SuppVersity - Nutrition and Exercise Science for Everyone

Vegetarian strength athletes belong to the group of people who will probably benefit most from creatine supplementation. Their young, meat-eating peers, on the other hand, may well turn out to be non-responders, because they see highly individual, but overall only non-significant increases in phosphocreatine. It has been a while since I published the last creatine article ("Dubious Effects of Creatine on Markers of CNS Adaptation and Heart Health in "Bodybuilders" - Reason to Be Afraid?" | read it ); the last time that I addressed the issue of "creatine non-responders", i.e. reasons why people simply don't seem to benefit from creatine supplementation has been published in 2014, already, when I presented the results of a study suggesting that it's not a high dietary creatine intake from meat that makes the difference ( learn more ). Needless to say, meat still made it on the list of possible determinants of the individual performance increase...

Are vegan athletes who supplement their low BCAA baseline diet with amino acid powders making an unhealthy mistake? At first sight a recent study from Poland suggests just that. Upon closer scrutiny, however, the practical relevance of the results appear less and less convincing. It seems (and I have to admit that I fell for that logic, too) only logical that vegans, unlike omnivores and lactovegetarians run the risk of not getting enough BCAAs from their diet. After all, their diets allow the neither the consumption of dairy nor many of the other wonderful high BCAA protein sources. Against that background, I would venture the guess that many vegan athletes spike their diets with copious amounts of the ubiquitous BCAA supplements, supplement vendors all around the globe are pushing on unsuspecting customers who have no clue that a new study claims that these supplements may ruin one of the often-heard benefits of vegan diets: improved glucose management and reduced diab...

"If some is good, more is better!" Unfortunately, this simple maxime does rarely apply when it comes to the physiological response to certain foods and/or supplements. For protein, however, it appears as if the relation holds - at least as long as protein does not become the only energy source in your diet. I guess by now I can simply skip the lengthy introduction telling you about how I didn't want to cherry pick only three out of more than twenty newsworthy studies that were presented at the  Twelfth International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) Conference and Expo in 2015, when I started writing this series right ( click here if you have missed the previous articles)? Well, that's good because it leaves more room for a brief preview of the studies I am about to discuss in today's third serving of the SuppVersity ISSN Research Review 2015  - studies that are all related (in one way or another) to increased protein intake. Either in overweight or obese...

With 77µg per 100g of the Nori leaves in the wrapping sushi makes an excellent B12 source, even if you stick to the vegan, no tuna version ;-) If this is not your first visit to the SuppVersity you will be aware that I am not a exactly a proponent of vegetarianism let alone vegan dieting. Just like any other severely restrictive diet people who don't eat animal products are at an increased risk of nutrient deficiencies. For vegetarians and even more so for vegans, it is not exactly easy to cover their daily requirements of vitamin A, vitamin D3, iron, cholesterol (yes, cholesterol is an essential nutrient!), n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and saturated fats. The most urgently needed nutrient for the average vegetarian / vegan dieter, however is vitamin B12, or cobalamin, as scientists say. Actually dairy happens to be an excellent B12 source. Why not become lacto-vegetarian? Dairy Has Branched-Chain Fatty Acids! Is There Sth. Like a Dairy Weight Loss Miracle? ...

Is your love for meat going to kill you? Not if you're not already a walking candy stick with sugar coated ateries and a beer belly. I am pretty sure that the mainstream interpretation of the study at hand will be missing the important "but only if you ARE ALREADY a type II diabetic" in the headline of today's SuppVersity article. Meat bashing and vegetarian protein worshiping is simply too "en vogue" these days for the average "science journalist" to stick to the actual data and tell you that the ingestion of isoenergetic processed meat vs. vegan high carbohydrate meals leaves only one conclusion: For healthy individuals, processed fatty meals produce a much more favorable postprandial peptide response compared to the "allegedly super healthy" (and morally superior ;-) acetic vegetarian plant-based burger meal (a couscous burger: boiled couscous, baked with onion, garlic, plant oil, spices, oat-flakes in a wheat bun with sesame se...