SuppVersity - Nutrition and Exercise Science for Everyone

In China, cordyceps is also used in dishes - here: Chicken With Mushroom & Cordyceps Militaris Soup. Cordyceps is the tribulus of adaptogens... why's that? If you look at the scientific evidence supporting its efficacy the results are similarly ambiguous as they are for tribulus and still, Cordyceps has been among the supplemental topsellers for years - and rarely in the way it is used in classic Chinese Traditional Medicine (TCM) for respiratory and kidney diseases, renal dysfunction, and cardiac dysfunction (Zhu, Halpern, & Jones, 1998b). The popularity dates back to bogus rumors about Chinese female athletes in the 1990s - god knows what these "world-recordbreaking" athletes took, but cordiceps was almost certainly not the most effective of the PED cocktail. For longer sprints bicarbonate may be the more effective choice The Hazards of Acidosis Build Bigger Legs W/ Bicarbonate HIIT it Hard W/ NaCHO3 Creatine + BA = Perfect Match Bicarb ...

Right vs. wrong supps can make a victory or defeat difference of >90%. I've written about the individual response to caffeine and bicarbonate before. To tackle both of these ergogenic supplements I can actually recommend, however, based on a single study that as just been published in the  Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism  is news. The study was conducted at the Derby University's   Department of Life Sciences, Sport, Outdoor & Exercise Science (Higgins. 2016) and evaluated the effects of ingesting sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) or caffeine individually or in combination on high-intensity cycling capacity. In a counterbalanced, crossover design, 13 healthy, noncycling trained males (age: 21 ± 3 years, height: 178 ± 6 cm, body mass: 76 ± 12 kg, peak power output (Wpeak): 230 ± 34 W, peak oxygen uptake: 46 ± 8 mL·kg−1·min−1) performed a graded incremental exercise test, 2 familiarisation trials, and 4 experimental trials. You can learn more about...

Hershey's 100% Cacao, soon also available at your local GNC? If you look at the results of the study at hand, it does appear likely that a regular "food item" can compete with sign. more expensive sport supplements. From previous SuppVersity  articles you know that several studies have demonstrated the protective effects of cocoa consumption, due to its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. From the news and my critical evaluations of the study results, you do yet also know that (a) regular chocolate lacks most of these beneficial effects and that the effects have (b) often been hilariously exaggerated in the laypress. Furthermore, studies that probe the efficacy of cacao or high cacao chocolate on exercise performance are, unlike studies on its anti-oxidant effects (e.g. Berry. 2010; Davison. 2012), something in-between "rare" and "quasi non-existent". In spite of its relatively small size (fifteen 15-18 year old soccer players), a rece...

Figure 1: Cordyceps sinensis (photo NW Botanicals ) Would you have suspected that the parasitic relationship between the fungus and the larva of the ghost moth would turn out to be a powerful ergogenic? No? Well, what if I told you that this very "relationship" is the resource of which the commonly known fungus Cordyceps sinensis is derived? Ok, I see you know this one... A very recent study ( Kumar. 2011 ) which was published in the  Journal of Ethnopharmacology confirmed earlier study results that have attracted supplement companies to this inconspicuous, yet highly ergogenic fungus from the order of the Hypocreales. The Indian scientists investigated the effect of 200 mg/kg of air-dried cordiceps powder (human equivalent approx. 33mg/kg) to rats for 15 days . The 24 rats were randomized to one out of four groups: control (C), CS supplemented without exercise (CSS), exercise (E, swimming exercise 1h/day without load) and CS supplemented along with exercise (C...

A recent investigation into the effects of 4 weeks feeding of barley water ( talbina ), a traditional British soft drink ( click here for recipe ) to albino mice found remarkable neurological and endocrine changes ( Bawazir, 2010 ): [...] this treatment caused significant increase in, dopamine (DA), serotonin (5-HT) and gamm-aminobutyric acid (GABA) contents in different brain areas (Cerebellum, striatum, cerebral cortex, hypothalamus, brain steam and hippocampus) of male albino rats. Moreover, it caused the maximal increase in GABA content in the cerebral cortex after 4 weeks (+41.51%) and the maximal increase in DA, GABA, 5-HT and 5-HIAA content in the cerebral cortex after 3 weeks ((+62.85, +41.51, +72.73 and (+71.98%, respectively) . Significant increases in cortisol (+20.09 %) and testosterone ( 46.8%) levels were found in blood after 4 weeks. The tubules of testis showed an increased active spermatogenesis with significant rise of number of mature sperms. Before you start bo...