and the internet is filled with anecdotal evidence of its use, but not of its long-term effects.

Anyone want to share their comments? I haven't tried it (yet). I have no dire need for the supplement, however, it would be nice to know if it works and if it's safe. There is some conflicting opinion about Biotest's version of it: their forums (t-nation.com) undoubtedly cast it in good light, by both the "pros" and the community. Other forums have praised the pure bulk supplement powder (plus caffeine), and have complained to no end that Spike has caused too many side effects.

Any thoughts?

Wow, i am really disappointed that no one here knows about Spike. Tennisball, I have been researching exactly the same things lately.

both bodybuilding.com and avantlabs.com detest Spike, however, t-nation adores it.

I love several of the t-nation authors, especially waterbury and JB, but why is the entire forum obsessed with biotest and supporting their products and claims? sigh

It seems like from what I've read by other non-t-nation users, it's the formula that spike uses that creates the problems, not the chemical itself. Sulbutiamine is in the scientific literature, and seems to have proven beneficial cognative enhancement, and is used more widely overseas. I do think it's strange that t-nation continues to refer to sulbutiamine as a chemical formula rather than its common or patented name. That appears suspect at best.


I think the problem with t-nation is that since the operators over there take such care to reply to every email, personally address each question in the forums, they have built a pretty reliable and trusting customer base. Not everyone who uses t-nation is intelligent (while many have to be fairly smart to understand the level of sophistication in some of the articles), but if you have a trusting fan base, the owners can probably let a few slip by while resting on their laurels.






Wow, i am really disappointed that no one here knows about Spike. Tennisball, I have been researching exactly the same things lately.

both bodybuilding.com and avantlabs.com detest Spike, however, t-nation adores it.

I love several of the t-nation authors, especially waterbury and JB, but why is the entire forum obsessed with biotest and supporting their products and claims? sigh