Study Puts Taurine Back in the Limelight - Sprint Cycling in Trained Athletes Benefits from Taurine, not Caffeine!?

More evidence that the often high taurine content in your energy drinks is more than a mere marketing gag.

You will probably remember my recent article about the potentially underestimated contribution of taurine to the performance enhancing effects of Red Bull™ and co. (read it again). Now, a new study from the School of Sport, Health and Applied Science at the St Mary’s University in Great (soon small) Britain shows: Only taurine, yet not caffeine boosts the sprint cycling performance in trained athletes. And as if that wasn't enough, yet, the study also proves another benefit of taurine I've written about in the past: it reduces the typical (negative) side effects of high(er)-dose caffeine.

You can learn more about taurine & other amino acids at the SuppVersity

Taurine Pumps Up Strength & Recovery?

Taurine the Actual Active Agent in RedBull&Co

Taurine ➲ 180% Testosterone Increase

Taurine + BCAA Work Hand in Hand

Taurine Boosts Good Gut Bugs Sign.

3g Taurine Boost Glycogen Re-synthesis Sign.

For their study, the researchers from the UK who were supported by colleagues from Australia recruited seven male team sports players (age 20.8 ± 0.9 years; stature 1.76 ± 0.11 m; body mass 86.3 ± 10.2 kg). Despite the small sample size, the scientists' a priori calculation indicated that a sample size of seven was sufficient to identify differences between groups with a statistical power of 0.80.

The subjects were randomized, in a single-blind design to perform three Wingate tests, each separated by 2-min, an hour after ingesting

• caffeine (C) at a dosage of  5 mg/kg body mass,
• taurine (T) at a dosage of 50 mg/kg BM, 
• caffeine and taurine (C+T) at dosages of 5 mg/kg BM + 50 mg/kg, respectively, or 
• placebo capsules (P) with an identical look and weight

before being crossed over three follow-up experiment in which the subjects would consume one of the other treatments.

Figure 1: Taurine turns out to be the great fatigue modulator - if it's consumed w/out caffeine (Warnock 2017).

The subjects' performance was measured on an ergometer, whilst blood lactate, perceived exertion, heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP) and rate pressure product (RPP) were measured at rest (pre-supplement), baseline (1-h post-supplement) and during and after exercise; and the results I plotted in Figure 1 speak for themselves.

A 2004 study by Miyazaki et al found dose-dependent increases in endurance w/ human eq. doses of ~0.25g, ~1,25g and ~6.25g of taurine.

You probably need more taurine, bro: The top dog in the energy drink market contains 2g taurine, which is more than you will find in many of the cheap copy cats, but less 50mg/kg for most of you. Accordingly, the study at hand the previously discussed meta-analysis of the ergogenic prowess of energy drinks and an older rodent study by Miyazaki et al (2004 | see Figure on the left) indicate that "more helps more" and thus suggest that many of the previously conducted studies, as well as your own efforts, could have failed to yield results because you didn't get to the ergogenic threshold which may be at 4-5g⁺.

In view of the relatively small study group, the scientists conducted a magnitude-based inference analysis to get to the bottom of the relevance of the effects they observed and found that...

• all of the supplements increased (small to moderate, likely to very likely) mean peak power (MPP), peak power (PP) and mean power (MP) compared to P, with greater MPP, PP and MP in T compared to C (small, possible)
• intra-sprint fatigue index (%FIIntra) was greater in the taurine (T) compared to placebo (P) and control (C) group - the practical relevance of this difference does yet appear to be smaller than that of the albeit likewise small decreased inter-sprint fatigue index (%FIInter) in the taurine (T) compared to the caffeine (C) group
• C and C+T increased HR, MAP and RPP compared to P and T at baseline (moderate to very large, likely to most likely); however, these only remained higher in C compared to all conditions in the final sprint.

What? Ok, let's simplify that a bit by taking a look at the plot of the fatigue and performance data in Figure 1 & 2 again. These graphs clearly reveal that (A) there was a sign. performance increase with all three supplements (Figure 2). Only the taurine (only) trial, however, (B) reduced the inter-sprint fatigue index (Figure 1) which appears to be the fatigue marker with greater relevance for most sports that require intermittent sprints.

Figure 2: The performance increases were virtually identical in all three supplement groups (Warncock 2017).

Accordingly, the practical implication is that using taurine, alone, may be the better choice for cyclists and other athletes whose sports involve short all-out sprints - the overall inter-group differences however are small and further research is warranted before one could make any definitive recommendations with respect to the combined or individual use of caffeine and taurine.

Taurine is probably at least as much a health as performance supplement

Figure 3: Possible mechanisms responsible for beneficial effect of taurine in prevention and amelioration of metabolic syndrome (Murakami 2013).

What I would like to repeat, though, is that taurine has not just been found to have (a) cytoprotective effects against exercise-induced muscle injury (Dawson 2002; da Silva 2013), (b) limit oxidative stress in skeletal muscle (Silva 2011).

Taurine (supplementation) has also been found to have sign. health benefits (Militante 2004) in obesity-induced hyperlipidemia (Zhang 2004), to keep homocysteine and thus heart disease risk in check (Ahn 2009), to reverse endothelial dysfunction in high risk groups, like young type I diabetics (Moloney 2010) or to be useful in the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty-liver disease (Gentile 2011).

Furthermore, many scientists believe that its supplementation or high dietary intakes could be usfeful in the prevention of diabetes and metabolic syndrome (Murakami 2013; Imae 2014).

A recent meta-analysis of all studies that investigate the performance enhancing effects of energy drinks supports the notion that taurine is much more important for their beneficial effects on your performance than caffeine | read more

So, taurine only it is? If that's the take home message you remember, you have a problem... at least if your sport does not require only short bursts of all out sprinting. Caffeine has previously been shown to excel in long(er) duration exercise (Denadai 1998; Ganio 2009); and while further research is clearly indicated these observations imply that a combination of both taurine and caffeine may be the best choice for all athletes whose sports involve long(er) and/or low(er) intensity intervals of physical activity, where the beneficial effects of taurine on the subjects' heart rate, mean arterial pressure and pressure product may come handy especially but not exclusively for people with cardiovascular problems | Comment on the SuppVersity Facebook Page!

References:

• Ahn, Chang Soon. "Effect of taurine supplementation on plasma homocysteine levels of the middle-aged Korean women." Taurine 7. Springer New York, 2009. 415-422.
• Dawson, Jr, R., et al. "The cytoprotective role of taurine in exercise-induced muscle injury." Amino acids 22.4 (2002): 309-324.
• Denadai, B. S., and M. L. D. R. Denadai. "Effects of caffeine on time to exhaustion in exercise performed below and above the anaerobic threshold." Brazilian journal of medical and biological research 31.4 (1998): 581-585.
• Ganio, Matthew S., et al. "Effect of caffeine on sport-specific endurance performance: a systematic review." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 23.1 (2009): 315-324.
• Gentile, Christopher L., et al. "Experimental evidence for therapeutic potential of taurine in the treatment of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease." American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology 301.6 (2011): R1710-R1722.
• Imae, Masato, Toshiki Asano, and Shigeru Murakami. "Potential role of taurine in the prevention of diabetes and metabolic syndrome." Amino Acids 46.1 (2014): 81-88.
• Moloney, Michael A., et al. "Two weeks taurine supplementation reverses endothelial dysfunction in young male type 1 diabetics." Diabetes and Vascular Disease Research 7.4 (2010): 300-310.
• Militante, Julius D., and John B. Lombardini. "Dietary taurine supplementation: hypolipidemic and antiatherogenic effects." Nutrition Research 24.10 (2004): 787-801.
• Miyazaki, T., et al. "Optimal and effective oral dose of taurine to prolong exercise performance in rat." Amino acids 27.3 (2004): 291-298.
• Murakami, S., and Y. Yamori. "Taurine and Longevity–Preventive Effect of Taurine on Metabolic Syndrome." Bioactive Food as Dietary Interventions for the Aging Population (2013): 159.
• Silva, Luciano A., et al. "Taurine supplementation decreases oxidative stress in skeletal muscle after eccentric exercise." Cell biochemistry and function 29.1 (2011): 43-49.
• da Silva, Luciano A., et al. "Effects of taurine supplementation following eccentric exercise in young adults." Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism 39.1 (2013): 101-104.
• Warnock, Rory, et al. "The Effects of Caffeine, Taurine or Caffeine-Taurine Co-Ingestion on Repeat-Sprint Cycling Performance and Physiological Responses." International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance (2017): 1-24.
• Zhang, M., et al. "Beneficial effects of taurine on serum lipids in overweight or obese non-diabetic subjects." Amino acids 26.3 (2004): 267-271.

Meta-Analysis: Could Energy Drinks be All About Taurine? Taurine, not Caffeine Predicts Performance Enhancement

While almost all energy drinks appear to have it, the evidence that taurine adds to the effects of caffeine has hitherto been unconvincing. Does this change with the latest study by a group of researchers from Brazil and Spain?

Energy drinks (ED) are all about caffeine, right? I have to admit. If you had asked me before I've read the latest study from the Londrina State University in Brazil and the Camilo José Cela University in Spain, I would have answered this question in the affirmative. I mean, come on... the strange add-ons the producers mix into their drinks have but one purpose: distinguish drink X from drink Y and, even more importantly, the healthier competition of plain coffee.

The fact that Souza, et al. observed in their latest meta-analysis that "a signifcant association between taurine dosage (mg) and performance (slope = 0.0001; p = 0.04), but not between caffeine dosage (mg) and performance (slope = 0.0009; p = 0.21)," caught my attention.

You can learn more about taurine & other amino acids at the SuppVersity

Taurine Pumps Up Strength & Recovery?

Taurine Improves Insulin + Glucose Metabolism

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Taurine + BCAA Work Hand in Hand

43% Reduced Performance W/ BCAAs

3g Taurine Boost Glycogen Re-synthesis Sign.

Before we discuss how relevant this result of the authors' meta-regression actually is, it would be prudent to take a brief look at the methodology section of the paper: As you would expect, the scientists performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of published prior to January 2016 disregarding: (1) case reports; (2) review articles; (3) the use of drugs/substances which influ enced the outcome; (4) caffeine use without ED; (5) ED use without caffeine; (6) subjects on energy-restricted diets and/or weight reduction programs; (7) articles with animal models; (8) studies with samples that were ill or had physical limitations for exertion; (9) longitudinal studies.

Eventually N=34 articles that were (1) original; done with healthy adults; (2) reported the caffeine dose in the ED; (3) measured of physical performance pre- and post-intervention; (4) had a placebo group/session; (7) and offered enough data for effect size calculation were included in the scientists' statistical analysis.

Figure 1: Effects on endurance (left) and jumping (right) performance according to meta-analysis (Souza. 2016).

As you can see in Figure 1, the ED ingestion improved both, the subjects' performance in standardized endurance (ES = 0.53; p < 0.001 | Figure 1, left) and jump tests (ES = 0.29; p = 0.01 | Figure 1, right). Likewise beneficial were

• the effects on muscle strength and endurance (ES = 0.49; p < 0.001), and 
• sport-specifc actions (ES = 0.51; p < 0.001; cf. Table 1).

What did not improve, however, are the subjects' sprinting times - well, at least not significantly across the N=17 studies (ES = 0.14; p = 0.06).

Note: This article does not say that caffeine doesn't work! That caffeine works is beyond doubt. What the article does claim, however, is that the results of the meta-analysis, when combined with previous research, suggest that the ratio of caffeine to taurine could explain differences between the efficacy of various drinks (see bottom line for further discussion).

With a borderline significant effect and an increase of 16% in a study by Alford, et al., I would not discount the possibility that EDs would help Usain Bolt, as well.

Table 1: Subgroup analyses of categorical variables (Souza. 2016).

But didn't we want to talk about something else... oh, yes: the role of taurine! I guess some of you are already rolling their eyes. After all, I make no bones about my personal assessment that taurine may indeed be one of the most underrated amino acid supplements on the market (learn more).

Figure 2: Illustration of the subject- and supplement dependent continuous variables and their impact on the effect size indicated by the slope and significance of the results of the meta-regression (Souza. 2016).

So what's the evidence, then? Well with p-value of 0.04, taurine is the only subject / supplement related continuous variable that predicted the performance increase that was observed in the studies. The slope and thus the increase in effect size per unit of taurine in the corresponding meta-regression was however hardly relevant. No wonder, after all, previous studies, as well as the suspected stress-protective as well as anti-protein catabolis mechanisms (Zhang. 2004; HaeMi. 2003) suggest that taurine will have chronic rather than acute effects (cf. Rutherford. 2010); with the studies in this review being acute supplementation studies, these benefits couldn't be recorded, anyways.

Coffee - The Good, The Bad & The Interesting: 2-4 Cups of Coffee for Adiponectin. Roasted Filtered Coffee & High LDL!? The Optimal Caffeine / Taurine Ratios & the Buzz | more!

So, this begs the question: Even if the advantage is small, why could more taurine yield a higher exercise performance? Unfortunately, the authors didn't address this question in detail, but hey, I guess otherwise I would be useless... Now, I cannot tell you for sure what it is and without having access to the full dataset I cannot even confirm my hypothesis, but I still feel reminded of an older article I wrote about the synergy of caffeine and taurine, in which I presented evidence that a 1:10 mix of caffeine to taurine may be the optimal compromise between the jittery energy spike from caffeine and the calming (GABA mediated | Ripps. 2012) effects of taurine.

If we take a look at the continuum of caffeine and taurine intakes in the studies in the meta-analysis at hand, it turns out that - with caffeine dosages ranging from 40 and 325 mg and amount of taurine ranging from 71 to 3105 mg - many of the studies ended up being in that range.

If someone would now correlate the effect sizes and the caffeine:taurine ratio and find that there is a significant relationship between the two, this would provide more evidence that the implications I've formulated based on animal studies in 2013 (read the original article) could inform your supplement and dosing choices, so that 200-400 mg caffeine and 2,000-4,000 mg of taurine make a highly effective stack. As previously pointed out (see red box), this does not imply that caffeine alone wouldn't work, but having it with taurine in the correct ratio may be what makes one energy drink more effective than the other | Comment on Facebook!

References:

• Alford, Chris, Harriet Cox, and Robert Wescott. "The effects of red bull energy drink on human performance and mood." Amino acids 21.2 (2001): 139-150.
• HaeMi, Lee, Paik IlYoung, and Park TaeSun. "Effects of dietary supplementation of taurine, carnitine or glutamine on endurance exercise performance and fatigue parameters in athletes." Korean Journal of Nutrition 36.7 (2003): 711-719.
• Ripps, Harris, and Wen Shen. "Review: taurine: a “very essential” amino acid." (2012).
• Rutherford, Jane A., Lawrence L. Spriet, and Trent Stellingwerff. "The effect of acute taurine ingestion on endurance performance and metabolism in well-trained cyclists." International journal of sport nutrition 20.4 (2010): 322.
• Souza, Diego B., et al. "Acute effects of caffeine-containing energy drinks on physical performance: a systematic review and meta-analysis." European journal of nutrition (2016): 1-15.
• Zhang, M., et al. "Role of taurine supplementation to prevent exercise-induced oxidative stress in healthy young men." Amino acids 26.2 (2004): 203-207.

Vitargo™, Red Bull™ + Co. Research - Are They Worth It? Beef Can Keep Up W/ Whey For Gains! "Creatine Loading" = Too Much of a Good Thing - ISSN Research Review '15 #1

When you're running on a treadmill it obviously takes more than one serving of Red Bull or other commercial energy drinks to kickstart your workout performance | learn more below.

Initially, I wanted to cherry pick only the most interesting study results that were presented in form of poster presentations at the Twelfth International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) Conference and Expo in 2015. After looking at the research that is - as of now - only available in form of (albeit often detailed) abstracts, I decided that there are way too many interesting studies to cover only three of them in depth or all of them only cursory. Accordingly, I decided to start a SuppVersity Mini Special with this being the first out of 3-4 issues in which I will briefly discuss the most significant results of those of the roughly two dozen studies, I (a) believe are of greatest interest to you and (b) feel comfortable talking about without having all the details in form of the still to be published full texts.

Read more about ISSN and other studies at the SuppVersity

Vitargo, Red Bull, Creatine & More | ISSN'15 #1

Pump Supps & Synephrine & X | ISSN'15 #2

High Protein, Body Comp & X | ISSN'15 #3

Keto Diet Re- search Update | ISSN'15 #4

The Misquantified Self & More | ISSN'15 #5

BCAA, Cholos-trum, Probiotics & Co | ISSN'15 #6

• The latest research on Vitargo(TM) -- The mere fact that the latest study on Vitargo(TM) was presented in "three servings", on the latest ISSN meeting, i.e. (1) on the glucose and insulin response (Almada. 2015), (2) on the incretin response (Anzalone. 2015) and (3) on the power output during a subsequent bout of resistance exercise (Van Eck. 2015), could raise some concerns about the objectivity of the results, but is as Patrick Jacobs kindly reminded me common scientific practice.. So, let's put the skepticism aside and take a look at the study design and results.
  
  

  

  Post-Workout Glycogen Repletion | Read my overview article.

  Sixteen resistance trained men participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized crossover study, which consisted of three testing sessions, each separated by one week. In sessions 1-3, subjects completed a glycogen depleting cycling bout of 60 minutes at 70% VO2 max, followed by six, one-minute sprints at 120% VO2 max.
  
  Immediately post-exercise subjects ingested a placebo (PLA), or a low molecular (LMW) or high molecular weight (HMW) CHO (=Vitargo(TM)) solution (10%) providing 1.2g/kg body weight CHO; assigned randomly. Blood samples were taken prior to ingestion and every ten minutes for 2h.
  
  For the "first" and "second" serving of the study this was enough. These mini-presentations dealt with the insulin, glucose and incretin response to the two supplements, only. For the "third serving", however, the scientists included performance data from a subsequent bout of exercise, during which the participants did 5 sets of 10 repetitions of back squats (75% 1RM) "as explosively as possible" (if subjects paused for more than 2 seconds or were unable to complete a rep, resistance was lowered by 13.6 kg | Van Eck. 2015).
  

  

  Figure 1: Overview of the most relevant results (LMW = low molecular weight CHO vs. HMW = Vitargo (TM) high molecular weight CHO) from Almada (2015), Anzalone (2015) and Van Eck (2015).

  As you can see in my overview of the most relevant results, the scientists did not find practically meaningful differences in study I-II. In study III, which compared the effects of low to high molecular weight carbohydrates (LMW vs. HMW) on squat performance 2h after the glycogen-depleting workout, this was slightly different:

  "HMW conferred a likely beneficial effect in Sets 4 and 5 (92.5% and 88.7% likelihood, respectively), compared to PLA; while ingestion of LMW conferred only a possibly beneficial effect (68.7%) and likely beneficial effect (83.9%) in Sets 4 and 5, respectively" (Van Eck. 2015).

  And still, if you read the conclusion, "the ingestion of a HMW CHO solution providing 1.2 g/kg CHO may allow athletes to sustain power output in a subsequent resistance training session when time between training sessions is limited" (Van Eck. 2015), carefully, you will notice the words "likely" and "possibly" which signify the putative nature of the effect. What may be even more relevant than that, is yet that few of you will do glycogen-depleting exercises at 4:00 pm and hit the gym again for an intense leg workout at 6:00 pm. Accordingly, the practical relevance of the "sustained power output" Van Eck et al. observed is probably restricted to a small group of professional athletes. For people who fall into this category or strength athletes training twice a day, though, using Vitargo (TM) may in fact offer significant benefits.
• Beef and whey support lean mass gains similarly effectively -- If you are asking yourself if beef isolate protein is a good or at least decent replacement for whey, the post-workout protein supplementation "gold standard" some people can't use due to its (albeit low) lactose content, a recent study from the University of Tampa (Sharp. 2015) has the answer you are looking for.
  

  

  Figure 2: Relative improvements in muscle size (hypertrophy) and body fat (fat loss) in response to beef isolate or whey protein supplementation; expressed relative to maltodextrin placebo (Sharp. 2015).

  As the data in Figure 2 tells you, it will make a good replacement! If we go by the average increase in lean mass and loss of fat mass, the beef isolate that was consumed in amounts of 2x20g per day either immediately after each of the 5 weekly workouts (3 resistance training, 2 cardio; 8 weeks total, daily undulating periodization) or at a similar time in the day, you may even argue that the beef protein had the overhand over its "milky" competitor. If we take the individual variations into account, though, the 1% lean mass and almost 3% fat loss advantage (DXA values) of the beef protein turns out to be statistically non-singifican.
  
  The same goes for differences in strength gains, of which the researchers found that they were identical not just in the two supplement, but also in the supplement and control groups. The lack of additional power during the bench press test may, as the researchers point out, be ascribed to both increases in neural and morphological adaptations" (Sharp. 2015) which would "negate" (ibid.), or as I would phrase it, 'override' potential additive effects of any of the protein supplements (whey and beef, alike).
• Energy drinks a waste of money on the treadmill? At first sight, the results of the latest study by Sanders et al. (2015) do in fact suggest that energy drinks were a total waste of money for those of you who are consuming them before a regular cardio workout on the treadmill. After all, none of the tested drinks lead to statistically significant improvements in either perceived treadmill exercise performance or running economy assessed via oxygen consumption at 70% treadmill exercise.

In contrast to treadmill running, the performance during a cycling time-trial can be improved by the consumption of an energy drink - a potential explanation for the difference may be that the subjects in the Ivy study consumed 2x  more Red Bull than the subjects in Sanders' study.

Energy drinks don't work? Well, the overall research shows a more diverse picture. While a previous study by Astorino et al. (2012) and a similar study by Candow et al. (2009) that tested the effects of Red Bull on repeated sprint performance and its effects on time to exhaustion, respectively, yielded similarly disappointing results, Ivy et al. (2009) and Forbes et al. (2007) found benefits. More specifically, the researchers observed significant increases in upper body muscle endurance (yet no effect on anaerobic peak or average power during repeated Wingate cycling tests in young healthy adults | Forbes. 2007) and improved cycling time-trial performance (without concomitant increase in perceived exertion | Ivy. 2009) - albeit with 2x more Red Bull than in the study at hand (500ml vs. 250ml).

• Now, some of you may argue that all you care about when you buy an energy drink is that it makes it easier for you to hit your target time on the treadmill. Well, I can understand that, but in view of the fact that neither of the caffeine laden 8.4 oz. Red Bull®, 16 oz. Monster Energy ®, 2 oz. 5-hour ENERGY® drinks affected the subjects subjective rates of perceived exertion, it does appear questionable that these drinks can actually help you.
  
  It does thus stand to reason that Sanders et al. conclude that the "results [of their latest study] do not support manufacturers' claims regarding their product's ability to boost performance" (Sanders. 2015). The scientists are yet also right that it would be necessary to find out whether time trial or time to exhaustion sprint and endurance performance benefit, as respective studies may be better suited to reliably "assess if these energy drinks can, in fact, improve exercise performance" (ibid.) - and in view of the fact that previous studies with corresponding outcomes yielded conflicting results (see blue box above), I can fully subscribe to that: We need more (non-sponsored) quality studies ;-)
• More evidence that creatine loading is not the way to go -- In Gann et al.'s latest study, fourteen (Cr = 7, Pl = 7) non-resistance-trained (i.e. < thrice weekly, 1 year prior) men between the ages of 18-30 were randomly assigned by age and body weight to orally ingest a powdered dextrose placebo or creatine monohydrate (Gann. 2015).
  
  After baseline strength and body composition testing procedures, participants ingested creatine or placebo at a dose of 0.3g/kg lean body mass/day (≈ 20-25g/day) for a 5 day loading phase immediately followed by a 42-day maintenance phase at a dose of 0.075g/kg lean body mass/day (≈ 5-7g/day). The participants followed a periodized 4 day per week resistance-training program split into two upper body and two lower body workouts per week, for a total of 7 weeks. Blood and muscle samples were obtained at Day 0, 6, 27, and 48. Statistical analyses were performed utilizing separate two-way ANOVA for each criterion variable employing a probability level of ≤ 0.05.
  

  

  Figure 3: Don't be fooled by shiny ads! While there is evidence that some forms of creatine will be faster absorbed than creatine monohydrate, only the addition of dextrose (and ALA or baking soda) have actually been shown to increase the muscular retention of creatine in experiments (Jäger. 2011) 

  As you'd expect, the addition of creatine lead to significant increments in total body mass (p = 0.03) and lean body mass (p = 0.01). What creatine did not do, though, was to affect the amount of body fat the subjects were carrying around. The latter decreased to a similar extent in both groups in response to resistance training, alone (p = 0.001) - without any effect of creatine supplementation. Much to my personal surprise, the same was the case for the subjects' muscle strength, which was - likewise - increased to the same extent in both groups.
  
  So what? Well, in contrast to the uncommon lack of effect on muscle strength, the lack of effect on body fat is sad, but had to be expected. Both findings are yet not why this study made the SuppVersity Cut. That is or rather was Gann's observation that the loading phase lead to significant increases in of urinary creatine (p = 0.036), and urinary creatinine (p = 0.01) in the creatine group compared to placebo. This "excess amounts of serum and urinary creatine and urinary creatinine content" (Gann. 2015) provides further evidence that the (still common) practice of creatine loading is useless and 100% safe certainly only in the short term. In the long term, however, I'd highly suggest that you avoid super-dosing on creatine - I mean, why would you want to use 20g per day, when 3-5 g per day is enough (Wilder. 2001) and more than will "lose" once the creatine levels of your muscles are saturated (the exact washout time is unknown, but studies indicate it may be >40 days of consuming no creatine at all | Deldicque. 2008)?

Intra-workout BCAA supplements are marketed specifically to resistance trainees. If they do have anti-catabolic effects, though, those are - just like potential fatigue reducing effects - significantly more likely to occur in endurance trainees | learn more

What else? In the bottom line of this mini-series I will briefly reference those studies that did not make the SuppVersity Cut for various reasons. Studies like those on the benefits of BCAAs, for example (Kephart. 2015 or Mumford. 2015). For this kind of study I would need the full-text, not just the abstract to tell you how relevant conclusions like the "BCAA supplement did not appear to enhance recovery benefits compared to a CHO control", "a few areas of performance were bolstered to a point of practical importance"(Kephart. 2015) or "BCAA supplementation [...] may benefit immune function during a prolonged cycling season" (Mumford. 2015), actually are. As soon as the corresponding full papers you have published I will obviously make good for any performance-relevant information I may be missing by ignoring the abstracts, today | Comment on Facebook!

References:

• Almada, Anthony L., et al. "Effect of post-exercise ingestion of different molecular weight carbohydrate solutions. Part 1: The glucose and insulin response." Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 12.Suppl 1 (2015): P30.
• Astorino, Todd A., et al. "Effects of red bull energy drink on repeated sprint performance in women athletes." Amino acids 42.5 (2012): 1803-1808.
• Anzalone, Anthony J., et al. "Effect of post-exercise ingestion of different molecular weight carbohydrate solutions. Part II: The incretin response." Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 12.Suppl 1 (2015): P31.
• Candow, Darren G., et al. "Effect of sugar-free Red Bull energy drink on high-intensity run time-to-exhaustion in young adults." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 23.4 (2009): 1271-1275.
• Deldicque, Louise, et al. "Kinetics of creatine ingested as a food ingredient." European journal of applied physiology 102.2 (2008): 133-143.
• Forbes, Scott C., et al. "Effect of Red Bull energy drink on repeated Wingate cycle performance and bench-press muscle endurance." International journal of sport nutrition and exercise metabolism 17.5 (2007): 433.
• Gann, Joshua J., et al. "Effects of a traditionally-dosed creatine supplementation protocol and resistance training on the skeletal muscle uptake and whole-body metabolism and retention of creatine in males." Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 12.Suppl 1 (2015): P2.
• Ivy, John L., et al. "Improved cycling time-trial performance after ingestion of a caffeine energy drink." International journal of sport nutrition 19.1 (2009): 61.
• Jäger, Ralf, et al. "Analysis of the efficacy, safety, and regulatory status of novel forms of creatine." Amino Acids 40.5 (2011): 1369-1383.
• Kephart, Wesley C., et al. "Ten weeks of branched chain amino acid supplementation improves select performance and immunological variables in trained cyclists." Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 12.Suppl 1 (2015): P20.
• Mumford, Petey, et al. "Effects of sub-chronic branched chain amino acid supplementation on markers of muscle damage and performance variables following 1 week of rigorous weight training." Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 12.Suppl 1 (2015): P29.
• Sanders, Gabriel J., et al. "The effect of three different energy drinks on oxygen consumption and perceived exertion during treadmill exercise." Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 12.Suppl 1 (2015): P1.
• Sharp, Matthew, et al. "The effects of beef protein isolate and whey protein isolate supplementation on lean mass and strength in resistance trained individuals-a double blind, placebo controlled study." Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 12.Suppl 1 (2015): P11.
• Van Eck, Leighsa E., et al. "Effect of post-exercise ingestion of different molecular weight carbohydrate solutions. Part III: Power output during a subsequent resistance training bout." Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 12.Suppl 1 (2015): P32.
• Wilder, Nathan, et al. "The effects of low-dose creatine supplementation versus creatine loading in collegiate football players." Journal of athletic training 36.2 (2001): 124.

Sleepless Nights: Are Pre-Workouts and A Huge Cup of Coffee Messing With Your Sleep? Plus: 5h Half-Life & 15h Clearance Time Caffeine Stays

This couple probably didn't have a two huge cups of high-caffeine coffee with 400mg caffeine, each, before bed ;-)

The recent publications of a paper by Drake, Roehrs, Shambroom and Roth in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine woke my interest in the quantitative and qualitative significance of the potential negative effects coffee / caffeine can or will have on sleep (Drake.2013).

In the experiment, Drake et al. describe in their latest paper, the researchers made (much to my surprise) a first attempt "to investigate the relative effects of a given dose of caffeine administered at different times of day on subsequent sleep." (Drake. 2013)

Fixed dose (400mg) + varied times

To do so, Drake and his colleagues from the Sleep Disorders & Research Center at the Henry Ford Hospital and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences at the Wayne State College of Medicine, in Detroit, as well as a scientist who worked for Zeo Inc in Newton, compared the potential sleep disruptive effects of a fixed dose of caffeine (400 mg) that was administered at 0, 3, and 6 hours prior to habitual bedtime.

Figure 1: Subjectively determined sleep latency (time it takes to fall asleep in min), total sleep (hrs) and wake time during sleep (min), sleep efficacy (%) and sleep quality (% of placebo) in 12 healthy men and women after the ingestion of a placebo or 400mg caffeine 0h, 3h or 6h before bed (Drake. 2013).

The study was blinded and the sleep duration and quality was assessed by questionnaires and data from the Zeo device all participants had to use (basically the Zeo is a device that measures your brain activity - unfortunately Zeo has gone out of business; cf. Orlin. 2013).

Figure 2: Objectively measured sleep latency (min), total sleep (hrs), wake time (min), sleep efficacy (%), stage 1 & stage 2 sleep (% of total sleep), slow wave and REM sleep times in minutes (Drake. 2013)

Based on this combination of subjective (Figure 1) and objective (Figure 2) data the researchers were able to confirm their hypothesis that 400mg of caffeine will provoke significant (p < 0.05 for all) sleep disturbances, regardless of whether the perfectly healthy subjects (n = 12; 50% women; mean age: 30y, BMI 25kg/m², 94.5% baseline sleep efficacy) consumed it at bedtime, 3 hours prior to bedtime, or 6 hours prior to bedtime. As Drake et al. point out, ...

"[t]he magnitude of reduction in total sleep time suggests that caffeine taken 6 hours before bedtime has important disruptive effects on sleep and provides empirical support for sleep hygiene recommendations to refrain from substantial caffeine use for a minimum of 6 hours prior to bedtime." (Drake. 2013)

For the PM-trainees and pre-workout fanatics among the SuppVersity readers this probably sounds scary. Stimulant-laden preworkout products are yet not the only offenders that could compromise your sleep hygiene.

"1kg Body Fat in 4 Weeks From < 2x Energy Drinks per Day!" | more

Young, sleepless and on caffeine: Recent scientific data appears to confirm that the increasing popularity of sugary, fattening (see link to the left), caffeinated energy drinks, and the high caffeine content of premium coffee are at least partly responsible for the surge in chronic sleep problems among young people (McCusker. 2003; Roberts. 2010; Carskadon. 2011). No wonder if >37% of them drink their first caffeine-containing beverage at 5 pm or later (Bryant Ludden. 2010).

With up to 500mg of caffeine in commercially available 16 oz servings of brewed coffee (McCusker. 2003), even an innocent (large) cup of coffee in the afternoon could have significant negative effects on the quality of the sleep you'll get, when you go to bed relatively early; and you wouldn't be the only one with that problem: Penalazzi et al. found that it is something 90% of the 18-58 year olds enjoy on an almost daily basis (Penalazzi. 2012).

"This must be a mistake. The must be an 'on the other hand' attached!"

You are right, the news are in fact so "bad" that I decided it may be worth digging a little further to see, if I, an outspoken coffee concessionaire, can't find a glitch in this or a conflict to another study that would put a relieving "?" behind the results of the study at hand:

• Statistical significance vs. real-world effects - While it is not a real glitch, it's certainly questionable how great real-world health consequences of the bordeline significant decrease in sleep efficacy and the significant 32% reduction in slow wave sleep actually are.
  With respect to the generic quantity "sleep quality", we could probably say that we give a damn. The loss of 15-22 minutes of slow wave sleep, of which scientists say that it is the time, when we consolidate new memories and our brain recovers from the daily activities, the 32% reduction in slow wave sleep does begin to sound scary. If we also take into account that Tasali et al. observed that ...
  

  "[...] all-night selective suppression of SWS, without any change in total sleep time, results in marked decreases in insulin sensitivity without adequate compensatory increase in insulin release, leading to reduced glucose tolerance and increased diabetes risk" (Tasali. 2013)

  in young, perfectly healthy subjects, I am not quite sure, if the overall beneficial metabolic and cognitive effects still outweigh the potential detriments that arise from the consumption of high amounts of caffeine shortly before going to bed.

• 

  Figure 3: According to Blanchard et al. it can take up to 15h to get rid of 5mg/kg body weight caffeine.

  The "outlier hypothesis" - Unfortunately, the study at hand is not "just an outlier", the sleep disruptive effects of caffeine administration at bedtime are well documented and have even used to model insomnia (Bonnet. 1992).
  Previous dose-response studies, demonstrate that increasing doses of caffeine administered at or near bedtime are associated with significant sleep disturbance (Karacan. 1976; Lasagna. 1977; Yanik. 1987) and the recommendations to avoid caffeine close to bedtime is in every list of sleep hygiene practices. However, evidence is less clear regarding the consumption of caffeine at earlier time. 
• The "Ah, I am used to it hypothesis" - Being "used" as you may have gotten to the sleep disruptive effects of caffeine does not equate being "immune" to them. That's at least what the 36 healthy male and female habitual caffeine consumers in a 1998 study by Jack E. James had to realize, when they skipped on their beloved caffein for just one day and their sleep duration and quality increased significantly ().

Unlike the evidence for the sleep-disrupting effects of late-pm caffeine ingestion, the effects of coffee you drink earlier in the day are less conclusive. The underlying reason for these difference is probably the significant inter-individual difference in elimination half-lives of caffeine in healthy adults.

Coffee only in the AM!?

The time our bodies need to get rid of 50% of the caffeine we've consumed at T = 0 ranges from 2.7-9.9 hours (Blanchard. 1983a,b). According to Blanchard et al. 'the average' 22-year old needs ~15h to get rid of all the caffeine that made it into his / her bloodstream after the consumption of ca. 400mg caffeine. If you wanted to make perfectly sure that your coffee consumption does not compromise your sleep, it would thus appear advisable to drink your 3-4 cups of coffee in the morning.

In the absence of studies that have compared the sleep disruptive effects of caffeine given at different times before bed it does however remain unclear it remains unclear when exactly the 'coffee curfew' should begin.

Learn to abUSE caffeine to modulate your circadian rhythm.

Bottom line: As unbearable as as it may sound for some of you, the currently available scientific evidence appears to suggest that (late) PM coffee consumption is a no-go for anyone for whom optimal sleep quality is more important than the rejuvenating pleasure of a huge cup of strong coffee.

On the other hand, a simple extrapolation from the data of the Blanchard study (see Figure 3)would  suggest that a small cup of coffee with only 100mg of caffeine at 4 o'clock pm is probably not so much of a problem - as long as you keep it 4h+ away from going to bed, your blood should be decaffeinated, when you hit the pillows ;-)

References:

• Bonnet MH, Arand DL. Caffeine use as a model of acute and chronic insomnia. Sleep.
  1992;15:526-36
• Blanchard J, Sawers SJ. Comparative pharmacokinetics of caffeine in young and elderly
  men. J Pharmacokinet Biopharm. 1983a; 11:109-26. 
• Blanchard J, Sawers SJ. The absolute bioavailability of caffeine in man. Eur J Clin
  Pharmacol. 1983b; 24:93-8.
• Bryant Ludden A, Wolfson AR. Understanding adolescent caffeine use: connecting use
  patterns with expectancies, reasons, and sleep. Health Educ Behav. 2010; 37:330-42.
• Carskadon MA Sleep in adolescents: the perfect storm. Pediatr Clin North Am. 2011;58:637-47. 
• Drake C, Roehrs T, Shambroom J, Roth T. Caffeine effects on sleep taken 0, 3, or 6 hours before going to bed. J Clin Sleep Med 2013;9(11):1195-1200.
• James JE. Acute and chronic effects of caffeine on performance, mood, headache, and sleep. Neuropsychobiology. 1998;38(1):32-41.
• Karacan I, Thornby JI, Anch M, Booth GH, Williams RL, Salis PJ. Dose-related sleep
  disturbances induced by coffee and caffeine. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 1976; 20:682-9.
• Lasagna L. Dose-related sleep disturbances induced by coffee and caffeine. Clin
  Pharmacol Ther. 1977; 21:244. 
• McCusker RR, Goldberger BA, Cone EJ. Caffeine content of specialty coffees. J Anal
  Toxicol. 2003; 27:520-2. 
• Orlin, J. Sleep Tracking Startup Zeo Says Goodnight. theCrunch.com. May 22, 2013 < http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/22/sleep-tracking-startup-zeo-says-goodnight/ >
• Penolazzi B, Natale V, Leone L, Russo PM. Individual differences affecting caffeine
  intake. Analysis of consumption behaviours for different times of day and caffeine
  sources. Appetite. 2012; 58:971-7.  
• Roberts RE, Roberts CR, Xing Y. Restricted Sleep Among Adolescents: Prevalence,
  Incidence, Persistence, and Associated Factors. Behavioral Sleep Medicine. 2010; 9:18-30. 
• Tasali E, Leproult R, Ehrmann DA, Van Cauter E. Slow-wave sleep and the risk of type 2 diabetes in humans. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Jan 22;105(3):1044-9.
• Yanik G, Glaum S, Radulovacki M. The dose-response effects of caffeine on sleep in rats.
  Brain Res. 1987;403:177-80. 

Energy Drinks Before Workout Make You Thirsty. Single HIIT Session Every 14 Days Maintains Fitness in the Off-Season. Postprandial Walk Decreases HbA1c by 5%. Cardio Before Weights Increases pAKT +87% Over Weights Alone

You simply cannot start "working out" too early - even if it's just child's play.

"Three for one!" No, I am not trying to sell you three bottles of "uberpotent" test-boosters for the rat of one. Three for one that's the SuppVersity Figure of the Week and it is the ratio of the decrease in breast cancer risk in women and the hours of physical activity per week during their adolescence.

According to a 2004 review by Lagerros, Hsieh and Hsieh, each additional* hour of weekly physical activity is associated with a -3% risk of developing breast cancer later in life (Lagerros. 2004)

Needless to say that the "additional" hours are in addition to the low physical activity in the laziest of the study participants, who had a 20% higher risk of developing breast cancer than their most active peers.

So what else do we have today? With this primer on the importance of physical activity esp. in the critical periods of your / your children's and grand-children's lives, let's delve right into a "special edition" of the Saturdaily "Short News" with a focus on a selection of very recent results from exercise-related studies.

• Energy drink before a workout make you thirsty. don't enhance performance (Tanskanen. 2013) While the mantra of the "intra-workout" beverage producer that you need at least a small amount of carbohydrates to optimally absorb the added salts, a recent study from the University of Jyväskylä in Finland showed that the ingestion of both high- and low-carb (33g vs. 10g) caffeine-containing energy drinks before the workout resulted in a temporary increase in thirst compared to to both caffeinated (106mg, just as the two energy drinks) an non-caffeinated water.
  
  

  

  With +1kg Fat in 4 Weeks from less than 2 energy drinks/day, thirst may be the least problem you will have if you guzzle "energy drinks" (learn more).

  The fact that the increase in thirst was only transient, and decreased in the course of the 60min cycling exercise (60% VO2max) the healthy young adults had to perform, as well as the non-existent differences in hydration status between the groups do yet show that these effects were practically irrelevant. Incidentally, the latter has to be said for the promised / expected performance enhancing effects of energy drinks - with the relatively low amount of caffeine in the drinks, there were no significant differences between the the time the 10 participants cycled on an incremental test to exhaustion that followed the "steady-state-cardio" during each and every of the four testing days of this randomized, crossover study.

  ---

  Putting things into perspective: The fact that previous trials yielded different results, esp. wrt to the performance enhancing effects of caffeine, is probably attributable to a the low dosage of caffeine. Another very recent study by Ranchordas & Kenzie, for example has just confirmed that a compbination of 32g of carbs and 300mg of caffeine can "enhance some aspects of soccer-related fitness including acceleration, maximal velocity, 20-m sprint speed, speed-endurance, and lower RPE during repetitive sprints compared with CHO-only and PLA beverages." (Ranchordas. 2013)

 

• 

  Remember the "Iranian HIIT Solution" - 9% body fat in 12 weeks? Perfect evidence: HIIT is not for athletes, only.

  It does not take much to stay fit, a single every other week HIIT session is enough (Rønnestad. 2013) Right from the former Olympia "Metropolis" *rofl* Lillehammer comes a study which shows that trained athletes like semiprofessional soccer players can maintain their baseline fitness levels in the off-season by no more than a single HIIT session, which consisted of five bouts of 4 min running at 87–97% of age-predicted maximum heart rate, every other week.
  
  The overall loss in the distance the subjects covered during the 20-m shuttle run did obviously decline (-8% ± 6%), but the difference to the control group that performed the same HIIT sessions on a weekly basis was non-significantly different from the every-other-week group.Moreover, both groups maintain their VOmax over the whole six week study period.

  ---

  Bottom line: A little of HIIT can go a long way ... wait, this is almost the title of a previous SuppVersity post, i.e. "Some HIIT For Life & Less LISS For More! How to Burn 27,300 Kcal Extra W/out Losing a Single Extra Pound of Fat!", of which I would really suggest you read it now, in case you are still not convinced that a reasonably dosed amount of HIIT makes a valuable addition to almost every trainees regimen.

 

• Hit the weights! If you want to do more than just increase your daily activity levels to lower your HbA1c, don't waste your time on the treadmill. Increase your daily activity level and lift weights! Three supervised resistance training sessions per week for 10 weeks have been shown in a 2009 study by Bweir to be significantly more effective in lowering the Hb1Ac levels than in adults with type II diabetes than an isoenergetic (=spending the same energy during the workout) treadmill exercise (Bweir. 2009).
  The postprandial stroll in the bark is an effective means to lower your HbA1c (Nygaard. 2013) While the former post on the conservation of the conditioning of a trained athletes by HIIT does confirm the notion that "aerobic exercise" in the original sense of the meaning, which would imply that you increase your body's exercise capacity (as evidenced by VO2max), another recently published study shows that metabolic benefits of exercise can be achieved with much lower intensities.
  
  At least in the in the South Asian immigrants with high risk of type 2 diabetes who participated in a recently conducted 12-week intervention, it took nothing but the figurative "walk in the park" (30min+ of physical activity of any sort) after a meal, to reduce their HbA1c levels - a marker of long(er) term glucose levels - by allegely relatively unimpressive, but statistically highly significant ~3% (p = 0.012). That the intervention in the course of which the average subject increased his / her daily activity by 40min compared to the control group did not yield any significant changes in body composition should yet be as evident as the fact that it was 100% side-effect free.

  ---

  Bottom line: It really depends on where you are and if you are a sedentary slob, even 40min of extra (light) activity a day can make a difference. After all, previous studies have shown that each 1% increase in HbA1c is associated with a 1% increase in cancer risk (data fro 25,476 patients with type 2 diabetes registered in the Swedish National Diabetes Register; cf. Miao Jonasson. 2012). 

• Rodent study says: Cardio does not hamper anabolic signalling (Souza. 2013) While the comprehensive review by Wilson et al. you've read about here at the SuppVersity several times (e.g. April 2012, January 2013, etc.) found that there is a
  

  "significant negative relationships between frequency (-0.26 to -0.35) and duration (-0.29 to -0.75) of endurance training for hypertrophy, strength, and power." (Wilson. 2012)

  a very recent study from the Universidade de Sao Paulo would suggest that the negative influence of endurance training on the anabolic stimulus of restistance training is either
  
  1. species specific and occurs only in humans, but not in rodents,
  2. occurs only with chronic high volume trainging, or
  3. is at least not related to changes in the AMPK, TSC2, mTOR, or p70S6K1 ratios
  Now while each of the former is certainly possible, my best bet would be that the training volume, i.e. 5 sets of 10 reps on a "rodent leg trainer" and a 60min endurance workout on the treadmill, and the fact that the protocol was performed only once are the main reasons that the AMPK, TSC2, mTOR, or p70S6K1 ratios were identical.

  ---

  

  Doing cardio before strength workouts results in a higher testosterone:cortisol ratio after the workout (learn more)

  One thing is remarkable, however: The scientists observed a pretty remarkable +87% increase in Akt phosphorylated/total ratio that occurred 2h post only in those rodents who performed a 60min bouts of treadmill running before their leg workout. What? Yeah, that's actually what Carl and I have been talking about in the past - "pre-workout glycogen depleting cardio as intensity technique" (learn more)

---

So what's left to do now? Ah, yes of course. The best wishes for the weekend and a brief link-list for those of you who can't be without SuppVersity news for another 24h.

• 

  "Going Nuts On Berries: Ellagic Acid in Rasp- and Blueberries, Pecans, Walnut & Co Protects Against Visceral Obesity" - I hope you are not one of the guys who spits the tiny seeds of the raspberries out. That is not just disgusting, you would also spit away ~90% of their ellagic acid content (learn more).

  Do you stand right? Scientists investigate the influence of dynamic vs. static posture on leg stiffness and future risk of fall (read more)
• Anabolic steroid use has distinct effects on tendons. Scientists speculate that the increased stiffness and higher modulus contribute to the frequent ruptures in chemical athletes (read more)
• Oldie but goldie: Do you cook the creatine out of your steaks? A mid 20th century paper shows that cooking degrades creatine to creatinine (read more)
• More walnut lovin' Despite the fact that you have to be careful with what you say about the health effects of walnuts, these days a group of reseachers does not fear the repressions from the FDA and says: "We found two novel mechanism that explain why walnuts are good for your heart!" (read more)

These and other news are already waiting for you on Facebook and you can bet that there will be at least half a dozen additional ones posted before the next official SuppVersity article will see the light of the day, tomorrow.

References:

• Bweir S, Al-Jarrah M, Almalty AM, Maayah M, Smirnova IV, Novikova L, Stehno-Bittel L. Resistance exercise training lowers HbA1c more than aerobic training in adults with type 2 diabetes. Diabetol Metab Syndr. 2009 Dec 10;1:27. doi: 10.1186/1758-5996-1-27.
• Miao Jonasson J, Cederholm J, Eliasson B, Zethelius B, Eeg-Olofsson K, Gudbjörnsdottir S. HbA1C and cancer risk in patients with type 2 diabetes--a nationwide population-based prospective cohort study in Sweden. PLoS One. 2012;7(6):e38784.
• Nygaard H, Grindaker E, Rønnestad B, Holmboe-Ottesen G, Høstmark AT. Long-term effects of daily postmeal physical activity - Preliminary results.International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism,2013, 23, S1 -S15.
• Ranchordas M, Kenzie J.Effect of carbohydrate only and carbohydrate plus caffeine co-ingestion on a battery of reliable soccer-specific tests. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism,2013, 23, S1 -S15.
• Rønnestad BR, Slettaløkken G. High-intensity interval training every second week maintains VO2max in soccer players. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism,2013, 23, S1-S15.
• Souza EO, Tricoli V, Bueno Junior C, Pereira MG, Brum PC, Oliveira EM, Roschel H, Aoki MS, Urginowitsch C. The acute effects of strength, endurance and concurrent exercises on the Akt/mTOR/p70S6K1 and AMPK signaling pathway responses in rat skeletal muscle. Braz J Med Biol Res. 2013 Apr 19:0.
• Tanskanen M, Heikkinen T, Linnamo V. Effects of caffeine drinks on endurance performance, fluid balance, and subjective feelings. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism,2013, 23, S1 -S15.
• Wilson JM, Marin PJ, Rhea MR, Wilson SM, Loenneke JP, Anderson JC. Concurrent training: a meta-analysis examining interference of aerobic and resistance exercises. J Strength Cond Res. 2012 Aug;26(8):2293-307.

Fat Content Per Energy Drink 0g, Body Fat Gain Per Energy Drink 18g! Human Trial Confirms: +1kg of Body Fat in 4 Weeks From Less than 2x Energy Drinks per Day!

Image 1 (NYC Dept. of Health & Mental Hygiene): The words on this poster from a 2009 campaign in the NY subway must be taken literally!

There is a reason for me to always begin my "dietary advice" with the statement "there is NO WAY that you ever again drink any soft, energy drinks or fruit juices on a daily basis". And though I would not have needed a study to confirm skipping, lemonade, coke & co is one of the simplest, for many people yet not easiest steps to a healthier and leaner physique, I must admit that I was pretty surprised how rapid both your health and body composition deteriorate, once you reintroduce this junk into your diet. +1kg of pure body fat in 4 weeks, that was the amount of weight the 11 healthy men and women in a recently published study by scientists from the UK, Italy and the US gained within just 4 weeks in the course of which they drank on average two more or less tasty Lucozade Energy drinks per day (Sartor. 2012).

Fat content of energy drink 0g, body fat gain per energy drink 18g!

Figure 1 (gsk): Nutritional information of the energy drink the subjects drank during the 4-week study period

Sartor et al. about whose study on the "habituation effects" of sweet beverage you may already have read in one of the installments of the Insulin Resistance Saga (cf. "Where Has All the Sweetness Gone? Plus: Bullied to Eat Twinkies") had recruited 11 healthy young men (n=5) and women (n=6) with a mean age of 26 years, who were handed a month's supply of GlaxoSmith Kline's yummy Lucozade Energy of which they had to drink ~2 bottles per day (2x 380ml; in fact the average intake was only 760ml and was matched to deliver 2g carbohydrates per kg body weight; for detailed "nutritional" information based see figure 1) - just to make that clear, I suspect the results would not have been much different if this had not been Lucozade, but plain Coke, if the daily consumption (1.2l) had delivered the same amount of sugary carbs.

Apropos effects, if you take a look at the actual data in figure 2 it is quite obvious that the increase in body fat did not occur in the absence of the rise of other characteristic features of the metabolic syndrome, i.e. changes in blood glucose and lipid metabolism.

Figure 2: Changes in body composition, HOMA markers of insulin resistance, sensitivity and pancreatic function, as well as blood lipids after 4 weeks of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption (based on Sartor. 2012)

A particular reason of concern - at least in my humble opinion - are the rapid (remember these deteriorations occurred within only 4 weeks!) reductions in HOMA measure insulin sensitivity / increases in HOMA based insulin resistance measures. Which would only exponentiate the detrimental effects of the daily glucose overload.

High blood glucose, high RER, high insulin, but no increase in energy intake

Together with the significantly increased fasting glucose (+6%) and fasting insulin levels (+25%) and the accompanying reversal of the fat-to-carbohydrate oxidation rates from 2:1 to 1:3 in the fasted state this does already suggest that this is once more not solely an effect of an increase in energy intake as conventional wisdom would have it!

Figure 3: Changes in macronutrient composition and non-existent changes in total caloric intake over the course of the 4 weeks of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption (based on Sartor. 2012)

If you take a closer look at the data in figure 3 you can even drop the "solely" from the previous sentence and state: "the obesogenic effect of sugary beverages has no relation whatsoever to an increase in overall energy intake!"

Its not so much about how much, its about what and which!

It stands to reason that this increasingly accepted "violation" of the rules of thermodynamics *rofl* did not go unnoticed by Sartor et al., who had also analyzed the expression of several genes in samples of the skeletal muscle tissue of their subjects and found that there were statistically significant

• increases in glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPH), acetyl-CoA carboxylase alpha (ACC) and MonodA mRNA expression, which are indicative of increased glycolysis, decreased fatty acid oxidation and an increased cellular awareness of blood sugar abundance, respectively, as well as a significant
• decrease in peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma coactivator 1alpha (PGC-1a), of which you have read in relation to Irisin in "If a High Fat Diet was a Pill, the Lay Press Would Celebrate it as Exercise in a Pill!" that it is responsible for increases in mitochondrial firepower and fatty oxidation capacity

Much more so than the 1kg of body fat, which should be relatively easy to shed by simply pouring energy-, soft-drinks & co down the sink, instead of downing them with a gulp, these transcriptional (epigenetic) changes and the previously reported deteriorations in taste perception in response to the consumption of sugar (not fructose!) sweetened beverages (Sartor. 2011), are the real alarming results of this 4-week trial. After all, they are the ones that predispose to future fat gain, diabetes and hyperlipidemia!

So, what can be done?

Image 2: OTC solution to the problem? Water + Workout

Luckily there is a tried and proven non-pharmacological solution to this problem, an OTC double-whammy, if you will that is not just free, but will actually save you truckloads of money! Initially for all the energy drinks and soft-drinks you are not buying anymore and for all the medication the medical bill's and the XXL coffin for your funeral in the weeks, months, years and decades to come. What? You want to know what this OTC double-whammy is? Plain water and regular exercise! While the former is equally if not more thirst-quenching than the differently colored sugar waters, the latter will help to gradually reverse the epigenitic changes and restore a healthy glucose and fatty acid metabolism.

References:

1. GlaxoSmithKline (gsk). Lucozade Official Shop. Lucozade Energy - Original. 2012 < http://www.lucozadeshop.com/lucozadeenergy/lucozadeenergyoriginal > Received on June 30, 2012.
2. Sartor F, Donaldson LF, Markland DA, Loveday H, Jackson MJ, Kubis HP. Taste perception and implicit attitude toward sweet related to body mass index and soft drink supplementation. Appetite. 2011 Aug;57(1):237-46. 
3. Sartor F, Jackson MJ, Squillace C, Shepherd A, Moore JP, Ayer DE, Kubis HP. Adaptive metabolic response to 4 weeks of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption in healthy, lightly active individuals and chronic high glucose availability in primary human myotubes. Eur J Nutr. 2012 Jun 26.