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25g Whey Protein or 10g of EAAs Maximize Post Workout Protein Synthesis Without Additional Carbs

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While this probably won't end the debate on whether post-workout carbohydrate intake is a good or a bad thing, a recent review of the literature presented by Steward M. Phillips at the The Summer Meeting of the Nutrition Society ( Phillips. 2010 ) suggests that the addition of carbs to your post-workout shake is at least unnecessary, as long as you have a sufficient amount of leucine and EAAs in it: The increment in [muscle protein synthesis] MPS is maximally stimulated at a dose of protein of approximately 25 g or 10 g EAA . This rise is based solely on protein consumption and is not augmented by carbohydrate , at least when protein is adequate. Also, the type of protein is of utmost importance. Phillips recommends whey protein or (please note that it is not whey and EAAs ) a blend of EAAs at dosages of 25g and 10g, respectively. Figure 1: Whole blood leucine concentration (μ M ) following resistance exercise from subjects who consumed 500 ml fluid skim (low fat) m...
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Skipping Breakfast Makes You Fat, but NOT by Increasing Appetite

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You will certainly have heard of the scientifically proven correlation between skipping breakfast and getting obese. At least for children a group led by Tanya VE Kral ( Kral. 2010 ) has now found "Omitting breakfast affected children’s appetite ratings but not their energy intake at subsequent meals ." Astonishing as this may sound, the results of their investigation are unequivocal: There was no significant main effect of breakfast condition on energy intake at lunch (P = 0.36) or throughout the remainder of the day (P = 0.85). There was a significant main effect of breakfast condition (P = 0.04) on total daily energy intake, which indicated that on the day when the subjects did not eat breakfast, they consumed 362 fewer calories over the course of the day than when they did eat breakfast. On the day when no breakfast was served, subjects indicated that they were significantly hungrier, less full, and could consume more food before lunch than on the day when they did ea...
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15-30% Increase in Protein Synthesis if Protein is Ingested After Exercise

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What common sense already told us has now been proven again in a scientific study published by the American Society for Nutrition ( Pennings. 2010 ). Protein synthesis is greater if protein is consumed after exercise. And these results hold true for both, young and old. As a marker of protein synthethis, the scientists investigated the response of exogenous phenylalanine on a 20-g bolus of intrinsically l -[1- 13 C]phenylalanine-labeled protein which was administered either at rest or after exercise: [...] Muscle protein synthesis rates calculated from the oral tracer were 0.0620 ± 0.0065%/h and 0.0560 ± 0.0039%/h for the rest condition and 0.0719 ± 0.0057%/h and 0.0727 ± 0.0040%/h for the exercise condition in young and elderly men, respectively (age effect: P = 0.62; exercise effect: P < 0.05; interaction of age and exercise: P = 0.52). So overall, this is a non-negligible increase in the calculated protein synt...
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L-Citrulline Against Arterial Stiffness

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You probably know it from the ingredient list of your pre-workout or amino acid product , l-citrulline . Being a possible precursor of l-arginine it is included in those formulas to increase nitric oxide levels and deliver those "skin bursting pumps" the advertisements brag about. In a recent study, scientists from Japan ( Ochiai. 2010 ) found that 1 week of l-citrulline supplementation at 5.6g/day effectively reduced arterial stiffness in 15 healthy males: Compared with the placebo group, baPWV [ index of arterial stiffness] was significantly reduced in the l-citrulline group (p<0.01). No significant differences in blood pressure (BP) were found between the two groups, and no correlation was observed between BP and baPWV. The serum nitrogen oxide (NOx, the sum of nitrite plus nitrate) and NO metabolic products were significantly increased only in the l-citrulline group (p<0.05). Plasma citrulline, arginine and the ratio of arginine/asymmetric dimethylarg...
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Further Evidence Against Anti-Oxidant Supplementation: Vitamin E + Alpha Lipoic Acid Reduce Skeletal Muscle Mitochondrial Biogenesis

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Mass media and supplement companies will make you believe: " It is all about anti-oxidants " - Well, making money these days may in fact be all about anti-oxidants, but at least for athletes supplementing exogenous anti-oxidants may not be so wise as their producers would have us believe. Yet another recent study on the "beneficial" effects of anti-oxidants on reactive oxygen specimen (ROS) found that, at least for athletes blocking natural increases in ROS may also inhibit the intended adaptive responses: Consistent with augmentation of skeletal muscle mitochondrial biogenesis and antioxidant defenses, following training there were significant increases in PGC-1α mRNA and protein, COX IV and cytochrome C protein abundance, citrate synthase activity, Nfe2l2 and SOD2 protein (P<0.05). Antioxidant supplementation reduced PGC-1α mRNA, PGC-1α and COX IV protein, and citrate synthase enzyme activity (P<0.05) in both sedentary and exercise-trained rats. In...
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Want to Lose Fat? Don't Reward Yourself with Food!

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At my gym, I see it over and over again: people staring at the calorie counter of the stairmaster, dreaming of the pot of icecream which is already waiting for them in the fridge. Don't be so stupid or you will end up like the "non-responders" in a recent study on exercise-induced weight-loss done by scientists from the University of Leeds ( Finlayson. 2010 ). The scientists observed 34 sedentary obese males and females who participated in a 12-week supervised exercise intervention prescribed to expend 500 kcal/day, 5 d/week and classified them into responders (losing weight) and non-responders (maintaining or even increasing weight). By this means the scientists identified a certain pattern of increased appetite in high-fat sweet foods in the non-responders:  Food reward (ratings of liking and wanting, and relative preference by forced choice pairs) for an array of food images was assessed before and after an acute exercise bout. Results. 20 responders and 14 non...
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Creatine Prevents Statin Induced Myopathy

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In the Observations section of the November issue of Annals of Internal Medicine Shewman & Craig ( Shewman. 2010 ) report beneficial effects of creatine supplementation in patients on statin drugs: Myopathy scores were significantly higher after the statin-only treatment phase than at baseline but did not differ from baseline after the other treatment phases. Creatine loading plus maintenance creatine therapy prevented myopathy symptoms in 8 of 10 patients receiving statins . After these 8 patients stopped maintenance creatine therapy and developed myopathy symptoms while receiving statins alone, reloading creatine decreased symptoms to baseline levels. Also, increasing the creatine dosage from maintenance to loading diminished myopathy symptoms to baseline levels in 1 patient who developed symptoms 6 days after a statin was added to maintenance creatine therapy. No significant differences in vital signs or laboratory test results were observed. So, in case you really think you ...
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