SuppVersity - Nutrition and Exercise Science for Everyone

You don't have to worry, the "guidelines" do not require you to perform either your 150 minutes of moderate cardio, or your 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, and not even your two weekly full-body workouts in these shorts. 24% that's the SuppVersity Figure of the Week and it is actually not so low as I would have expected it to be, after all those 24% describe the ratio of US adults who meet the Physical Activity Guidelines for muscle-strengthening physical activity . Which guideline? Ah, you are the US guys and gals, so you should know that you are advised to "perform muscle-strengthening activities that are moderate or high intensity and involve all major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week, because these activities provide additional health benefit" (2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans) Additional benefit? Well, it goes without saying that the 150 minutes of moderate aerobic training and the reduction of salt, as...

Can creatine beneficially influence your neurotransmitter so that you can run longer? I guess, some of you will remember, while others will still ignore the discussion revolving around the serotonin (5-HT) depleting effects of high doses of BCAA (see news item " BCAAs inhibit serotonin metabolism "). To those who remember and may even have followed the ensuing discussion it is probably no news that the acute ingestion of ~60g of BCAAs suppresses 5-HT, raises prolactin and lowers dopamine to such a degree that it has a direct negative impact on emotional decision making in human beings (Sevy. 2006). Against that background you may probably be assuming the worst, when I am now telling you that every gymrat's darling, creatine monohydrate, does also exhibit non-negligible effects on the levels of the two important neurotransmitters. All clear: Creatine probably won't make you depressed Contrary to BCAAs which exert their effect irrespective of whether you do or ...

Image 1: Coffee vs. tea, if it comes to the persistent dopaminergic "get going" effect it appears that a hitherto hardly known tea variety, Camellia Kucha has the edge on the #1 average westerner's #1 morning drink. Caffeine is the #1 drug for anyone looking for that little extra of burst of energy and yet there are people who claim they would kill for their morning coffee, while others swear by having one cup right before bed to keep the blood sugar levels from dropping during the night. Whatever your personal preference may be, it probably did not escape your notice that cup no.10,000 does not exert the same magic as cup  no. 10, decades ago. The reason for that is a pretty rapid habituation effect, the extend of which varies remarkably from person to person.If you do belong to the vast majority of people for whom  the morning coffee has become more of an entrenched habit than an energizer, you will therefore probably be interested in the results of a recent study...

A very recent study ( Saddiq. 2010 ) published in the Journal of the International Society for Horticultural Science found that the seeds of Phoenix dactylifera can raise testosterone, norepenephrine (NE), dopamine (DA) and GABA levels and may counteract the negative effect of prednisolone administration in rats. [...] the daily oral administration of pits of date palm caused the maximal increase in NE, DA and GABA content that was found in the brain stem after 2 weeks . The daily oral administration of methylprednisolone caused a decrease in NE, DA and GABA content found in the brain stem after 2 weeks. Moreover, the daily oral administration of pits of date palm and methylprednisolone caused an increase in NE content found in the brain stem after 2 weeks. The daily oral administration of pits of date palm and methylprednisolone caused a significant increase in testosterone level in serum blood of male albino rats. While all this sounds promising, further studies would ...

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...