Protein and Muscle Size Increase : New studies answer the question: Do you need more aminos to grow? by Jerry Brainum

It may seem on par with those who insist that the earth is flat, but some self-styled nutrition experts insist that bodybuilders need no more protein than a couch potato does. Two recently published studies that examined protein use specifically for building muscle, however, show that protein type and timing are of fundamental importance.

   The first study lasted 14 weeks and compared the results of taking protein or carbohydrate after training.1 The participants were 22 men, average age 23, none of whom had trained in the six months prior to the study. Nor had they used any food supplements that could be construed as having “anabolic” properties, such as creatine or protein drinks.

   The men were divided into two groups, with one group getting protein, the other carbohydrates. The protein serving contained 16.6 grams of whey, 2.8 grams of casein, 2.8 grams of egg white protein and 2.8 grams of L-glutamine. The carb serving contained 25 grams of maltodextrin. Both supplements contained an equal number of calories, and both were heavily flavored with vanilla to disguise which was which. The subjects took them before and after each workout and in the morning on rest days.

   All the men trained only their legs during the study, using standard exercises, such as leg presses, leg extensions and leg curls.They did the workout three times a week for 14 weeks, doing three to four sets of each exercise.

   The results were hardly surprising. Only those in the protein group showed gains in muscle size and strength. The training and additional protein led to an 18 percent size increase in the type 1, or slow-twitch, muscle fibers, and a respectable 26 percent increase in the size of type 2, or fast-twitch, muscle fibers. Despite using an identical training program, those who got only the carb supplement gained nothing.

   Why would anyone compare protein with carbs as a way of encouraging muscle gains? Past studies show that taking in carbs after a workout appears to blunt the effects of cortisol, an adrenal catabolic hormone that increases with exercise. Blunting the effects of cortisol would tip the balance toward muscle growth, and carbs promote an insulin release that drives amino acids into muscle. Amino acids must be present as protein, however, for that to occur. As the study shows, carbs without protein do nothing to promote muscular gains.

   The second study compared the effects of milk and soy proteins in promoting muscle growth in young men.2 Some authors have mistakenly identified soy as a slow-acting protein, but like whey it is, in fact, a rapidly absorbed protein source. That, however, is where the similarity ends. Whey supports muscle protein synthesis because of its rapid uptake, while soy protein more rapidly degrades in the liver and supports liver protein synthesis more than muscle.

   The study mentions previous research showing that when you increase whey protein intake, its efficiency drops, likely due to greater oxidation in the liver. The efficiency of soy, though, drops even more. So if you get amounts of protein that exceed the requirement for muscle protein synthesis, most of the excess will be oxidized in the liver.

   Some scientists who study protein metabolism think that suddenly limiting protein in those who, like bodybuilders, have a habitually high protein intake can result in a negative nitrogen balance—again, because of upgraded liver oxidation of excess protein. The scientists think that the body gets so used to oxidizing protein that if you take in less, the body will increase the breakdown of existing protein—as in muscle. That’s a controversial theory that isn’t supported by a large body of proof.

   The other fate of excess protein is conversion into fat, though that doesn’t happen in active people. That doesn’t keep “experts” from saying that “eating too much protein can make you fat.” Well, yes, but only if you do nothing more physical than press buttons on your TV remote.

   In the new study, intake of milk protein led to a markedly greater uptake of amino nitrogen than soy did. Another part of the study found that milk protein was far more efficient than soy in promoting muscle gains.

   Clearly, there is no reason to add soy to a milk protein blend. Soy offers no advantages from an anabolic perspective, and it tends to promote internal organ protein synthesis instead of skeletal muscle. Soy does offer one advantage: It’s cheap and a good filler, so you can use less of the higher-grade milk proteins.

References

1 Andersen, L.L., et al. (2005). The effect of resistance training combined with timed ingestion of protein on muscle fiber size and muscle strength. Metabolism. 54:151-56.

2 Phillips, S., et al. (2005). Dietary protein to support anabolism with resistance exercise in young men. J Amer Coll Nutr. 24:134S-139S.

©,2011 Jerry Brainum.Any reprinting in any type of media, including electronic and foreign is expressly prohibited.

Have you been ripped off  by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Jerry Brainum's book Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com.

 

The Applied Ergogenics blog is a collection of articles written and published by Jerry Brainum over the past 20 years. These articles have appeared in Muscle and Fitness, Ironman, and other magazines. Many of the posts on the blog are original articles, having appeared here for the first time. For Jerry’s most recent articles, which are far more in depth than anything that appears on this blog site, please subscribe to his Applied Metabolics Newsletter, at www.appliedmetabolics.com. This newsletter, which is more correctly referred to as a monthly e-book, since its average length is 35 to 40 pages, contains the latest findings about nutrition, exercise science, fat-loss, anti-aging, ergogenic aids, food supplements, and other topics. For 33 cents a day you get the benefit of Jerry’s 53 years of writing and intense study of all matters pertaining to fitness,health, bodybuilding, and disease prevention.

 

See Jerry's book at  http://www.jerrybrainum.com

 

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Postworkout Protein Power : Whey vs. casein in the race to your muscles by Jerry Brainum

The two primary proteins in milk are casein and whey. Several highly publicized studies have shown that their metabolism and uptake characteristics vary in the human body. Whey is absorbed rapidly, peaking in the blood after about 90 minutes. Casein, on the other hand, is a slow-acting protein. It undergoes a type of clotting in the stomach that results in a more gradual release of amino acids into the blood.


    Studies comparing absorption characteristics of whey and casein show that casein promotes a slow trickle of amino acids into the blood that lasts as long as seven hours. Amino acids in the blood blunt muscle-protein breakdown. The rapid absorption of whey leads to greater oxidation of absorbed amino acids in the liver and a higher rate of muscle protein synthesis (because of more immediate amino acid availability) but fewer anticatabolic effects than casein provides.

    One important point about those celebrated milk protein studies is that they were done using nonexercising subjects during resting conditions. More recent research that studied exercising populations—both animal and human—show that supplying essential amino acids both before and after exercise potently promotes muscle protein synthesis, leading to gains in muscle size and strength.

    But what about casein and whey? Since they get absorbed at different rates, would one prove superior to the other in promoting muscle gains after weight training? That was the precise focus of a recent study.1 Researchers gave one of three drinks to healthy volunteers one hour after they completed a leg extension workout. The three drinks consisted of:



1) 20 grams of casein

2) 20 grams of whey

3) A placebo, or inactive drink


   To track the metabolic fate of the proteins, the authors measured the routes of two essential amino acids, leucine and phenylalanine, in the blood. As expected, both proteins caused a positive protein balance. Leucine levels peaked faster after the whey drink, but levels of phenylalanine didn’t. Since amino acids compete for absorption carriers in the body, leucine may have proved superior in that regard. At the start of the study both proteins showed similar uptakes for phenylalanine, but casein showed a higher level in the blood as time continued, which helps confirm casein’s slow-acting attributes.

   On the other hand, at the conclusion of the study both proteins caused similar blood levels of phenylalanine. That led the authors to observe that from an anabolic perspective there were no significant differences between whey and casein intake following weight training. They also note that the only metabolic fate for phenylalanine is to be taken up by muscle for use in protein synthesis, while leucine, a branched-chain amino, can be metabolized in muscle for energy. The phenylalanine levels are a more accurate indicator than leucine of muscle anabolic response. The rapid absorption of whey also leads to more rapid leucine oxidation; the authors calculated negligible leucine oxidation from casein but a 57 percent oxidation from whey.

   Of the two amino acids examined in the study, only phenylalanine is used solely in muscle-protein synthesis. Since the fate of phenylalanine was similar for both whey and casein, the authors conclude that both proteins are equally effective in promoting increased muscle protein synthesis after weight training.

1 Tipton, K.D., et al. (2004). Ingestion of casein and whey proteins results in muscle anabolism after resistance exercise. Med Sci Sports Exer. 36:2073-81.

©,2012 Jerry Brainum. Any reprinting in any type of media, including electronic and foreign is expressly prohibited

Have you been ripped off  by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Jerry Brainum's book Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com.

 

The Applied Ergogenics blog is a collection of articles written and published by Jerry Brainum over the past 20 years. These articles have appeared in Muscle and Fitness, Ironman, and other magazines. Many of the posts on the blog are original articles, having appeared here for the first time. For Jerry’s most recent articles, which are far more in depth than anything that appears on this blog site, please subscribe to his Applied Metabolics Newsletter, at www.appliedmetabolics.com. This newsletter, which is more correctly referred to as a monthly e-book, since its average length is 35 to 40 pages, contains the latest findings about nutrition, exercise science, fat-loss, anti-aging, ergogenic aids, food supplements, and other topics. For 33 cents a day you get the benefit of Jerry’s 53 years of writing and intense study of all matters pertaining to fitness,health, bodybuilding, and disease prevention.

 

See Jerry's book at  http://www.jerrybrainum.com

 

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Is training the largest muscles first the best way? by Jerry Brainum

   Nearly all bodybuilding programs suggest that you start your workout with exercises for larger muscle groups and finish with smaller ones. The rationale is that larger muscle groups require more energy and working them after smaller muscle groups may lead to fewer muscle gains.

   A recent study examined the effects of exercise sequence in the performance of repetitions and perceived exertion, or how difficult the workout felt.1 The subjects were 14 men and four women, average age 20, with at least six months of training experience. They engaged in two different upper-body workouts, with each workout separated by 48 hours of rest. In the first workout they began with larger muscle groups and finished with smaller muscle groups. The second workout reversed the exercise sequence, starting with smaller muscle groups and ending with larger. They did each exercise for three sets of 10 reps, resting two minutes between sets.

   The experiment showed that whether you train large or small muscle areas first, by the third set you’re considerably weaker, as measured in number of reps completed. Exercises done in the middle part of the workout, however, weren’t affected in either workout. Past studies show that by the fourth set of any exercise, you’re 12.8 to 58.2 percent weaker than you were during the first set.

   Most of the subjects said that the workout was considerably harder when they trained larger muscle groups first. That makes sense, since training larger muscle areas requires more energy and produces more fatigue than training smaller muscle areas. Working legs fatigues the average bodybuilder far more than training biceps. For that reason nearly all bodybuilders train larger muscle groups first in any particular workout.

   In some cases training a larger muscle area first is so fatiguing that you simply can’t effectively train smaller muscle groups afterward. I found that to be true when I tried to use the popular push-pull sequence of exercises, in which you work pushing muscles, such as chest and triceps, one day, followed by pulling muscles, such as back and biceps, the following day. Legs are usually trained on the days you train chest and triceps, since attempting to train the two largest muscle groups, legs and back, in one workout is just too hard.

   What I found was that I got a good workout training the initial large muscle group—legs or back—but I had little or no energy left to effectively train the smaller muscle groups. By the time I got to biceps after training back, I hardly felt the curls. The same was true of training chest after thighs.

   From a practical standpoint, as this study shows, the final exercise in any muscle group will be limited by cumulative fatigue. So it’s logical to use a lighter isolation exercise as the final exercise. Arnold Schwarzenegger realized that during his competitive days. When training his biceps, he always finished off with some form of dumbbell concentration curl, usually in a standing, bent-over position. Arnold almost never used more than 40 pounds on the exercise, instead focusing on form and feel.

   Thus, if you attempt to do three large-muscle-group exercises in one workout, the third exercise will promote little added muscle size. Better to finish off with a lighter isolation exercise and just go for the pump and feel, as Arnold did.

1 Siamao, R., et al. (2005). Influence of exercise order on the number of repetitions performed and perceived exertion during resistance training. J Strength Con Res. 19:152-56.

also see Pat Neve's bodybuilding diet book (A Self-fulfillment book) [Paperback]


©,2013 Jerry Brainum. Any reprinting in any type of media, including electronic and foreign is expressly prohibited.

Have you been ripped off  by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Jerry Brainum's book Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com.

 

The Applied Ergogenics blog is a collection of articles written and published by Jerry Brainum over the past 20 years. These articles have appeared in Muscle and Fitness, Ironman, and other magazines. Many of the posts on the blog are original articles, having appeared here for the first time. For Jerry’s most recent articles, which are far more in depth than anything that appears on this blog site, please subscribe to his Applied Metabolics Newsletter, at www.appliedmetabolics.com. This newsletter, which is more correctly referred to as a monthly e-book, since its average length is 35 to 40 pages, contains the latest findings about nutrition, exercise science, fat-loss, anti-aging, ergogenic aids, food supplements, and other topics. For 33 cents a day you get the benefit of Jerry’s 53 years of writing and intense study of all matters pertaining to fitness,health, bodybuilding, and disease prevention.

 

See Jerry's book at  http://www.jerrybrainum.com

 

Want more evidence-based information on exercise science, nutrition and food supplements, ergogenic aids, and anti-aging research? Check out Applied Metabolics Newsletter at www.appliedmetabolics.com

 

Oral Hex by Jerry Brainum

 Most oral versions of anabolic steroids have the reputation of being toxic to the liver when taken in comparatively large doses or for extended times. A primary function of the liver is detoxifying substances the body takes in, and hormones are no exception. The liver quickly degrades oral testosterone to a water-soluble, inert form for excretion. To prevent rapid breakdown by the liver, scientists tweaked the basic testosterone structure.


   All oral anabolic steroids have the same tweak, known as 17-alpha alkylation, which enables them to escape first-pass deactivation by the liver and accumulate there. Many scientists feel that the buildup leads to the eventual destruction of liver cells. Studies show various problems in the liver related to oral steroid use, including a type of hepatitis, or inflammation, that blocks the normal flow of bile through the liver, an action called cholestasis.

   If people take oral steroids in large doses or for extended times, they may experience actual destruction of the liver. In some cases that involves bloody pockets of liver tissue, known as peliosis hepatis. Such cases are rare in athletes; instead they show up in hospitalized patients who took oral steroids as therapy for five consecutive years or more. That practice no longer occurs, since doctors now treat those patients with other drugs.

   When most athletes use oral steroids, the stress on their livers is reflected in increased liver enzyme levels. Generally the levels don’t become critical, which has led doctors to think that the steroids cause minor damage, if any. In addition, the liver is one of the body’s tougher organs and can take a lot of abuse before it finally quits. That’s because liver enzymes rapidly return to normal when a person stops using anabolic steroids.

   Even so, no one knows why or how oral anabolic steroids induce liver damage. A new animal study, using both sedentary and exercising rats as subjects, offers some plausible answers.1 The drug that the rats were on for eight weeks was stanozolol, more familiarly known by its trade name, Winstrol.

   Winstrol is available in both oral and injectable forms. The injectable version gained worldwide notoriety when sprinter Ben Johnson was stripped of his ’88 Olympic gold medal after testing positive for Winstrol-V. It’s a DHT derivative, which means it can’t be converted into estrogen—so there’s no water retention or other estrogen-related side effects, like gynecomastia, or male breast formation.

   Winstrol has long had a reputation among bodybuilders for promoting a harder-looking physique. It also appears to significantly increase strength levels. Some suggest that Winstrol displaces the primary androgen protein carrier in the blood, sex-hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), which would reinforce the effectiveness of any other steroids used with Winstrol. The average oral dose is about 25 milligrams daily, with up to 50 milligrams a day for the injectable version.

   The drawbacks of Winstrol are similar to those of other oral steroids. Since Winstrol features the 17-alpha alkylation, it is potentially toxic to the liver. The injectable versions also feature the liver tweak, which means they, too, are possibly liver toxic. The DHT feature of the drug makes it a poor choice for those concerned about male-pattern baldness. While DHT-derived drugs also often promote acne, that’s a lesser problem with Winstrol.

   The liver is subjected to a huge amount of oxidative stress, during which large amounts of cell-damaging free radicals are released. The liver has its own augmented antioxidant defense system to offset oxidative onslaught. In the rat-based study, however, the rats getting Winstrol showed a significant increase in internal liver oxidation that overwhelmed the usual defenses.

   The liver has a second line of defense should its oxidative protection be overwhelmed. It involves the rapid production of antistress substances known as heat shock proteins, which potently preserve cell integrity. In the rats that exercised but didn’t get Winstrol, the heat shock proteins were upgraded. In fact, the protection lasted for 48 hours after exercise. The steroid rats, though, didn’t even produce the protein. Steroids blocked its synthesis and release, leaving the liver cells open to attack and destruction by rampant free radicals.

   None of those activities shows up in normal liver-function tests. In other words, anabolic steroid users can appear to be undergoing little or no liver damage when in fact uncontrolled oxidation is destroying their liver. While the liver shows remarkable regenerative ability, it’s not difficult to see how long-term or excessive oral steroid use may promote a subtle level of liver damage that’s all the worse for not being immediately apparent.


   It’s vital for anyone contemplating the use of any type of oral anabolic steroid to also use antioxidant supplements. Since glutathione is the major liver antioxidant, nutrients that boost glutathione—such as silymarin (milk thistle), NAC, lipoic acid and whey protein—may be especially useful in helping the liver deal with the extensive oxidation that results from oral steroid use.

   The Molecular Key to Growth Hormone Benefits

   Growth hormone is popular with athletes because of its potent anabolic effects. Most studies examining the impact of GH in athletes, however, have found that it has little or no effect in increasing muscular size and strength. On the other hand, most studies also support the fat-mobilizing effects of growth hormone. So even if GH isn’t the miraculous anabolic drug it’s reputed to be, its fat-mobilizing effects alone make it attractive.

   Other attributes make GH alluring to athletes as well. Research shows that it helps maintain muscle during stringent dieting, thus enabling athletes to retain hard-earned muscle mass that they might otherwise sacrifice. In addition, scientists believe that it both protects and speeds the healing of muscle and connective-tissue injuries.

   Recent studies have shown how GH promotes healing, and the implications are highly relevant to the aging process. In fact, they explain why it has acquired its reputation as a fountain-of-youth drug.

   GH apparently promotes tissue healing by turning on a gene called the Forkhead Box m1B gene (Foxm1B) that is a critical component of cellular function, controlling cell regeneration and rebuilding. During youth, the gene is active, which helps explain why younger people heal more rapidly than older people do. As people age, the gene becomes less active, which causes cell disruption and eventually tissue and organ breakdown.

   As GH levels decline with age, so does the Fox1mB gene, which depends on GH for its activation. Cells become less effective at repairing damage. That was illustrated by a study of liver regeneration in old and young rats.2

   In the past studies showed that when the human Fox1mB gene was inserted into rat liver cells, the cells regenerated at a pace typically seen in young rats. In the new study, scientists focused on the relationship between GH and the Fox1mB gene. When they partially removed the rats’ livers and gave them GH, Fox1mB activity dramatically increased. That led to a level of cell regeneration seen in much younger rats. In older rats not given GH, the cells regenerated far more slowly and more in keeping with the rats’ age.

   The scientists then disabled the Fox1mB gene in other rats. When those animals got GH, nothing happened, indicating that GH works through the Fox1mB gene. The gene is required for normal cell repair, and GH stimulates its activity. If GH declines, as it does in older people, the activity of the gene likewise declines. That results in slower cellular repair, increasing the chances of cell mutations, which, in turn, lead to a number of diseases linked to aging, such as cancer, organ failure, infections, dementia, skin wrinkling and muscle loss.

   One of the scientists involved in the study suggests that GH may be useful as short-term therapy for increasing healing and promoting faster recovery from surgical procedures, especially in the aged. From an athletic perspective, the findings explain why GH seems so effective in promoting healing, particularly of injured connective tissue, which takes longer to heal because it’s not well supplied with blood. GH may overcome that deficit and speed the healing process.


References


1 Pey, A., et al. (2003). Effects of prolonged stanozolol treatment on antioxidant enzyme activities, oxidative stress markers, and heat shock protein HSP72 levels in the rat liver. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 87:269-77.

2 Krupczak, K., et al. (2003). Growth hormone stimulates proliferation of old-aged regenerating liver through Forkhead Box m1B. Hepatology. 38:1552-1562.


©,2013 Jerry Brainum. Any reprinting in any type of media, including electronic and foreign is expressly prohibited.

 

Have you been ripped off  by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Jerry Brainum's book Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com.

 

The Applied Ergogenics blog is a collection of articles written and published by Jerry Brainum over the past 20 years. These articles have appeared in Muscle and Fitness, Ironman, and other magazines. Many of the posts on the blog are original articles, having appeared here for the first time. For Jerry’s most recent articles, which are far more in depth than anything that appears on this blog site, please subscribe to his Applied Metabolics Newsletter, at www.appliedmetabolics.com. This newsletter, which is more correctly referred to as a monthly e-book, since its average length is 35 to 40 pages, contains the latest findings about nutrition, exercise science, fat-loss, anti-aging, ergogenic aids, food supplements, and other topics. For 33 cents a day you get the benefit of Jerry’s 53 years of writing and intense study of all matters pertaining to fitness,health, bodybuilding, and disease prevention.

 

See Jerry's book at  http://www.jerrybrainum.com

 

Want more evidence-based information on exercise science, nutrition and food supplements, ergogenic aids, and anti-aging research? Check out Applied Metabolics Newsletter at www.appliedmetabolics.com

 

The mystery of unilateral training by Jerry Brainum

  With unilateral training you work one limb at a time, doing an exercise that involves one arm or one leg, then exercising the other arm or leg. Just about every bodybuilding training system or routine features at least a few unilateral exercises. A common system is to train a muscle using mostly bilateral (two limbs at a time) exercises, then finish off that muscle group with a unilateral exercise.


   During his bodybuilding heyday, Arnold Schwarzenegger often ended his workouts with unilateral exercises, particularly when training his arms, his most impressive muscle group. Since Arnold always preferred to train with someone rather than alone, I trained with him several times. In those days he liked to finish his triceps routine with one-arm overhead dumbbell triceps extensions, which he did slowly and with intense concentration. For biceps bent-over dumbbell concentration curls were usually the choice. Arnold performed them using perfect form, full reps with a tight squeeze at the top, or contracted, position of the curl.

   Arnold felt that such unilateral exercises had a more concentrated effect on his muscles. The net effect was to instill a huge, satisfying muscle pump that he notoriously compared to an orgasm in the film “Pumping Iron.” While Arnold may have been joking in the analogy, the engorgement of blood that occurred when he did his one-arm curls and triceps extensions wasn’t so far removed from the engorgement that occurs in the so-called love muscle.

   Training dogma has it that you can obtain a harder muscle contraction with a unilateral movement than you can by training both limbs simultaneously. From a pragmatic point of view, the brain supplies the neural power to work both limbs for just one limb, making for a tighter muscle contraction.

   The effect of training one limb at a time is so potent that some studies have shown a crossover effect in the untrained limb; that is, training one arm or leg at a time makes the other leg or arm stronger even if it doesn’t get direct exercise. Arthur Jones, inventor of Nautilus exercise machines in the 1970s, recognized that and termed it the “indirect effect.”

   In one study the untrained arm showed an 8 percent strength increase. Several other studies that examined the training effect found that the amount of strength the untrained limb gains depends on how much stronger the trained limb gets. A recent study, however, noted that those studies were often flawed, and the new study sought to determine whether the crossover strength effect of unilateral exercises was genuine.1

   Twenty-one men and 94 women, all untrained, average age 20, engaged in three sets of one-arm curls while not training the other arm. After six weeks the subjects experienced a strength increase of 7 percent in their untrained arms, although those arms got no direct exercise over the course of the study. During a follow-up study, 10 subjects showed a decrease of strength in the untrained arm. The same subjects, however, had the least strength gain in the trained arm, underscoring the results of past studies in which the magnitude of strength gains in the untrained limb depended on how much strength increased in the trained limb.

   Interestingly, training faster led to an 11 percent greater strength gain in the trained arm than training at a slower pace did. Despite the gains, no changes occurred in the size of the trained arm, indicating that the strength gains were more related to a greater neural input into muscle than to muscle hypertrophy. What happens is that with increased training, especially with one-limbed exercises, the activation of the muscle motor unit increases, as does the neural firing rate, inducing a more potent muscular contraction. The theory is that one-limbed exercises somehow activate the brain/muscle connection in a manner different from what occurs with two-limbed movements.

   Clearly it makes sense to include a few one-limbed exercises in your training routines. Although nearly everyone has one side of the body that’s stronger than the other, the research involving the crossover strength effect induced by unilateral training may compensate for that imbalance.

1 Munn, J., et al. (2005). Training with unilateral resistance exercise increases contralateral strength. J Appl Physiol. In press.


©,2013 Jerry Brainum. Any reprinting in any type of media, including electronic and foreign is expressly prohibited.

Have you been ripped off  by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Jerry Brainum's book Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com.

 

The Applied Ergogenics blog is a collection of articles written and published by Jerry Brainum over the past 20 years. These articles have appeared in Muscle and Fitness, Ironman, and other magazines. Many of the posts on the blog are original articles, having appeared here for the first time. For Jerry’s most recent articles, which are far more in depth than anything that appears on this blog site, please subscribe to his Applied Metabolics Newsletter, at www.appliedmetabolics.com. This newsletter, which is more correctly referred to as a monthly e-book, since its average length is 35 to 40 pages, contains the latest findings about nutrition, exercise science, fat-loss, anti-aging, ergogenic aids, food supplements, and other topics. For 33 cents a day you get the benefit of Jerry’s 53 years of writing and intense study of all matters pertaining to fitness,health, bodybuilding, and disease prevention.

 

See Jerry's book at  http://www.jerrybrainum.com

 

Want more evidence-based information on exercise science, nutrition and food supplements, ergogenic aids, and anti-aging research? Check out Applied Metabolics Newsletter at www.appliedmetabolics.com

 

 

Why muscles age and what to do to slow the process by Jerry Brainum



Muscles, Speed, and Lies

People get smaller and weaker with age. That’s particularly true if you don’t engage in some form of resistance exercise. Aerobic exercise keeps your cardiovascular system in shape but does little to preserve strength and muscle with the passing years. By the time a man who doesn’t exercise is 70 years old, he isn’t much stronger than a child of eight and is far less flexible. Surprisingly, until recently, scientists didn’t understand exactly what causes muscles to degenerate with age on a molecular level.


   A new study by a group of researchers from the Mayo Clinic, however, examined the effects of aging on muscle in 146 healthy men and women, aged 18 to 89.1 The primary finding was that muscle aging is caused by cumulative damage to muscle DNA, which is required to replicate muscle cells. When DNA is damaged, the cells don’t repair themselves correctly and eventually die. On a grand scale, that means a gradual loss of muscle with each passing year.

   The researchers also found that the DNA in muscle mitochondria, where energy is produced in cells, reduces with age. Having fewer mitochondria means less production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the source of cellular energy. Without adequate ATP the cell’s “housekeeping” functions shut down, and the cell dies. The loss of muscle mitochondrial DNA manifests such symptoms as age-related weakness, loss of muscle mass and related diseases, such as insulin resistance, diabetes and heart disease.

   Now scientists know exactly how the process of muscle aging begins and can design therapies to block the effect. What causes the loss of muscle and mitochondrial DNA is long-term, out-of-control oxidation. Mitochondria are highly prone to oxidation because ATP production releases a lot of oxygen in the cell. That promotes the activity of free radicals, by-products of oxygen metabolism that are the destructive elements in oxidative reactions.

   As people age, the built-in antioxidant systems of the body, such as the superoxide dismutase system of enzymes, begin to falter. That sets the stage for the degenerative aspects of oxidation in cells. In fact, that’s a major theory of the aging process. The effect is especially troublesome in sedentary people who don’t exercise. Exercise promotes the body’s built-in antioxidation system. Some scientists think that may be the main value of exercise in helping to forestall the aging process and the degeneration of brain and body.

   The scientists who found this elemental cause of muscle aging suggest that the process begins at age 30. The same is true of such other conditions as osteoporosis, a bone-wasting disease more common in women than in men, which begins at about age 30 but doesn’t usually become apparent until after age 60. By then, however, the damage is extensive, resulting in fragile bones and hip fractures.

   Can exercise block the loss of mitochondrial DNA in muscle? The Mayo researchers didn’t answer that question, but common sense and observation of people who stay active and continue to exercise as they age indicate that exercise probably helps.

   Nutrition also enters the picture. Rats that get fewer calories as they age show little or no degenerative muscle changes. Specifically, old rats fed about 30 percent less than other rats have muscles that appear the equivalent of a quarter their age. That effect is thought to be due to less muscle oxidation, which protects the muscle mitochondria and maintains the energy-producing function of the cell. That in turn maintains muscle repair even though the body is aging.

   Reducing total calories by 30 percent isn’t practical for most humans, of course, and it’s unclear whether humans who did that would benefit the way rats do. Another, easier option would be to ingest nutrients that protect the vulnerable mitochondrial DNA from oxidation, such as coenzyme Q10, lipoic acid and acetyl L-carnitine. Research conducted at the University of California, Berkeley, showed that intake of those nutrients led to complete regeneration of muscle mitochondria and protected against further damage. Typical doses would be 30 to 60 milligrams a day of CoQ10, 200 milligrams of lipoic acid and 1,000 milligrams of acetyl L-carnitine.

1 Short, K.R., et al. (2005). Decline in skeletal muscle mitochondrial function with aging in humans. Proced Nat Acd Sci. 102(15):5618-23.

©,2013 Jerry Brainum. Any reprinting in any type of media, including electronic and foreign is expressly prohibited.

Have you been ripped off  by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Jerry Brainum's book Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com.

 

The Applied Ergogenics blog is a collection of articles written and published by Jerry Brainum over the past 20 years. These articles have appeared in Muscle and Fitness, Ironman, and other magazines. Many of the posts on the blog are original articles, having appeared here for the first time. For Jerry’s most recent articles, which are far more in depth than anything that appears on this blog site, please subscribe to his Applied Metabolics Newsletter, at www.appliedmetabolics.com. This newsletter, which is more correctly referred to as a monthly e-book, since its average length is 35 to 40 pages, contains the latest findings about nutrition, exercise science, fat-loss, anti-aging, ergogenic aids, food supplements, and other topics. For 33 cents a day you get the benefit of Jerry’s 53 years of writing and intense study of all matters pertaining to fitness,health, bodybuilding, and disease prevention.

 

See Jerry's book at  http://www.jerrybrainum.com

 

Want more evidence-based information on exercise science, nutrition and food supplements, ergogenic aids, and anti-aging research? Check out Applied Metabolics Newsletter at www.appliedmetabolics.com

 

New Hope for Old Muscles : Muscle loss with age is not inevitable by Jerry Brainum

A new study examined the effects of endurance training on muscle maintenance with advancing age.1 What’s particularly interesting about it is that it involved endurance exercise, which isn’t usually associated with maintaining much muscle.


   Previous studies have found that in most people, leg strength peaks at age 30, then remains stable until about age 50. At that point strength decreases at a rate of about 12 to 15 percent per decade. Older people show average strength levels of 20 to 40 percent less than people in their 30s. The decline in strength is linked to a loss of muscle due to inactivity.

   In the new study of endurance athletes, master runners, aged 40 to 88, showed no decline in leg strength until after age 70. Those in their 70s had strength levels similar to runners in their 30s. Most impressive was the finding that the older runners showed no loss of type 2 fast-twitch muscle fibers—the type most associated with muscle strength and the type of muscle fiber usually lost with advanced age—until they were in their 80s.

1 Tarpenning, K.L., et al. (2004). Endurance training delays age of decline in leg strength and muscle morphology. Med Sci Sports Exer. 36:74-78.


©,2013 Jerry Brainum. Any reprinting in any type of media, including electronic and foreign is expressly prohibited.

Have you been ripped off  by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Jerry Brainum's book Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com.

 

The Applied Ergogenics blog is a collection of articles written and published by Jerry Brainum over the past 20 years. These articles have appeared in Muscle and Fitness, Ironman, and other magazines. Many of the posts on the blog are original articles, having appeared here for the first time. For Jerry’s most recent articles, which are far more in depth than anything that appears on this blog site, please subscribe to his Applied Metabolics Newsletter, at www.appliedmetabolics.com. This newsletter, which is more correctly referred to as a monthly e-book, since its average length is 35 to 40 pages, contains the latest findings about nutrition, exercise science, fat-loss, anti-aging, ergogenic aids, food supplements, and other topics. For 33 cents a day you get the benefit of Jerry’s 53 years of writing and intense study of all matters pertaining to fitness,health, bodybuilding, and disease prevention.

 

See Jerry's book at  http://www.jerrybrainum.com

 

Want more evidence-based information on exercise science, nutrition and food supplements, ergogenic aids, and anti-aging research? Check out Applied Metabolics Newsletter at www.appliedmetabolics.com

 

Myostatin-Blocker Bust : Can the muscle-growth-inhibiting protein be stopped? by Jerry Brainum

A few years ago, dramatic advertisements began appearing in bodybuilding magazines proclaiming that you could now “exceed your genetic potential.” The ads usually showed freaky animals, such as bulls whose bodies rippled with muscle or rats that appeared twice as hefty as their littermates. Those animals were either born without genes that code for myostatin or had been genetically engineered to block the activity of myostatin. The featured product was a natural myostatin blocker.


   Discovered in 1997, myostatin is a natural protein in the body that inhibits muscular growth. It also promotes fat accretion by lowering levels of leptin, another protein involved in fat synthesis. Scientists believe that myostatin inhibits the function of special muscle satellite cells that are required for muscle repair and growth. When myostatin is blocked or absent, muscles seem to grow at an unprecedented rate.

   It didn’t take long for someone in the supplement industry to figure out the benefits of producing a myostatin blocker. A candidate soon emerged in the form of Cystoseira canariensis, a brown sea algae. A study published in an obscure Bulgarian physiology journal found that the seaweed appeared to bind to and block the activity of myostatin. The problem was that this occurred in vitro—in a test-tube environment. No human trials had been done to see how the seaweed would affect myostatin in the human body.

   Such minor details didn’t deter some companies, which rushed the seaweed supplement on to the market, touting it as the solution for those who experienced slow muscle gains or who wanted to exceed their genetic potential. The ads implied that using the supplement would produce results similar to those seen in the myostatin-deficient animals: massive muscularity with little or no apparent bodyfat—the bodybuilding Holy Grail.

   Soon after the original myostatin supplement was released for sale, I contacted the scientist from Johns Hopkins University who had discovered myostatin to ask about the potential usefulness of the new supplement. He expressed skepticism, noting that myostatin research was still in its infancy and the full implications of blocking the protein in humans weren’t yet known. Even if the supplement worked as advertised, he suggested, it would be premature to offer it for sale. It turns out that the researcher's concerns proved valid. Subsequent studies of myostatin's effects in animals showed that blocking it interfered with the repair of injured tendons, and also appeared to interfere with aerobic fitness gains.

   Somewhere along the line the initial excitement about myostatin-blocking supplements petered out. Could it be that the products didn’t work after all? A study was published that answered that question and explains why the supplements likely lost popularity.1

   Twenty-two untrained men were randomly assigned to either a placebo or myostatin-blocker group. They trained three days a week for 12 weeks and took 1,200 milligrams—the recommended dose—daily of a commercial myostatin-blocking supplement. There were no differences in strength, muscle gains or fat loss between those who took the supplement and those in the placebo group. Why did the myostatin blocker fail to work?

   It turns out that another natural substance in the body, follistatin-related gene protein (FLRG), inhibits myostatin. The myostatin-blocking supplement interfered with the activity of that protein, which prevented any inhibition of myostatin in the body. In other words, the supplement worked against itself, nullifying its own activity.

   The authors noted a few potential weaknesses of their study. One was the use of untrained subjects, who may not react to the supplement in the same way as more experienced trainees do. Another problem was the dose, which may have been insufficient to effectively block myostatin. On the other hand, considering why the myostatin blocker failed to work, it’s safe to say that this type of supplement works better in a test tube than it does in the human body, where more complex mechanisms govern its behavior.

    Eventually because of studies such as this, the seaweed extract/myostatin blocker petered out, and was removed from market sales. More recently, other attempts to cash in on the myostatin-blocker market have appeared. One is derived from eggs, and contains follistatin, which is a protein in the body that does indeed block myostatin. Trouble is, as a protein, taking it orally would mean it gets digested, and therefore imparts little or no biological activity. Animal studies showing that follistatin works have involved injecting it directly into the animals. But that does not stop some rip-off company from selling egg yolk follistatin at $100 for a 30-day supply.  The lesson here: Never trust claims made about supplements that haven’t been tested on humans and expect the products to provide some measure of effectiveness. Or, to put it another way, don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s raining.


1 Willoughby, D. (2004). Effects of an alleged myostatin-binding supplement and heavy resistance training on serum myostatin, muscle strength and mass, and body composition. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metabol. 14:461-72.

  This dog was born lacking a gene for myostatin.

©,2013 Jerry Brainum. Any reprinting in any type of media, including electronic and foreign is expressly prohibited.
 

                                        Applied Metabolics Newsletter
                              

Have you been ripped off  by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Jerry Brainum's book Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com.

 

The Applied Ergogenics blog is a collection of articles written and published by Jerry Brainum over the past 20 years. These articles have appeared in Muscle and Fitness, Ironman, and other magazines. Many of the posts on the blog are original articles, having appeared here for the first time. For Jerry’s most recent articles, which are far more in depth than anything that appears on this blog site, please subscribe to his Applied Metabolics Newsletter, at www.appliedmetabolics.com. This newsletter, which is more correctly referred to as a monthly e-book, since its average length is 35 to 40 pages, contains the latest findings about nutrition, exercise science, fat-loss, anti-aging, ergogenic aids, food supplements, and other topics. For 33 cents a day you get the benefit of Jerry’s 53 years of writing and intense study of all matters pertaining to fitness,health, bodybuilding, and disease prevention.

 

See Jerry's book at  http://www.jerrybrainum.com

 

Want more evidence-based information on exercise science, nutrition and food supplements, ergogenic aids, and anti-aging research? Check out Applied Metabolics Newsletter at www.appliedmetabolics.com

 

Muscle Firepower : And optimal recovery by Jerry Brainum

An often repeated rule in bodybuilding is that you should rest a muscle group at least 48 hours between workouts. Training a muscle every day will lead to zero progress, since you never let the muscle recover. The recovery process involves a variety of reactions in the body, including complete muscle protein synthesis, without which there is no progress. Studies show that muscle protein synthesis peaks at the 48-hour mark following a weight workout. Replenishing the body’s store of glycogen—which powers bodybuilding workouts and is required for full muscle repair after training—also takes at least 48 hours.

   Based on those observations, it would make sense for you to rest at least 48 hours between workouts, but empirical evidence shows that 48 hours may not be enough. That’s particularly true if you’re over 40 or aren’t taking any anabolic drugs, which dramatically increase workout recovery.

   In a study presented at the 2004 meeting of the National Strength and Conditioning Association, researchers from the University of Alabama examined just how long it takes to recover from a weight-training workout. Fifteen men and 15 women were tested for strength recovery at 48, 72 and 96 hours after a weight workout consisting of three sets of eight repetitions done with weights equal to 65 percent of one-rep maximum in the bench press and leg press.

   Analysis showed that 66.7 percent of the male subjects needed 96 hours for full recovery on the leg press. In contrast, 93.3 percent of the men showed full recovery on the bench press after 72 hours. As for the female study subjects, 66.7 percent recovered on the bench press after 72 hours, while only 46.7 percent showed full recovery on the leg press at the 96-hour mark.

   The study underscores the long-held notion that it takes the legs longer than the upper body to recover from workouts. The study also showed that you need at least 72 hours of rest between workouts for the same muscle in upper-body exercises and at least 96 hours for training the legs. Keep in mind that muscles don’t grow and get stronger during workouts; they grow during rest.

©,2011 Jerry Brainum.Any reprinting in any type of media, including electronic and foreign is expressly prohibited.

Have you been ripped off  by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Jerry Brainum's book Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com.

 

The Applied Ergogenics blog is a collection of articles written and published by Jerry Brainum over the past 20 years. These articles have appeared in Muscle and Fitness, Ironman, and other magazines. Many of the posts on the blog are original articles, having appeared here for the first time. For Jerry’s most recent articles, which are far more in depth than anything that appears on this blog site, please subscribe to his Applied Metabolics Newsletter, at www.appliedmetabolics.com. This newsletter, which is more correctly referred to as a monthly e-book, since its average length is 35 to 40 pages, contains the latest findings about nutrition, exercise science, fat-loss, anti-aging, ergogenic aids, food supplements, and other topics. For 33 cents a day you get the benefit of Jerry’s 53 years of writing and intense study of all matters pertaining to fitness,health, bodybuilding, and disease prevention.

 

See Jerry's book at  http://www.jerrybrainum.com

 

Want more evidence-based information on exercise science, nutrition and food supplements, ergogenic aids, and anti-aging research? Check out Applied Metabolics Newsletter at www.appliedmetabolics.com

 

Making an Ice of Yourself : Is winter swimming good for your health? by Jerry Brainum

In the early 1970s, during an extended stay in my hometown of Brooklyn, New York, I worked in a health foods store owned by Vic Boff. Vic was a longtime health and strength enthusiast, and we often had lively discussions about the current status of the iron world. The one thing about Vic I’ll always remember, besides his warm and engaging personality, was his love of swimming in the ocean. But not just any swimming. Vic was a member in good standing of a group known as the Polar Bear Club, which met once a week during the winter months at the icy shore of the Atlantic and happily frolicked in the icy sea. Vic and his colleagues believed that swimming in those frigid waters provided health benefits.


   Whether that’s true depends on the individual.1 To those unaccustomed to it, swimming in icy waters can be life threatening. In some cases exposure to cold water causes a type of thickening of the blood that leads to blood clots in the coronary arteries. In common terms, that causes a heart attack. In other cases the heart rhythm is disturbed, sometimes fatally.

   From a hormonal point of view, levels of norepinephrine, a catecholamine hormone known to stimulate the heart, increases fourfold, resulting in nonshivering thermogenesis. Other hormones, including ACTH from the pituitary, which controls cortisol release; thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH); and cortisol, all rise during exposure to cold water. If exposure exceeds 30 minutes, core body temperatures can decrease enough to cause death.

   That all changes when people swim in cold water regularly. Just as muscles get accustomed to regular exercise, so too does the body to regular cold-water exposure. The body’s thermogenesis reactions upgrade, while the circulatory system adapts to cold, preventing the dangerous effects that would ordinarily occur. The metabolic adaptation prevents a dramatic drop in body core temperature that could lead to cardiovascular collapse.

   Regular cold-water swimmers show increased beta-adrenergic stimulation of skeletal muscle that doesn’t result from increased catecholamine release. Normally, exercise increases the release of catecholamines such as epinephrine and norepinephrine, which interact with beta-adrenergic fat cell receptors to promote fat release. The same event occurs during cold-water swimming minus the presence of catecholamines. Scientists think that the exposure to cold water may increase beta-adrenergic receptor sensitivity.

   That has implications for fat-burning during regular exercise on dry land. The sensitivity of beta-adrenergic receptors determines how efficiently you burn fat during exercise. Theoretically, if cold-water swimming increases this sensitivity, you may tap into fat stores easier during standard exercise sessions.

   Cold-water swimmers also show skin adaptations. They get less blood flow to their skin, which acts as a thermal insulation. That results from the lower heart rate that occurs after regular cold-water exposure. The question is whether any real health benefits are associated with icy swims.

   One study found a whopping 50 percent reduction in insulin levels at the end of 2 1/2 months of winter swimming compared to baseline, or starting, levels. Lowering insulin provides a number of beneficial health effects, including decreased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Excess insulin is also linked to increased bodyfat and decreased longevity.

   Other studies show that cold-water swimming galvanizes immune system response. Although it does raise cortisol levels, which are linked to immune-system suppression, it compensates by promoting the release of cytokines, chemicals that prime and promote immune responses in the body. One study showed that regular winter swimmers had a 40 percent decrease in the incidence of respiratory-tract infections.

   Cold-water swimming may also increase the body’s antioxidant protection. Apparently, regular cold-water exposure acts as an oxidant stressor, causing the body to upgrade its antioxidant defense system.

   Because swimming in cold water can be dangerous, it’s best to get used to it gradually—if you choose to indulge. I can still recall Vic Boff walking into his Brooklyn store, the ice still in his hair. At the time, I thought he was a bit eccentric, but now I understand the method behind Vic’s winter madness.



1 Kolettisss, T.M., et al. (2003). Winter swimming: healthy or hazardous? Evidence and hypothesis. Medical Hypotheses. 61:654-656.


©,2013 Jerry Brainum. Any reprinting in any type of media, including electronic and foreign is expressly prohibited.

Have you been ripped off  by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Jerry Brainum's book Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com.

 

The Applied Ergogenics blog is a collection of articles written and published by Jerry Brainum over the past 20 years. These articles have appeared in Muscle and Fitness, Ironman, and other magazines. Many of the posts on the blog are original articles, having appeared here for the first time. For Jerry’s most recent articles, which are far more in depth than anything that appears on this blog site, please subscribe to his Applied Metabolics Newsletter, at www.appliedmetabolics.com. This newsletter, which is more correctly referred to as a monthly e-book, since its average length is 35 to 40 pages, contains the latest findings about nutrition, exercise science, fat-loss, anti-aging, ergogenic aids, food supplements, and other topics. For 33 cents a day you get the benefit of Jerry’s 53 years of writing and intense study of all matters pertaining to fitness,health, bodybuilding, and disease prevention.

 

See Jerry's book at  http://www.jerrybrainum.com

 

Want more evidence-based information on exercise science, nutrition and food supplements, ergogenic aids, and anti-aging research? Check out Applied Metabolics Newsletter at www.appliedmetabolics.com

 

Low Carb, Slow Carb or No Carb? : Nutrition With a Get-Big Mission by Jerry Brainum

      The most frequent criticism of today’s popular low-carbohydrate diets is that they’re antithetical to optimum body chemistry. The idea is that since carbohydrates are undeniably the most readily available fuel source, not eating enough carbs leads to a host of physical and mental impairments, such as fatigue and a decrease in training intensity.

   Most nutrition authorities say that the ideal diet contains 55 to 60 percent carbohydrate. The preferred forms have the least effect on insulin secretion, usually because of their naturally higher fiber content. One way to figure out which carbs are best to eat is to consult a glycemic index, or GI, chart.

   The glycemic index assigns numbers based on how rapidly a carb is absorbed into the blood compared with glucose, which is assigned the number 100. The primary problem with depending on GI numbers is that they apply only to carbs eaten alone, without any protein or fat. Protein and fat slow down carb absorption significantly, thus making GI numbers irrelevant. A more realistic way to view carbs is by consulting their glycemic load number, which shows the concentration of carbs contained in a specific food portion. For example, carrots have a high GI number, but they contain few carbs per typical portion. As such, they also have a low glycemic load number, suggesting that they exert little or no influence on blood glucose levels or insulin release.

   With all the admonitions about the importance of carbohydrate intake, you would think that carbs are an essential nutrient. The truth is, though, that essential carb intake hasn’t been identified, as it has for fats and protein, simply because carbs can be synthesized in the liver from protein and, to a lesser degree, from fat in a process called gluconeogenesis. Some studies show that about 57 percent of excess dietary protein is converted to glucose, the carb that circulates in the blood(although this figure in now in doubt).Ten percent of glycerol, the triglyceride molecule, converts to glucose in the liver. Even by-products of exercise metabolism, such as lactate, readily convert into glucose in the liver.

   What’s really important about carb foods is not the carbohydrate per se but the nutrients found in unprocessed carb foods, such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains. They contain fiber and myriad impressive health-preserving nutrients that fall under the umbrella term phytonutrients, such as flavonoids. Processed carbs, such as the abomination known as high-fructose corn syrup, have zero redeeming characteristics and are a primary factor in today’s obesity epidemic.

   What would happen if you eliminated carbs from your diet? Surely that would induce metabolic derangement. Many studies examining the relationship between exercise and carbs have demonstrated that eliminating carbs does indeed lead to a significant drop in energy and training intensity. A lot of them are meaningless, however, because they were all short-term—often lasting no more than a week.

   People who’ve eaten large amounts of carbs are sugar burners and may experience initial fatigue if their sugar or carb sources are abruptly removed. The body needs time to adjust to using another type of fuel—fat. The metabolic switchover takes about two to three weeks, during which most people feel some level of fatigue and lassitude. If you continue the diet and take certain precautions, however, the symptoms disappear.

   That the human body is capable of adapting to a depletion of carbs is evident from the Inuit, or Eskimo, people, whose traditional diet contained about 85 percent fat and 15 percent protein. Despite the lack of carbs—fruits and veggies aren’t readily available in the Arctic—they thrived. Their high intake of fatty fish was the first found evidence of the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids, since the Inuit showed far lower rates of cardiovascular mortality than people living in Denmark, where the diet was more typically Western.

   In 1929 an anthropologist named Vilhjalmur Stefansson returned from living with the Inuit for more than five years. During that time, he and an associate lived entirely on the native diet, with no side effects, with the exception of the first two weeks on the diet, when he began to feel ill. It turned out that the sick feeling came from a complete lack of fat intake, and when they replaced the fat, the symptoms dissipated. When he returned, he wrote about the Intuit diet extensively. To silence scientific skepticism at the time, Stefansson and an associate, Karsen Anderson, voluntarily committed themselves to a metabolic ward at Bellevue hospital in New York, where they ate the carb-free Inuit diet for a year under medical scrutiny. The diet they consumed contained 100-140 grams of protein; 200-300 grams of fat; and only 7-12 grams of carbs each day. Total calories they consumed each day was 2,000 to 3,100. This averages 15 to 25% protein; 75-85% fat; and 1-2% carbs.They showed no adverse effects on the diet, not even a vitamin C deficiency, which was predicted to occur after three months. In an article about the effects of the diet reported in the Journal of Biological  Chemistry, Stefannsson was described as having "soft and flabby muscles."

   But what of exercise? It’s one thing to sit around in a hospital ward, but what happens if you cut out carbs and try to train at the gym? Studies have examined that aspect of low-carb diets and found surprisingly few adverse effects, as long as a few other factors are accounted for.


   The first is time for adaptation, starting with the two to three weeks the body needs to switch over to using fat instead of carbs as an energy source. Indeed, including carbs every few days prevents full metabolic adaptation to fat as a primary fuel source.

   It’s also important to ensure adequate mineral, or electrolyte, intake. Low-carb diets are famous for their diuretic effect. That loss of water is often attributed to a breakdown of stored glycogen, which is stored with 2.7 grams of water for every gram of glycogen. But along with the water go electrolytes, such as sodium, magnesium and potassium, which play vital roles in nerve transmission. When they’re lacking, weakness and lassitude soon follow—along with more severe and even life-threatening effects.

   Maintaining a high level of electrolytes also helps preserve lean mass, or muscle. Potassium is particularly important, but without magnesium you can’t retain potassium; you need them both. Adding calcium may also help because the lack of dairy foods limits calcium intake. Among other functions, calcium is required for muscle contraction and to help ward off muscle cramps.

   The other key to an optimal low-carb diet for training is a higher protein intake. As you reduce calories or carbs, you must increase protein. That buffers you against nitrogen loss, which would lead to muscle breakdown, or catabolism. The body needs the excess protein converted in the liver to glucose for brain and central-nervous-system operation. Frequent protein meals also suppress appetite, which makes dieting easier.

   One aspect that must be considered is the relationship between carb intake and glycogen synthesis. Without carbs, glycogen synthesis is stymied. Insufficient glycogen means lack of muscle pump, decreased recovery and lack of training intensity, since anaerobic exercise—such as bodybuilding workouts—relies on muscle glycogen stores. More recent studies also show that you need to ingest post-workout carbs to promote the intramuscular release of insulinlike growth factor-1 (IGF-1), which is required for complete muscle recovery and repair following training.

   The solution is simple. Eat the majority of your carbohydrate foods before and after activity and concentrate on protein when you’re not active. That way you burn bodyfat at a maximum rate while getting the carbs you need to train hard. Also be aware that any carbs you get within the initial two hours after a workout go straight into glycogen replenishment. Carbs taken in at that time do not hinder fat metabolism, contrary to what some have stated.

©,2013 Jerry Brainum.Any reprinting in any type of media, including electronic and foreign is expressly prohibited.

                                                       Vilhjalmur Stefansson

Have you been ripped off  by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Jerry Brainum's book Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com.

 

The Applied Ergogenics blog is a collection of articles written and published by Jerry Brainum over the past 20 years. These articles have appeared in Muscle and Fitness, Ironman, and other magazines. Many of the posts on the blog are original articles, having appeared here for the first time. For Jerry’s most recent articles, which are far more in depth than anything that appears on this blog site, please subscribe to his Applied Metabolics Newsletter, at www.appliedmetabolics.com. This newsletter, which is more correctly referred to as a monthly e-book, since its average length is 35 to 40 pages, contains the latest findings about nutrition, exercise science, fat-loss, anti-aging, ergogenic aids, food supplements, and other topics. For 33 cents a day you get the benefit of Jerry’s 53 years of writing and intense study of all matters pertaining to fitness,health, bodybuilding, and disease prevention.

 

See Jerry's book at  http://www.jerrybrainum.com

 

Want more evidence-based information on exercise science, nutrition and food supplements, ergogenic aids, and anti-aging research? Check out Applied Metabolics Newsletter at www.appliedmetabolics.com

 

Low Carb, High Pro and the Diet Yo-Yo : More protein can help you keep the fat off as you increase your lean mass by Jerry Brainum

No matter how you look at it, dieting to lose bodyfat is never easy. It demands a rigid decrease in calories. Dieting without exercise is a bad idea and doomed to eventual failure for a number of reasons. For most people, dieting minus working out equals a weight loss that’s about 50 percent fat and up to 50 percent muscle. The loss of muscle, or lean mass, lowers the resting metabolic rate. A slower metabolism means you must take in even fewer calories to continue losing weight. For most people it just doesn’t work.


   Numerous studies show that about 97 percent of people who have successfully lost weight on a diet regain the lost weight and then some. Several years ago talk-show host Oprah Winfrey proudly displayed her newfound svelte figure, clad in a pair of size-10 jeans that had been hanging in her closet for years, pushing out a wheelbarrow containing the 67 pounds of fat she’d lost. The fact that Oprah’s weight loss didn’t only consist of fat, however, soon became distressingly clear. She not only regained all the lost weight but packed on a few additional pounds.

   Her case was a classic example of yo-yo dieting, defined as a rapid weight loss followed by an equally rapid regain of the lost weight. Usually that involves a large loss of muscle during the diet. It sets you up for diet failure because the drop in resting metabolism that happens when you lose lean mass demands a permanent reduction in calories to maintain the weight—too tough for most people. Oprah’s mistake was too few calories and not enough exercise.

   If you can maintain weight loss for five years, your body resets the various hormones related to appetite and energy production, adjusting to a lower natural bodyweight so that it’s no longer a strain to maintain the new weight. Exercising makes it far easier for the body to make those adjustments.

   Recent studies that have compared low-carbohydrate to other fat-loss diets point up the benefits of the low-carb strategy for the majority of dieters. Various mechanisms have been suggested to explain why—from a greater water loss to better thermogenic effects. More recent studies show that low-carb diets work simply because people on them average 1,000 fewer calories a day.

   The question is why people choose to eat less while on a low-carb diet. Some say it’s because low-carb diets lack variety. Others say it’s because insulin control is the cornerstone of low-carb diets: Insulin promotes hunger by lowering blood glucose levels, so it makes sense that controlling insulin would decrease appetite.A lesser known effect of insulin is that it interacts with receptors in the appetite section of the brain's hypothalamus, decreasing hunger sensations after meals. This is one reason why fructose makes you feel hungrier: it doesn't promote an immediate insulin release. 

   The problem with the insulin theory is that protein foods also promote insulin release, though not as much as carbohydrates do. Most low-carb diets emphasize a higher protein intake because protein helps maintain lean mass. Protein is, in fact, a key element of why low-carb diets are successful.

   Compared with fat or carbs, protein provides far more satiety after a meal. That leads to less eating and fewer calories. Protein stimulates gut hormones that signal the appetite-controlling mechanisms in the brain. The more rapidly the protein is digested, the quicker the appetite is suppressed. That explains why a rapidly acting protein source, such as whey, provides more appetite suppression than casein, another milk protein that is more slowly digested and absorbed.

   Protein also helps curb appetites because it has a higher thermogenic effect. Thermogenesis, the conversion of calories into heat, leads to mechanisms that lower appetite. Animal proteins induce a higher thermogenic effect than vegetable proteins, leading to greater satiety.

   A recent study shows that maintaining a high-protein diet after fat loss can help maintain the new, lower weight.1 Researchers tracked 113 overweight men and women, aged 18 to 60, who followed a low-calorie diet for a month and maintained the weight loss for six months. After that they were put in a high-protein or a control group, with the protein group getting 30 additional grams of protein. That gave them an 18 percent protein intake, compared to 15 percent in the controls.

   During the weight-maintenance phase the high-protein group regained less weight and had slimmer waists than the control group. Weight gain that did occur in the high-pro group consisted of lean mass, while the control group gained some fat. More important, satiety after meals was significantly greater in the high-pro group. Neither group engaged in exercise other than normal activity.

   The study implies that staying on a higher-protein diet maintains lean mass and blunts the regain of fat. You get increased satiety, greater appetite suppression and increased thermogenesis from a higher protein intake, and the more favorable body composition that results helps maintain resting metabolism.

1 Lejune, M., et al. (2005). Additional protein intake limits weight regain after weight loss in humans. Brit J Nutr. 93:281-89.

©,2013 Jerry Brainum. Any reprinting in any type of media, including electronic and foreign is expressly prohibited.

Have you been ripped off  by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Jerry Brainum's book Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com.

 

The Applied Ergogenics blog is a collection of articles written and published by Jerry Brainum over the past 20 years. These articles have appeared in Muscle and Fitness, Ironman, and other magazines. Many of the posts on the blog are original articles, having appeared here for the first time. For Jerry’s most recent articles, which are far more in depth than anything that appears on this blog site, please subscribe to his Applied Metabolics Newsletter, at www.appliedmetabolics.com. This newsletter, which is more correctly referred to as a monthly e-book, since its average length is 35 to 40 pages, contains the latest findings about nutrition, exercise science, fat-loss, anti-aging, ergogenic aids, food supplements, and other topics. For 33 cents a day you get the benefit of Jerry’s 53 years of writing and intense study of all matters pertaining to fitness,health, bodybuilding, and disease prevention.

 

See Jerry's book at  http://www.jerrybrainum.com

 

Want more evidence-based information on exercise science, nutrition and food supplements, ergogenic aids, and anti-aging research? Check out Applied Metabolics Newsletter at www.appliedmetabolics.com