SuppVersity - Nutrition and Exercise Science for Everyone

Wouldn't it be cool if you could simply plug your computer into a USB-slot at the back of your head to read out your energy status...? Ah, no, it wouldn't! It's already scary enough how much Fitbit, Garmin, and co know about us. This is by no means the only problem with metabolic research, these days, but it's one that's really getting on my (and probably also your) nerves. It's all about the sick and obese. It is thus no wonder that you will easily find papers that assess how the Nelson, Mifflin, Harris-Benedict and other equations that are commonly used are off wrt the real energy requirements of the average obese type II diabetic. What you'll be hard-pressed to find, though, is data on their accuracy in athletes. I have addressed this issue before, but with the publication of a recent paper in the  Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research  there's now more data available than from all the previous studies I've seen. The effect of lean...

Red peppers - too hot for you? CH-19 Sweet is non-pungent pepper w/ similar metabolic effects ( Ohnuki 2001a ) You will probably have encountered capsaicin in one or another kitchen-sink supplement in the past. Probably without knowing if and how much it contributed to the fat loss and/or performance effects of said product. I promise: After reading this extended review of a recent study by de Freitas, Cholewa, Freire et al. (2017) your perspective on this "ah, it also contains ... wtf" ingredient may change significantly. Why's that? Well, next to previously cited, latest and greatest research on the ergogenic effects  of capsaicin, there's also a bunch of quite exciting papers on its ability to help you lose body fat  and promote your metabolic and overall health . Learn more about alleged and true fat burner at the SuppVersity For Caffeine, Timing Matters! 45 Min or More? DMAA (Jack3D) - The Good, the Bad & the Evil How 'Harmless' are T...

If  obesity is a chronic disease it cannot be surprising that it cannot be cured and weight loss maintenance requires life-long effort(s) on part of the formerly obese (note: things are different for non-obese individuals trying to shed extra-pounds). I've discussed the issue of "metabolic damage" in a series of previous SuppVersity  articles and pointed out that the scientific evidence supporting the disproportionate down-regulation of your metabolic rate with (significant) weight loss cannot support the exorbitant weight rebound we see in many so-called "weight-reduced individuals", who return to their "normal" dietary habits. Now, a recent study from the US (Polidori. 2016) shows that this weight gain is mostly driven by a hitherto largely overlooked increase in appetite - an increase that goes way beyond any effects of "metabolic damage". High protein helps, but do not counter the weight loss induced changes in RMR & appetit...

This study is different from the average "fish oil is good for you" study and that's both refreshing and revealing. Speaking of "fresh" you got a 50/50 chance you buy fresh, not rancid fish oil. I am not exactly a fan of fish oil supplementation, but I am neither ignoring the few gems among the bazillion of "fish oil is good for you" papers. Samantha L. Logan's and Lawrence L. Spriet's latest paper in the open access journal PLOS|ONE  looks as if it was one of those gems. A gem that suggests that 3g of DHA + EPA per day (2 g/d EPA, 1 g/d DHA, to be precise) will not just lower the triglyceride levels of community dwelling older, healthy women by 29%, but also (a) increase their lean mass by 4%, (b) boost their functional capacity by 7% and (c) bump up their resting metabolic rate by 14%, their energy expenditure during exercise by 10%, and the rate of fat oxidation during rest and low-intensity cycling by 19% and 27%, respectively. You...

From a health perspective it may be good that green tea does not contain all-too much caffeine. From a fat loss perspective, it clearly lacks caffeine. When it comes to dietary supplements, people like to pay tons of money for unproven ingredients with funky names and dubious or non-existent safety profiles; agents that have been scientifically proven to work, are safe and cheap, on the other hand, are non-sellers or at least considered to be non-effective. Obviously, I cannot really explain why that is the case (I suspect it is because people effect drug-like effects without drug-like side-effects from supps and are thus always on the lookout for the "next big"... hoax), I can tell you, though, that a recent study that is going to be published in one of the upcoming issues of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (Jo. 2015) shows that caffeine and green tea, two supplements that belong to the previously described category, are everything but useless. You...