Episode #219 of the PricePlow Podcast welcomes back Doug Miller, founder and CEO of Core Nutritionals, for a full portfolio catch-up 4.5 years after Episode #050: Protein Prices on the Rise and Figuring it Out with Doug Miller. Doug’s opening line sets the tone perfectly: “We’re *still* figuring it out and protein prices are *still* on the rise!”

In this conversation, Mike and Ben cover the entire Crush It Holdings universe:

• Doug’s amicable exit from Arms Race Nutrition
• The decision to shut down the resurrected Myoblox brand
• Where his focus now sits — Core Nutritionals, Unmatched Supps (his two-year partnership with Kris Gethin), and
• The freshly launched Nova Prime Labs research-use peptide venture.

Along the way, the crew digs into CreGAAtine, Unmatched’s DTC pivot away from broad retail, an incoming Stem Cell product launch, the Unmatched Bar targeting Olympia 2026, and how another protein price spike is reshaping Core’s lineup. Merica Labz gets a few shouts as well.

Subscribe to the PricePlow Podcast on your favorite platform and sign up for news alerts before you dive in!

https://blog.priceplow.com/podcast/doug-miller-219

Video: Doug Miller Returns: Core Nutritionals, Unmatched Supps & Nova Prime Labs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOXpJ94gZR4

Detailed Show Notes: Doug Miller on Core, Unmatched Supps, and Entering the Peptide Space

• (0:00) – Introductions
• (1:00) – Exiting Arms Race and Putting Myoblox to Bed
• (7:00) – What Makes a Brand Worth Running
• (12:00) – Core Nutritionals and Unmatched: Two Brands, One Focus
• (16:00) – The Kris Gethin Partnership: Founding Unmatched Supps
• (19:45) – Going All-Natural and Pulling Back from Vitamin Shoppe
• (22:00) – CreGAAtine: The Science and Unmatched’s First-in-the-US Play
• (24:30) – White Packaging, Stem Cell Launch, and Managing the Pipeline
• (30:00) – Functional Foods: Core Balls, Brownies, and the Unmatched Bar
• (35:30) – Merica Energy and the Unmatched Drink
• (38:45) – Entering the Peptide Space: Nova Prime Labs
• (43:30) – Quality Standards and the Scammer Already at the Door
• (49:00) – Oral Bioregulators and What Nova Prime Won’t Sell
• (51:15) – GLPs, Fat Burners, and “Natural” in 2026
• (57:00) – Crush It Wellness MD and Protein Prices: Still Figuring It Out

Big thanks to Doug Miller for coming back after four and a half years and talking through everything happening across the portfolio. If you’re following Core, Unmatched, Nova Prime, or Merica Labz, PricePlow has news alerts for all of them.

And thanks to Darren and the team at PerfectShaker for sponsoring the PricePlow Podcast — check out their lineup of shaker cups at PricePlow.com/perfect-shaker, or get the full story behind the brand in Darren Thompson: Inside PerfectShaker | Episode #209.

Subscribe to the PricePlow Podcast, sign up for news from Core, Unmatched, Doug Miller, and Merica Labz on PricePlow, and leave us a great review on iTunes and Spotify!

Where to Follow and Learn More

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The supplement industry is pushing back. In May 2026, a group of long-tenured ashwagandha producers and regulatory experts launched the Ashwagandha Standards Alliance (ASA), a new coalition dedicated to countering misinformation about ashwagandha leaf safety, defending GMP standards, and responding to what many in the industry see as scientifically unsupported regulatory actions: India’s April 2026 FSSAI/AYUSH leaf advisory and Denmark’s earlier ban.

In Episode #218 of the PricePlow Podcast, Mike and Ben sit down with Blake Ebersole, founding member of the ASA and president of NaturPro Scientific, a B2B quality and regulatory consulting firm. Blake unpacks and rejects the “root good, leaf bad” narrative, explains why in vitro cancer cell studies are being misused to target ashwagandha leaf, and details how lab shopping and supply chain fragmentation quietly erode quality across the botanical category. This episode pairs directly with our companion article on India’s ashwagandha leaf advisory. Together they cover both the regulatory deep-dive and the industry coalition response.

Subscribe to the PricePlow Podcast on your favorite platform and sign up for our ashwagandha news alerts on PricePlow before diving in.

https://blog.priceplow.com/podcast/ashwagandha-standards-alliance-218

Video: The Ashwagandha Standards Alliance Responds to India’s FSSAI Leaf Advisory

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxYGLOcgVIw

Detailed Show Notes: Blake Ebersole on the Ashwagandha Standards Alliance, FSSAI, and Industry GMP

• (0:00) – Introductions
• (2:45) – What Is the Ashwagandha Standards Alliance?
• (4:30) – How ASA Fits the Industry Landscape
• (6:15) – Educational, Policy, and Standards Goals
• (8:00) – Adverse Events at Scale and Ashwagandha’s Safety Record
• (11:15) – Denmark’s Ban and the Hazard-Based Regulatory Model
• (15:15) – Withaferin A and the In Vitro Extrapolation Problem
• (18:30) – How Competitive Interests Drove the Market Off Track
• (21:00) – Label Disclosure, Dilution, and Maltodextrin
• (25:00) – The Billion-Dollar Market and Supply Chain Fragmentation
• (30:00) – India’s Regulatory Framework: Food, Drug, and No Middle Ground
• (32:15) – Farmers, Brokers, and the FSSAI Advisory’s Unintended Consequences
• (38:00) – Research Gaps and the Clinical Literature
• (41:00) – Extraction Methods: Milk, Solvents, and Withanolide Chemistry
• (44:30) – Consumer Education and the Demand for Transparency
• (46:30) – Lab Shopping and the Broken Incentive Structure
• (52:45) – Branded Ingredients and GMP Supplier Qualification
• (55:15) – ASA Founding Members: Sabinsa, Cepham, and Arjuna Natural
• (58:00) – Formula Ideas: Sleep, Lifestyle, and Beyond the Basics
• (1:00:45) – Anhedonia, Cortisol, and What the Science Says

Where to Follow and Learn More

Connect with Blake Ebersole and the Ashwagandha Standards Alliance

• LinkedIn: Blake Ebersole (founding member of the ASA and president of NaturPro Scientific)
• Ashwagandha Standards Alliance Website
• Ashwagandha Standards Alliance on LinkedIn…

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NuLiv Science ingredients are everywhere in the modern supplement stack. AstraGin® shows up in pre-workouts, protein powders, energy drinks, and gut health supplements. Senactiv® anchors some of the most performance-focused formulas in sports nutrition. Yet for all that visibility, the brand hasn’t sat down for an in-depth podcast with Team PricePlow for quite some time.

Episode #217 brings in Luis Gonzalez, VP of Sales at NuLiv Science, for a 70-minute walkthrough of the NuLiv story and its full ingredient portfolio. Mike hosts solo and the two cover Luis’s path from financial services into supplement sales, the full NuLiv Science ingredient lineup, the evolution of the brand’s research, and every ingredient in the portfolio: AstraGin®, Senactiv®, Zylaria®, InnoSlim®, JointIQ®, Astrion®, and CordycepsPrimeâ ¢.

The centerpiece is NuLiv’s most ambitious AstraGin® clinical to date: a 2026 whey protein absorption study documenting 12% to 14% amino acid uptake improvements and a meaningful zonulin reduction across three age demographics. A lot has changed since Episode #059 in 2021. This episode gets you fully caught up, and Luis has a pretty cool story getting into the industry as well.

https://blog.priceplow.com/podcast/nuliv-science-luis-gonzalez-217

Video: Luis Gonzalez of NuLiv Science: AstraGin, Senactiv Senolytics, and the Full 2026 Portfolio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et_ErGPaP2I

Detailed Show Notes: NuLiv Science’s Full Ingredient Portfolio with Luis Gonzalez

• (0:00) – Introduction
• (1:30) – Luis’s Path from Financial Services to NuLiv Science
• (5:00) – Getting NuLiv Science Into Sports Nutrition
• (7:15) – NuLiv’s Content-First Strategy
• (9:30) – The Ghost Connection: How Senactiv Found Its Audience
• (13:30) – Senactiv: Ten Papers and a Research Arc Unlike Any Other
• (21:00) – Senactiv Doses: 50mg vs. 100mg
• (23:30) – Zylaria®: Deep Sleep, GABA Support, and No Next-Day Grogginess
• (26:00) – AstraGin as Flagship (And the CordycepsPrimeâ ¢ Volume Surprise)
• (27:30) – The 2026 AstraGin Study: Whey Protein, Amino Acid Absorption, and Zonulin
• (33:45) – AstraGin for Gut Health and Healthy Aging
• (38:45) – NuLiv’s Origins: Founded as a Mushroom Company in 1997
• (40:45) – MLM Clients, Quality Standards, and Vitafoods Europe
• (46:45) – JointIQ® and the “Same Plant, Different Compounds” Explanation
• (50:45) – InnoSlim and the GLP-1 Market Shift
• (53:45) – NuLiv Ingredients as GLP-1 Adjuncts
• (57:45) – Grinding the 1099 Hustle: Luis’s Path to VP of Sales
• (1:01:45) – Formulator’s Corner: The GLP-1 Support Stack
• (1:05:30) – New Senactiv Research, Astrion Skin Health, and Closing Thoughts

Where to Follow and Learn More

Connect with Luis Gonzalez

• LinkedIn: Luis Gonzalez
• Instagram: @luisjr_fit

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