3g BCAA + Arginine + Carbs Pre-Workout Modulates Hormonal Response to Single Bout of Treadmill Running to Exhaustion

BCAAs + Arginine + Carbohydrates before workout!? Sounds familiar, doesn't it? In fact many of the first generation preworkout products were either formulated like that or consumers were advised to stack them with a branched amino acid (BCAA) product of the same company. Studies which investigated the combined ergogenic effect of these nutrients are yet scarce. So, I thought that it would be worth posting the results of a recent study from China (Hsu. 2011).

Before they started exercising on a treadmill, the subjects, 14 male physical active college students, received a beverage containing either 3g of BCAA (2:1:1) + 0.5g Arginine + 12.1g carbohydrates or placebo. Blood samples of each subject were collected before exercise, 0, 10, 20, 40, 60, 120 min and 24 h after exercise and the procedure was repeated after two weeks (cross-over design). The results were as follows:

No significant differences in the levels of lactate, ammonia, creatine kinase and glycerol between the two groups were observed at any of the time points. However, the levels of glucose and insulin were significantly higher in the BA trial as compared to those in the PL trial at the 40 and 60 min recovery points. Furthermore, the testosterone to cortisol ratio at the 120 min recovery point was significantly higher in the BA trial as compared to that in the PL trial.

While higher glucose and insulin levels are hardly surprising in view of the fact that the placebo contained no calories whatsoever, the improved hormonal recovery (measured as testosterone / cortisol ratio) in the supplemented group appears to be pretty interesting.

A closer look at the exact data does yet reveal that the supplemented group had a higher testosterone / cortisol ratio to begin with. So, if we calculate the relative changes in the T/C ratio 120min after exercising to exhaustion, these are +13.2% in the placebo group and only +6.8% in the supplemented group.
Does that mean that the money you are spending on preworkout products is wasted? From a hormonal perspective, maybe. From a psychological perspective, we do yet still have another result of the study: "Fatigue score increased immediately at exhaustion in both groups, but the decrease in the fatigue score at 120 min recovery point was significant only in BA trial." Consequently, even if it does not improve the hormonal milieu in the early recovery period, supplementation with branched chain amino acids, arginine and carbohydrates could provide the psychological edge you need to drag yourself to the gym regularly ;-)

On a side note: It would have been interesting to see T/C levels measured beyond the 120 minutes post exhaustion. Based on the fact that the recovery of the T/C levels of the supplemented group sped up from T=60min to T=120min, one may well hypothesize that there would be measurable (hormonal) advantages for the BA group at T=180min and beyond.

Ginkgo, Ginseng, Green Tea: Only one of the G's may be worth Supplementing

In the most recent episode of their supplement review (which is usually very critical) the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM Review. Part 17) has a look at studies on the ergogenic potential of ginkgo, ginseng and green tea, all of which are heavily advertised for their beneficial effects on health, long jeopardy and mental, as well as physical performance.

In the case of Ginkgo an Ginseng, the studies that have been considered in this review provide very inconclusive evidence for and against their use as ergogenics or medical plants. With regards to the underlying reasons for the discrepancies which have been reported, the reviewers argument that both, the origin, as well as the processing techniques may have influenced the efficiency of ginkgo and ginseng products. green tea, on the other hand, "shows some promise" - regular readers of this review series will know that this is already a great praise!

Although evidence is limited, green tea extract, and particularly the active component EGCG, has shown some consistency from animal to human models regarding a delay in fatigue during prolonged exercise. In humans this appears to be due to the effect of an increase in fat oxidation.

Against this background and in view of the declining prices of quality green tea products (especially if bought in bulk) green tea should obviously be the "G" of choice in your supplement regimen. Ah, and before I forget: green tea is actually something you drink, basically the counterpart to real food, which is what you probably have forgotten to eat facing the stash of capsuled supplements you're popping everyday ;-)

Resveratrol Fails to Ameliorate inflammatory response and Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness After a Marathon

Resveratrol, an antioxidant polyphenol from the skin of red grapes, has now been around for quite a while and as it was in the case of almost every other antioxidant which was hailed as a powerful panaceum (e.g. vitamin E) it slowly transpires that the real life value of resveratrol may well fall short of the expectations its potency in (mostly) in vitro studies rose among scientists and laymen alike.

For some of you it may yet still come as a surprise that the results of a double placebo-controlled randomised trial conducted at the London Marathon 2010 (Laupheimer. 2011) fall short of the expectations the colorful advertisements and cited abstracts from in vitro studies may raise in many half-informed customers:

There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of changes occurring between pre and post-tests for WBC [white blood cell count], CRP [C reactive protein] or VAS [a measure of muscle soreness] (p=0.857, 0.629 and 0.70 respectively).

And, although the author remarks that the dose and loading protocol (600mg of resveratrol /day for 7 days before the event) may have been insufficient to produce favorable results, I would like to remind everyone that these 600mg is three times the dose one would get from the suggested usage of NOW's high quality Resveratrol 200. So, even if 1.200mg would work, this would be quite an expensive supplementation protocol.

Beta-Hydroxy-Beta Methylbutyrate Strikes Back: HMB Increases GH and IGF-1 at the Expense of Insulin Resistance

"HMB" - do you remember these three letters? If you have been around the supplement world in the early 2000s, you probably will. Beta-hydroxy-beta methylbutyrate (HMβ) is a metabolite of leucine which has been advertised to enhance exercise performance, reduce fatigue and promote muscle gains. Nothing of that has been substantiated within larger human studies, though; and thus HMB a former star among the amino acid supplements has almost been forgotten.

Now, a recent study from Brazil (Gerlinger-Romero. 2011) provides data suggesting that HMB may in effect raise the content of pituitary GH mRNA and growth hormone [GH], as well as hepatic IGF-I mRNA and serum IGF-I concentrations.

It was observed that the HMβ treatment induced an increase in GH mRNA by 65% (P < 0.001) and in GH content by 20% (P < 0.05) compared to control group. The IGF-I mRNA expression in liver, as well as the serum IGF-I concentration was also significantly increased in the HMβ-treated animals.

There are some downsides to these results, however. Firstly, this is another rodent study, so we do not know how the results of this 4 week intervention would translate to human beings. At least, other than in previous investigations, the amount of HMB, 320mg/kg body weight, which is equivalent to roughly 52mg/kg body weight in a human being, would be affordable, but ...

Figure 1: Effect of the HMβ-treatment on Insulin concentrations.
Data are expressed as mean ± SEM. *P < 0.05; n = 9–16 animals per group
(Gerlinger-Romero. 2011)

... and here comes secondly, the rats became hyperinsulinemic (cf. figure 1), or in other words HMB supplementation induced insulin resistance. With the latter being at the heart of the metabolic syndrome I would think twice before attempting to boost my growth hormone level with an amino acid metabolite that will compromise my body's insulin management.

L-Carnitine Works! At Least if it's L-Carnitine L-Tartrate.

Initially, carnitine was considered the super-supplement for both, the athlete seeking the ergogenic edge, as well as for the obese trying to shed unhealthy body fat. Surprisingly, however, study after study showed no to little effect on exercise performance and/or fat loss. Ultimately, it became clear that, even at very high doses, only very little of the orally delivered l-carnitine actually makes it to the muscle. Consequently, its effects on performance and body composition where negligible. Now, a very recent study by Wall et. al. (Wall. 2011) found that adding a transporter, in this case l-tartrate, to the molecule does not only help to increase muscle carnitine levels, it eventually produces exactly those effects on exercise performance and substrate metabolism one would have expected from l-carnitine supplementation in the first place.

The scientists had their 14 healthy male volunteers ingest either 80 g of CHO (Control) or 2 g of L-carnitine L-tartrate and 80 g of CHO (Carnitine) twice daily for 24 weeks in a randomised, double blind manner. Other than in previous studies with plain l-carnitine (minus the l-tartrate) there was a significant increase of muscle carnitine content with all the downstream metabolic benefits on exercise performance one would expect:

Muscle TC increased from basal by 21% in Carnitine (P<0.05), and was unchanged in Control. At 50% VO2max, the Carnitine group utilised 55% less muscle glycogen compared to Control (P<0.05) and 31% less pyruvate dehydrogenase complex activation (PDCa) compared to before supplementation (P<0.05). Conversely, at 80% VO2max, muscle PDCa was 38% higher (P<0.05), acetylcarnitine content showed a trend to be 16% greater (P<0.10), muscle lactate content was 44% lower (P<0.05) and the muscle PCr/ATP ratio was better maintained (P<0.05) in Carnitine compared to Control. The Carnitine group increased work output 11% from baseline in the performance trial, while Control showed no change.

So, after all, it was not the wrong the substance previous investigations used, but rather the wrong form - l-carnitine l-tartrate - though expensive - is the way to go to burn fat and increase athletic performance. If you do not want to buy it in bulk, I suggest you at least buy a product like MAN Sports Body Octane, where you actually know how much (here 1g) of the carnitine you're getting per serving.

Creatine + Caffeine = No-Go? Still Nothing but a Myth

You probably have heard both that a) caffeine would negate the ergogenic effects of creatine loading and b) that the latter is nothing but one of those gym-myths which just won't disappear.

A recent study by scientists from the Department of Recreational Sports Management, Yu Da University, Miaoli, Taiwan (Lee. 2011) provides practical evidence that "the no caffeine when on creatine"-advice is garbage. The scientists investigated the effects of acute caffeine ingestion on intermittent high-intensity sprint performance after 5 days of creatine loading and found no detrimental effects of 0.6mg/kg caffeine on the creatine induced increase in exercise performance. What's more the ergogenic effect of caffeine added to that of creatine, so that ...

[...] the mean and peak power observed in the CRE + CAF were significantly higher than those found in the CON during Sprints 1 and 3; and the CRE + CAF showed significantly higher mean and peak power than that in the CRE + PLA during Sprints 1 and 2. [...] Heart rates, plasma lactate, and glucose increased significantly with CRE + CAF during most sprints.

On the other hand, one has to consider that this does not ultimately refute that "caffeine loading", or rather binging on caffeine day by day, may well exhaust your adrenal reserves in a way that after a few weeks of epinephrine overload, you are so drained that it becomes hard to drag yourself to the gym. In this situation all the creatine in the world probably won't help you.

High Dose Caffeine Will NOT Allow You to Curl More Weight

Most PreWorkout products are loaden with caffeine. The reasoning behind that is twofold: Firstly, the caffeine will spike you up and thus may allow you to work more energetically. And secondly, caffeine is believed to be a potent ergogenic in itself, allowing you to lift that extra pound you would otherwise have to take off.

As far as the ergodicity of caffeine is concerned, a recent study which was part of Jared Coburns dissertation at the California State University (Coburn. 2010) suggests that these must be more of a systemic nature. Comparing the effects of a preworkout drink with either 0, 5 or 10 mg/kg caffeine Coburn found

no significant differences for maximal strength, RTD [rate of torque development], EMG [electromyographic] amplitude and frequency, MMG [mechanomyographic] amplitude, EMD [electromechanical delay] and PMD [phonomechanical delay]

in his 14 male volunteers. So, while related studies, such as the one done by Pontifex et al. (Pontifex. 2010), where athletes had to perform several consecutive bouts of sprinting, provide evidence for the ergogenic effect of caffeine, it does not appear to benefit isometric muscle actions of the elbow flexors within a single set - in how far the results would have been different, if, for example, the subjects had had to perform dropsets is another kettle of fish.

Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera) as a Natural Test Booster and Ergogenic

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 have to clarify whether it needs the cortisol-like effects of prednisone for the testosterone-boosting effect of the date seeds to take place or whether taking adequate amounts of pits of date palm would provoke similar (or even superior) increases in testosterone in rats and, most importantly, in men. Be that as it may, even the increase in neurotransmitters (NE, DA, GABA) certainly could provide real-world benefits for athletes, as well as people suffering from fatigue.