tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44472491235196583472024-03-16T08:08:59.659+01:00SuppVersity - Nutrition and Exercise Science for EveryoneWhere BRO- and PRO-Science Unite in the Spirit of True WisdomAdel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4447249123519658347.post-29214100500315606842015-10-25T09:12:00.000+01:002015-10-25T09:17:18.186+01:00First Study to Demonstrate Ergogenic Effects of Metformin - 14% Increased Time to Exhaustion in Standardized Supra-Maximal Cycling Test With 500mg of Ordinary Metformin
With the publication of Learsi's latest paper the list of things metformin can do for you has just gotten been expanded with another item: Doping!
You will probably remember my article about the potential, but unproven ergogenic effects of AMPK mimetics (read it). Well, as it is often the case, a new study is released only days after you've published a review of the existing literature. Adel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4447249123519658347.post-38416043635003191362015-07-28T16:23:00.000+02:002015-07-28T16:33:19.827+02:00ALA, Berberine, Metformin, Resveratrol, AICAR & Co - Are AMPK Mimetics & Activators Good or Bad for Athletes?
Unless you're planning to just sit, instead of cycle on your spinning bike, it is by no means sure if your performance well benefit or maybe even suffer from the use of AMPK mimetics and activators.
Recently someone asked me on Facebook, whether AMPK activators like Lipoic acid (ALA), Berberine, Metformin, AICAR & Co wouldn't make excellent performance boosters. I pondered that Adel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4447249123519658347.post-51386341916812055052014-07-25T13:52:00.000+02:002014-10-20T18:59:50.674+02:00Caffeine & Cholorogenic Acid - Anti-Obesity Agents from Your Coffee Mug? Human Study Reveals Cortisol Lowering Effects, Mouse Study Confirms Anti-Obesity Effects
Ever since the Vinson study showed that green coffee bean extracts can help overweight women lose weight, green coffee is sexier than roasted one.
Only weeks after Vinson et al. were able to show that "Green Coffee Bean Extract Helps Pre-Obese Men and Women Shed 16lbs in 22 Weeks" (read more), green coffee bean supplements began to swamp the market - a great financial success for the Adel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4447249123519658347.post-22269221647211545872013-10-06T17:04:00.001+02:002016-02-17T17:36:25.667+01:00Maintain & Increase Your Insulin Sensitivity - Wrap-Up: Overview + 3 Stacks. Plus: AMPK & PPAR-γ Revisited
It's not about exercise or nutrition, it's about both of them. And as long as it is not about the former it should not be about supplements either.
It's Sunday and finally time for the wrap up of the "Maintain & Increase Your Insulin Sensitivity" Series (read all previous installments). It took me quite some time to get through all the compounds on my and your list and the outcome is far Adel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4447249123519658347.post-49837761908985675792013-04-14T16:13:00.001+02:002013-04-23T18:56:00.895+02:00Fighting to Stay Lean? These 20+ Anti-Obesity Agents Have the Potential to Inhibit Fat Gain Right at the Cellular Level
No, none of the 20 agents in the list below is going to do the work for you, but they could help you "conserve" the results, keep you lean on a bulk and/or avoid the hazardous Yoyo effect when you go off a die.
It's actually normal that the introduction is the last part of an article I write. What's special about today's SuppVersity article is thus not that I write the introduction at the endAdel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4447249123519658347.post-79042257750736358962013-03-21T18:02:00.000+01:002013-09-13T11:32:05.332+02:00Greater Strength Without Compromised Size Gains With Rest-Pause. Can Dietary Variety Fight or Cause Obesity? Catabolism & Anabolism Just 2 Sides of the Same Coin. GABA as a GH Promoting Brain Anabolic?
Can't squeeze out another rep? Not a problem have some intra-set rest and continue pumping thereafter.
I guess, I did this before, but I say it again: "Congratulations, Adelfo Cerame Jr.! You are the man."
Obviously, we all knew he is, but as of now, even the judges have
finally acknowledged that. Reason enough to do a Science Round-Up Special today, in the course of which Carl Lenore and meAdel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4447249123519658347.post-83785922071579890752013-02-04T17:11:00.002+01:002019-08-18T03:54:31.499+02:00The Glucose Repartitioning Effects of Isoleucine: Falsely Underappreciated BCAA and Its Dipeptides Maximize GLUT-4 Expression and Ramp Up Muscular Glucose Uptake
Still waiting for your abs to appear? Maybe you have the wrong "scientifically proven", "superior", or "modern", but unnatural ratio of BCAAs in your peri-workout nutrition - just kiddin' that alone won't be the reason, but still...
In the past week I have posted several facebook news items which were, in one way or another, related to he negative effects of isolating (micro-)nutrients and/or Adel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4447249123519658347.post-21351058273927569832013-01-21T18:12:00.002+01:002013-01-21T18:15:28.101+01:00Anti-Creatine β-Guanidinopropionic Acid (GPA) Increases AMPK, Decreases Blood Glucose & Insulin, Induces Weight loss Without Dieting, Increases Oxidative Capacity and Can Even Delay the Development of Mammary Cancer! BUT...
While he may be so fast that he is almost out of the focus, when the photographer finally released the shutter, Usain Bolt, the fasted man on earth actually doesn't look as if his fiber type composition was highly type II dominant, does he?
While the relation may be distant, you will soon see that today's blogpost is somewhat related to Saturday's news item about the ability of high Adel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4447249123519658347.post-63056991381067430752012-09-19T17:38:00.002+02:002015-07-31T05:31:13.552+02:00Coffee - 3 Cups Per Day Keep Insulin at Bay: You Better Start Today if You Want to Retain Your Insulin Sensitivity, and Stay Cancer & CVD Free Beyond Your Own Centennial!
I am not entirely sure how often I have used the sentence "consistency is key", here at the SuppVersity, but there is no way I don't reiterate it in the context of the never-ending debate over the pros and cons of habitual coffee drinking, once again. While much of the experimental evidence would suggest that coffee, or to be precise, caffeine the major methylxanthine in the brown brew is a badAdel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4447249123519658347.post-30180057102533852112012-08-10T20:10:00.001+02:002012-08-11T09:42:19.881+02:00Tangeritin, Natural Metformin from the Rind of Mandarin Oranges Hits the OFF-Switch on Diet Induced Obesity
Image 1: Tell me the truth! How much "natural metformin" did you throw away with those mandarine rinds in your life? Update (08/11/2012) Scroll down to the red box on dosing, I added, to check out why you better start saving your mandarine rinds now to be able to do a "tangeritine cycle" in a couple of years ;-)
I guess it is about time for another longer post on the "Supp" part of SuppVersityAdel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4447249123519658347.post-44402541651425036902012-07-25T17:54:00.001+02:002012-07-25T19:05:59.701+02:00To Fail or Not to Fail - 5x10 or 10x5? The Energetic Demand of Your Workouts Doesn't Depend on Workloads, Alone
Image 1: PCr, ATP, whatever as long as there was energy left, Arnold kept pumping iron (pun intended ;-)
"To fail or not to fail", this question is probably about as ancient as the hilarious idea to engage in physical activity that is not in one way or another directly related to one of our two most fundamental needs, survival and procreation. Researchers from the Physical Education DepartmentAdel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4447249123519658347.post-19585807133406385672012-07-20T17:41:00.001+02:002012-07-20T17:41:57.932+02:00Build a Bigger Mitochondrial Engine and Double Your Endurance With Chitooligosaccharides! Glucosamine Mix from Chitosan Acts on Sirt1 & AMPK, Similar to Resveratrol
Figure 1: Glucosamine composition of the chitooligosaccharide used in the study (data adapted from Jeong. 2012).
Usually I try to avoid this term, as it seems to imply that there is, or at least soon will be a pill that would allow you to stay the lazy bastard you are now and still make it into your old age, healthy lean, attractive and vigorous, but in this case the word "exercise mimetic" isAdel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4447249123519658347.post-48932610021969188892012-06-24T16:54:00.001+02:002012-06-24T16:54:39.886+02:00Resveratrol from 100l of 1994 Pinot Noir Could Increase Fat Oxidation by 71%, Strength by 18-58% and Endurance by 20% - At Least, If You Could Afford and Drink It Every Day!
Image 1: Itadori (Japanese Knotweed) and selected varieties of red wine are the best yet vastly 'underdosed' sources of resveratrol (see red box, below)
At least in rodents, resveratrol, the red-wine polyphenol, has been shown to act as an exercise mimetic, exerting profound effects on PGC-alpha expression which protect muscle from wasting due to mechanical unloading (also know as extreme Adel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4447249123519658347.post-39557544955767851192012-06-11T17:52:00.000+02:002014-08-26T14:18:16.964+02:00Lean & Muscular W/ Alpha Lipoic Acid? You Could Be Just as Lean, But More Muscular W/out "Nutrient Repartitioner"!
Image 1: Lean enough? Ever thought it may be better to stop taking your ALA, now?
I know what you are probably thinking right now: "Not yet another rodent study on the insulin sensitizing effects of alpha lipoic acid!" And in fact, you would be totally right if the results of this very study, which is going to be published in the next issue of the European Journal of Nutrition could not just Adel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4447249123519658347.post-75935733065335446812012-05-28T16:50:00.000+02:002012-05-28T18:38:27.543+02:00Essential Amino Acids Stimulate Muscle Glucose Uptake by Exponentiating Insulin's Effect on GLUT4 Expression
Image 1: High EAA smoothies are a good, high sugar one a very bad idea
Scientists from the Exercise Physiology and Metabolism Laboratory at the Department of Kinesiology and Health of the University of University of Texas at Austin, the Abbott Laboratories in Columbus, Ohio, and the Taipei Sports University in Taipaie, Taiwan, report in one of their latest papers that the administration of an Adel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4447249123519658347.post-57359619984810381142012-02-25T17:48:00.001+01:002012-02-25T17:48:28.844+01:00Creatine for Type II Diabetics? 5g/Day Augment Exercise Induced Improvements in Glucose Disposal and Reduce Hb1Ac Levels by Increasing AMPK and GLUT-4 Expression
Image 1: A reasonable carb intake, regular exercise and, interestingly, creatine will help you not to become insulin resistant in the first place.
I don't know if you remember my rant against statins being promoted as unproblematic and healthy, when, at the same time, mainstream media portray creatine as a "dangerous gateway drug to steroids" (cf. "Statins Increase Diabetes Risk by >50%"). Adel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4447249123519658347.post-58127236156510284642012-01-21T17:37:00.001+01:002012-01-22T06:27:05.517+01:00If a High Fat Diet was a Pill, the Lay Press Would Celebrate it as "Exercise in a Pill": Two days on High Fat Diet Increase the Activity of Irisin Releasing Transcription Factor PGC1-α
Image 1: If a high fat diet was a patentable pill, I guess BigPharma would already be selling it.
It's crazy, whenever I go to the groceries, there are new products popping up with colorful slogans like "fat free", "diet", "particularly low in fat", "fat reduced", "only 0.1%" etc. What is yet all the more disturbing is that these products are "placed" right next to a more recent "invention" ofAdel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4447249123519658347.post-63930212321392835652012-01-17T21:11:00.000+01:002012-01-17T21:11:03.365+01:00Biotin Ameliorates Skeletal Muscle Insulin Resistance in Model of Type II Diabetes. Increase in GLUT-4 Expression Yet not Accompanied by Translocation to Cell-Membrane
Image 1: Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima fatty rats (OLETF, right) have the genetical disposition to become type II diabetics.
Are your nails brittle? Is your hair falling out? No? Then, are you obese or insulin resistant? Yes? ... I guess, by know you are asking yourselves what your hair and nails have to do with your pre-diabetic beer-belly. Well, according to the recently published restults Adel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4447249123519658347.post-74611496962642913972012-01-16T17:33:00.002+01:002012-01-16T17:33:23.607+01:00Study Identifies Caffeic Acid Induced AMPK-α2 Activity Behind the Fat Burning, Insulin-Sensitizing & Life-Extending Effects of Coffee. Plus: Why Creatine & Coffee Don't Mix!
Image 1: I've got news for you: Real coffee does not come in brown sterophome cups ;-)
Ever since Starbucks came out with the "McDonald's version" of what used to be the drink of the popes and kings, coffee has gotten sort of a bad reputation. It is supposed to "burn out your adrenal glands" (I bet most people who support this hypothesis don't even know where the adrenal glands are situated),Adel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4447249123519658347.post-18704425092533998842011-12-28T14:58:00.000+01:002011-12-28T16:53:36.350+01:00Leucine, Citrulline or a Non-Essential Amino Acid Mix - Which Amino Acid(s) are Most Effective in Preventing Muscle Loss During an 18h (Intermittent) Fast?
Image 1: If Chris, "the Techician", Aceto's usually well-informed sources are right and the former Mr Olympia Jay Cutler is currently trying to lose muscle (I heard him say that on Heavy Muscle Radio), Cutler would be ill advised if he ingested ~20g of non-essential amino acids during and / or in-between extended fasts and hours of arduous low-intensity cardio sessions (img MuscleTech)
Adel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4447249123519658347.post-67828611471059221312011-12-12T17:31:00.000+01:002015-12-13T04:53:54.053+01:00Green, Oolong, Pu'Erh or Black, All Teas May Help Keep Fat in Check. 750ml of Tea Per Day Could Ward Off Some of Your Holiday Weight Gain.
Image 1: Though color does matter to some extend, the most important thing appears to be that you drink your tea, whether it is green, black, white or well... pu-erh ;-)
Christmas time is approaching and my personal experience tells me that for many of my fellow human beings Santa has more than just iPads, iPhones and iPods in his gunnysack. The two, three or more pounds of body weight, Santa,Adel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4447249123519658347.post-56384679398911356572011-11-25T15:16:00.001+01:002011-11-25T17:17:44.679+01:00Dietary Fiber - Friend or Foe? Addition of Hydroxpropyl-Methylcellulose, a Non-Fermentable Viscous Fiber, to Standard(!) Rodent Chow Reduces Fat Gain by -22%
Image 1: Just as about everything, these days, you can buy the semisynthetic non-fermentable viscous fiber Hydroxpropyl-Methylcellulose pound-wise from China - this is probably also where the producers of the junk food you hopefully are not eating get their E464 from ;-)
If the health and fitness community on the Internet was a battlefield (personally, I sometimes think it is ;-) one of the Adel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4447249123519658347.post-3257544187066918742011-10-30T17:49:00.000+01:002013-02-27T16:23:49.073+01:00Intermittent Thoughts On Intermittent Fasting - Exercise (3/3): How Training Solves the AMPK/mTOR Antagonism.
Image 1: Just like Two-Face, a character from the Batman comic books, AMPK turns out to have two faces,... ah I mean isoforms the differential expression of which explain why exercise, contrary to starving yourself, maintains or even builds muscle mass while reducing your love handles (img batman.wikia.com).
In the last installment of the Intermittent Thoughts on Intermittent Fasting series, Adel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4447249123519658347.post-44994921722091928852011-10-23T17:28:00.001+02:002013-02-27T16:23:49.151+01:00Intermittent Thoughts On Intermittent Fasting - Exercise (2/3): Opening the "Anabolic Barn Door" With the Key of Exercise and Nutrition Science!
Image 1: The "anabolic window" turns out to be more of a barn door, which is unlocked by the key of exercise and nutrition science (Random House Books)
Looking back, the main take-aways from the last installment were the dependence of exercise performance on adequate and not so much constant energy supply, as discussed in the context of the Ramadan fasting soccer players, the increased AMPK Adel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4447249123519658347.post-23250932701726114682011-10-22T19:42:00.002+02:002011-10-24T08:27:24.287+02:00Lose(!) 33% Body Fat in 10 Days!? The Heavy Metal Obesity Link: Study Shows "Preventive Role" for Inorganic Cobalt in Obesity-Related Diseases.
Image 1: Cobalt - certainly not what you would expect to see at a health food store or pharmacy; with Kawakami et al.'s study this may change in the future (img Alchemist-hp)
"We are living in a toxic world!" - you have probably heard or read this sentence more than once and while I cannot deny that the environmental load of, among others, heavy metals appears to be increasing, I can however Adel Moussahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11282066708304898697noreply@blogger.com