SuppVersity - Nutrition and Exercise Science for Everyone

Dark  chocolate & body comp? I am not a fan of referring to the hierarchy of evidence ( Haidich 2010 , Figure 1 ) to justify discussing a meta-analysis (in itself a mix of statistical data analysis and, you guessed it, the discussion of individual RCTs and/or observational studies) but I guess in the case of the putative weight-loss benefits of dark chocolate, I can make an exception. How come? Well, if you do a cursory review of the experimental evidence you will realize pretty soon that the term "conflicting" is not strong enough to describe what you see. Accordingly, I am grateful that a group of Iranian researchers conducted a meta-analysis of all relevant RCTs investigating the impact of cocoa/DC on body weight, body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC). You can learn more about chocolate and cacao at the SuppVersity Chocolicious Statin 4 Women Real Cacao Delicious + More The Chocolate Diet for Women Cacao for the Gut Micro...

While cigarettes are neither effective performance enhancers nor safe, nicotine, one of their key ingredients, may be the effective ergogenic aid with a reasonable sides/effects ratio you have been looking for... well, that's at least what the recently published 1st RCT with reliability test and crossover protocol seems to suggest. Yes, nicotine is the main (psycho-)active ingredient in cigarette smoke. It is, however, - and we tend to forget that in the debate about (ab-)using nicotine as a "supplement" - only one out of many "ingredients" of cigarette smoke; ingredients that ruin the health of our lungs and promote the risk of lung and other cancers. It would be haphazard, though, to exonerate nicotine completely, as there is "a direct contribution of nicotine to cancer onset and growth" ( Grando 2017 ). The research on the interaction of individual genetic susceptibility and nicotines ability to activate "nicotinic acetylcholine receptors...

ADF -esque diet strategy w/ dieting vs. fasting works for "athletes", too. Intermittent fasting in its various incarnation (aka "lean gains" = 6/18, "every-other-day", "2-3 weekly fasting days, etc.) are getting more and more popular and science shows: # Fasting is probably not just a fad. In fact, the number of RCTs to confirm beneficial effects on body composition, inflammation, heart and brain health, etc. increases by the day. The latest addition to the accumulating research has just been published in the Journal of the ISSN ; although, technically speaking it is rather an alternate days dieting regimen with a comparatively mild deficit of 33%. In their paper, Victoria Pons et al. ( 2018 ) aimed to "evaluate the effects of every-other-day feeding CR interventions on the body composition and physical performance parameters (during maximal exercise tests) of well-trained athletes" (Pons 2018). Learn more about fasting at the Sup...

Simplified overview of whole body oral protein utilization at rest. Of the protein ingested, approximately 50% is extracted by splanchnic tissues before entering peripheral circulation. Interestingly, only ~10% of the ingested protein is utilized for skeletal muscle protein synthesis while the rest is catabolized... the full-text isn't just worth reading, it is also free to read, so what are you waiting for?   Just click here  and start reading! If a scientific magazine is called "Nutrients"   and features a paper with the title "Recent Perspectives Regarding the Role of Dietary Protein for the Promotion of Muscle Hypertrophy with Resistance Exercise Training" as a cover story, that will attract nutrition/fitness nerds like you and me. The paper presents an excellent overview of the human protein metabolism and it would, in my humble opinion, be a disgrace to reduce the review to its already well-known take-home messages like 'have at least 20g of high...