All in Vein by Jerry Brainum

Vascularity in bodybuilding is controversial. The term refers to the extent of superficial prominence of blood vessels, or veins, that are just below the skin’s surface. Of course, you don’t have to be a bodybuilder to show prominent vascularity. You can readily see a lot of veins on many thin people. Conditioned bodybuilders and other athletes show prominent vascularity for the same reason that thin people do: low subcutaneous bodyfat, which is the fat that lies just under the skin.

Having an extensive amount of vascularity is not only desirable but sought after by competitive bodybuilders. From a judging perspective, a bodybuilder who displays it is said to be in contest condition—at least as far as bodyfat is concerned. All those veins sticking out somehow make the competitor seem more muscular. It’s certainly plausible when you consider that contestants with excess bodyfat rarely show any degree of vascularity.

 Not having prominent veins doesn’t mean that you’re out of shape or that you have too much bodyfat. The location of superficial blood vessels is also a factor, one that depends on genetics. Some bodybuilders can be “ripped” yet not display a lot of vascularity. Their great conditioning is still apparent, however, because of their obvious muscularity, which may include cross-striations in certain muscle groups, such as the thighs and triceps, that would not appear if they had too much bodyfat. In many bodybuilders the veins never show, and the reason is simple: Their blood vessels lie deeper under the skin than those of other competitors.

Although prized by many bodybuilders, vascularity is controversial for a number of reasons. Many people believe that having extensive vascularity points to anabolic drug use. The thinking is that drugs selectively help reduce subcutaneous fat stores more than is possible through exercise and diet. To a certain extent, that’s true. One has only to compare a drug-free, or natural, bodybuilder to a self-professed anabolic-drug user whose vascularity is much more evident. Again, however, genetics enters the picture; many bodybuilders who’ve never used any form of anabolic drugs can also show prominent vascularity with low bodyfat if they have blood vessels located closer to the surface of the skin. Drugs besides steroids that may affect vascularity, such as thyroid hormone, growth hormone and clenbuterol, work by reducing bodyfat, including the kind under the skin.

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Some bodybuilders have even contemplated using drugs that raise blood pressure because they believe that it will bring the veins out. It won’t, but it may bring on a heart attack or stroke. Other bodybuilders sip wine shortly before going onstage at a contest, thinking that it will rapidly dilate blood vessels and produce a more vascular appearance. Alcohol does dilate blood vessels, but only small ones in the skin that aren’t readily apparent. The good news is that the dilation makes you feel warmer, even if not more vascular-looking. The same holds true with downing some niacin, a B-complex vitamin known to cause blood vessel dilation. Again, you’ll feel warm, and the increased blood circulation produced by the niacin will make you look flushed, or redder, and that may blend in with your tan, natural or otherwise. As for making you appear more vascular under the posing lights, sorry, no cigar—okay, one for you, former Governor Schwarzenegger.

Perhaps the most idiotic technique ever devised for producing greater vascularity is to engage in blood doping by using drugs such as EPO analogs that increase red blood cell concentration. That it doesn’t work is evident when you view elite cyclists, many of whom engage in blood doping. I don’t recall ever seeing a particularly vascular cyclist—do you?

Vascularity is also controversial because of the way the public outside bodybuilding reacts to it. Ever since I began training more than four decades ago, I’ve heard people express disgust about “all those veins sticking out” on bodybuilders. Rather than admire the fact that those veins are “sticking out” because of low bodyfat, people express revulsion, often commenting that they are ugly and don’t look natural. Most people don’t have large muscles and prominent veins. Even comic book superheros who have large muscles, such as Superman and Batman, never show prominent vascularity. On the other hand, the superheros wear costumes that may obscure it. In recent years the fake Batman costume that actors have worn in movies has highlighted more vascularity and abdominal definition, perhaps because of the influence of real-life bodybuilders.

In the past, prominent vascularity was rare in bodybuilding competition. While some muscles, such as the biceps, did show a vein or two, you didn’t see the vascularity so abundant today—yet another reason it’s associated with drug use. Vince Gironda, one of the greatest bodybuilding competitors ever, once told me that he often lost to far less muscular bodybuilders because of his then-rare high vascularity. Most bodybuilders in the late ’40s and ’50s just didn’t show many veins. It made a guy like Vince stand out—which at that time wasn’t good. “The judges just didn’t know what to do with me, so they would place me third or fourth to men who were far less muscular than me,” Vince said.

Another bodybuilder with the same problem was Bob Hinds. I recall viewing a photo of him on the cover of Iron Man around 1959, when he was at his physical peak. His vascularity was astonishing, easily rivaling any of the current bodybuilding competitors. Yet like Gironda, Hinds suffered the same discouraging fate in competition. His highest placing in the Mr. America contest was eighth in 1956, although he did place third in the voting for the most-muscular award. He stopped competing not long after that.

While vascularity is now common in competitive bodybuilders, particularly among the professional elite, there is a type of vascularity that isn’t so pretty: the tortured, twisted, bloated veins you often see on competitors. You don’t have to be a doctor to recognize such monstrosities as varicose veins. Even those who admire high normal vascularity are often taken aback when they see a bodybuilder whose extensive varicose veins look like a highway map to nowhere. They’re just painful to view. The question is, What causes varicose veins like that in bodybuilders?

Veins are the blood vessels that carry blood back to the heart. To prevent a backflow of the blood from the effects of gravity, they have small leaflet valves. The muscles work like auxiliary pumps, helping the veins distribute blood back to the heart. Varicose veins are the result of a failure of the one-way leaflet valves. When that happens, the blood flows backward into the veins, raising the internal blood pressure on their thin walls and eventually enlarging the veins. It usually affects the superficial veins lying closer to the skin surface.

So varicose veins obviously have a negative appearance, but they can also be painful, particularly if you’re standing or walking. They can itch, and scratching the itch can cause skin ulcers, compounding the problem. Varicose veins in the legs feel achy and heavy, especially after exercise. They can also cause leg cramps and are related to restless leg syndrome, which can interfere with sleep and upset your metabolism and recovery. Varicose veins are more common in women and often appear during pregnancy, which points to an underlying hormonal component. Those whose work requires prolonged standing often develop extensive varicose veins in their legs. My stepfather, Jack, always had a severe case of varicose veins in his legs because of his work, which forced him to stand on his feet for hours every day.

While women are more likely to have varicose veins than men, men aren’t immune to the condition, as bodybuilders prove. Recent studies have shown that hormone imbalances do indeed play a role. Estrogen may explain why women have more varicose veins than men. Older men, particularly those low in testosterone, experience a greater incidence of varicose veins, as do those who have a genetic condition called Klinefelter’s syndrome, characterized by high estrogen and low testosterone. Could estrogen be one of the causes of varicose veins?

Both androgen and estrogen receptors are found in veins. A recent study examined hormonal receptors and various hormones in the large saphenous vein in the legs of men who did and didn’t have varicose veins.¹ Those who had varicose veins showed more estrogen relative to free, or active, testosterone in their bodies, and their androgen receptor activity was downgraded, likely due to a local negative feedback caused by the greater concentration of estrogen. That has implications for men whether or not they’re bodybuilders.

For nonbodybuilders, the major story is that having an imbalance of estrogen to testosterone may set the stage for the appearance of varicose veins. Whether that happens depends on other factors, such as genetic predisposition, diet, exercise and amount of time spent standing on your feet. For bodybuilders who use anabolic drugs, the point is that some steroids can convert into estrogen through the actions of the enzyme aromatase, which is found throughout the body, particularly in fat tissue. When men age, they tend to lose muscle and gain fat, which would predispose them to higher estrogen counts and, in due course, varicose veins. Most bodybuilders who use anabolic steroids that can convert into estrogen know the score and take aromatase blockers or estrogen antagonists, such as Nolvadex.

Still, you have to wonder how many top bodybuilders who have a lot of varicose veins got that way through an unfortunate combination of excess estrogen and heredity. Perhaps even certain styles of training are involved, although since the muscles assist the veins in returning blood to the heart, reducing pressure on veins, exercise would be an unlikely source of the problem. There’s not much a bodybuilder can do to prevent varicose veins, other than being aware of the effect of estrogen while doing everything you can to maintain normal testosterone. Some studies show that nutrients that strengthen the vein walls, such as vitamin C and bioflavonoids, offer some preventive effects, as do herbs that contain natural silicon, such as horsetail.

The other option: Just live with it, or resort to medical solutions for the removal of varicose veins

 ¹ Kendler, M., et al. (2010). Elevated sex steroid hormones in great saphenous veins in men. J Vasc Surg. 51:639-646.

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©,2016 Jerry Brainum. Any reprinting in any type of media, including electronic and foreign is expressly prohibited

Have you been ripped off  by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Jerry Brainum's book Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com.

 

The Applied Ergogenics blog is a collection of articles written and published by Jerry Brainum over the past 20 years. These articles have appeared in Muscle and Fitness, Ironman, and other magazines. Many of the posts on the blog are original articles, having appeared here for the first time. For Jerry’s most recent articles, which are far more in depth than anything that appears on this blog site, please subscribe to his Applied Metabolics Newsletter, at www.appliedmetabolics.com. This newsletter, which is more correctly referred to as a monthly e-book, since its average length is 35 to 40 pages, contains the latest findings about nutrition, exercise science, fat-loss, anti-aging, ergogenic aids, food supplements, and other topics. For 33 cents a day you get the benefit of Jerry’s 53 years of writing and intense study of all matters pertaining to fitness,health, bodybuilding, and disease prevention.

 

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Jerry Brainum interview : Part 3 five key principles to good nutrition Interviewed by Richard Baldwin

 

 

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©,2015 Jerry Brainum. Any reprinting in any type of media, including electronic and foreign is expressly prohibited

Have you been ripped off  by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Jerry Brainum's book Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com.

 

The Applied Ergogenics blog is a collection of articles written and published by Jerry Brainum over the past 20 years. These articles have appeared in Muscle and Fitness, Ironman, and other magazines. Many of the posts on the blog are original articles, having appeared here for the first time. For Jerry’s most recent articles, which are far more in depth than anything that appears on this blog site, please subscribe to his Applied Metabolics Newsletter, at www.appliedmetabolics.com. This newsletter, which is more correctly referred to as a monthly e-book, since its average length is 35 to 40 pages, contains the latest findings about nutrition, exercise science, fat-loss, anti-aging, ergogenic aids, food supplements, and other topics. For 33 cents a day you get the benefit of Jerry’s 53 years of writing and intense study of all matters pertaining to fitness,health, bodybuilding, and disease prevention.

 

See Jerry's book at  http://www.jerrybrainum.com

 

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Potassium: Not Too Much, Not Too Little by Jerry Brainum

While all minerals are important to health, potassium has special significance for those who exercise. Consider its primary functions in the body: transmission of nerve signals and proper electrical conduction in
the heart. Those two features alone make potassium important for any bodybuilding diet.

While potassium is found in most foods, the best sources are fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, the low-carbohydrate diets followed by many bodybuilders can lead to lower potassium—not just because of the lack of fruits and vegetables but also because low-carb diets produce a natural diuretic effect that causes the excretion of sodium and potassium. In fact, it’s the loss of potassium from very low-carb diets that results in the characteristic fatigue and muscle weakness they often bring. Supplementing with potassium at the right time can make those dietary side effects vanish.

Even so, it has to be at the right time. Taking isolated potassium supplements can lead to the release of the adrenal hormone aldosterone. The human body has evolved to conserve sodium while rapidly eliminating potassium, and that’s what aldosterone does. It retains sodium through its actions in the kidneys while promoting the urinary loss of potassium. In bodybuilders that can cause rapid water retention, requiring them to get more potassium either in food or via a supplement, which should be taken with meals.

Potassium also has a relationship with other minerals. As noted, it works with sodium in controlling fluid in cells. The sodium-potassium-pump mechanism pushes sodium out of cells and potassium into cells, which maintains the proper electrolyte balance in the cells and the blood. In addition, magnesium is needed to retain potassium in cells.

Potassium itself plays a role in helping to restore depleted glycogen after a workout. When you consider that muscle glycogen is the primary fuel of bodybuilding workouts, potassium’s importance becomes clear.

The body has a fine-tuned mechanism to keep potassium within a certain range in the blood. Either too much or too little can lead to serious problems. For example, while having a certain level of potassium is required for the heart to beat, or contract, too much potassium can stop a heart as fast as a bullet. That’s the reason a high-dose of potassium is in the third and final injection of lethal-injection procedures. The first two tranquilize and relax the muscles. The potassium is the actual killer, stopping the heart. Luckily, the body has evolved to prevent a buildup of excess potassium, but it can happen under certain conditions.

As noted, under normal circumstance the body is able to handle larger amounts of potassium. The potassium level is detected in the blood, which then prods the kidneys into collecting and rapidly excreting the excess. Anything that interferes with kidney function can lead to a dangerous buildup of potassium. Having kidney disease, especially kidney failure, is a prime risk factor for potassium overload and such patients are monitored and warned not to take in excess potassium.

Certain drugs can also interfere with kidney function enough to cause potassium retention, including certain blood pressure drugs and potassium-sparing diuretics. The latter encourage the excretion of sodium while retaining potassium in the body. Years ago pro bodybuilder Mike Matarazzo nearly died when he unknowingly took large doses of potassium while using a potassium-sparing diuretic drug shortly before a contest. His goal was to lose excess water, but it easily could have cost him his life.

There are other, less obvious sources of concentrated potassium. A recent medical journal presented two case studies related to excess potassium intake.¹ The first case involved a 65-year-old man with heart disease who had been prescribed a low-sodium diet. He began using a salt substitute that contained potassium chloride. He used eight teaspoons a day, sprinkled on his meals, in addition to taking a prescribed potassium supplement. That led to an emergency room visit, in which he complained of breathing difficulty and muscle weakness. He also had a slow heartbeat and low blood pressure. Not long after showing up, he went into respiratory depression; that is, he couldn’t breathe on his own. His blood potassium level was 8.5; the normal range is 3.5 to 5.0. The attending doctors gave him medication to lower his potassium, and he left the hospital 11 days later.

The other patient discussed in the article was a 35-year-old bodybuilder who showed up at the ER suffering from weakness and the inability to move. He showed decreased alertness, a slow heartbeat and low blood pressure. He was immediately given an anesthetic drug, followed by a muscle relaxant. Oddly enough, one of the side effects of the muscle relaxant was elevated blood potassium. Talk about putting oil on a fire! Not surprisingly, he went into cardiac arrest. He was resuscitated and then the standard medical protocol for lowering elevated blood potassium, medication that was formulated to push the excess blood potassium back into cells.

It turns out that the bodybuilder had been taking a lot of potassium to treat muscle pain. On the day he was admitted to the ER, he had taken 10 potassium tablets before training and another 10 after the workout. He had also consumed several sports drinks during the workout that contained about 1,320 milligrams of potassium each. His estimated total potassium intake was 8,000 milligrams, about twice the recommended daily dose.

Bodybuilders can also get elevated blood potassium after incurring severe muscle damage, a process known as rhabdomyolysis that causes potassium from damaged muscle cells to be rapidly released into the blood. Still, there was no indication that this occurred with this bodybuilder. He simply overdosed on potassium. Luckily for him, his treatment was successful, and he left the hospital three days later, more aware—we can only hope—of the dangers of excess potassium.

While excess-potassium problems are rare in bodybuilders who have normal kidney function, problems of too little potassium are far more common, particularly in those who resort to using potent diuretic drugs in a last-ditch effort to drop excess water prior to a contest. I’ve witnessed dozens of cases over the years of bodybuilders actually passing out backstage because of diuretic abuse. In one celebrated case a pro bodybuilder literally froze during his posing presentation at the Arnold Classic and had to be carried off the stage. He was lucky though; he survived after a short hospital visit. Others haven’t been that lucky and died due to diuretic use. The usual cause of death is heart failure due to electrolyte disturbances brought on by diuretics. One such fatality was pro bodybuilder Mohammed Benaziza, who died during a contest tour in Europe, having used not only massive doses of diuretics but also clenbuterol, a drug that also lowers blood potassium and can interfere with heart function.

In a worst-case scenario having too little potassium can cause your diaphragm to be paralyzed, leading to an inability to breathe. Lack of potassium is also related to rhabdomyolysis, or muscle destruction, which ironically, as mentioned above, leads to excess potassium being released into the blood. You can get low blood potassium from excess vomiting and diarrhea as well. It can also happen due to too high a secretion of aldosterone, severe hyperglycemia—high blood sugar—and certain diuretics. Insulin rapidly lowers blood potassium by pushing it from blood into cells; in fact, insulin is often given to those with elevated blood potassium. Any of the common asthma inhaler drugs also does the same thing.

The same journal that documented the case studies of elevated potassium also discussed the case of an Austrian pro bodybuilder who suffered the consequences of using a potent diuretic called furosemide, or Lasix.² This particular diuretic promotes a huge excretion of sodium, potassium and magnesium and is well-known for causing painful muscle cramps in bodybuilding competitors. The subject was 26 and was on the usual drug stack of steroids, growth hormone, thyroid and insulin. He claimed that he’d never suffered any adverse side effects from that program, except for an episode of hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar, likely from the insulin. For the first time in his career, however, he’d opted to take two 80-milligram doses of Lasix 24 and 48 hours prior to his contest. He did experience a pronounced diuretic effect, evident by his weight loss of five to six kilograms due to overnight pissing.

The following day, though, he felt unusually tired and decided to take a nap. When he awoke, he felt heart palpitations and couldn’t walk. He got out of bed but immediately fell to the floor. A neighbor saved his life by calling for an ambulance, and he was taken to a local ER. He was treated with several potassium and other mineral drugs to boost his potassium, and he survived. Again, we can only hope that he gained a profound respect for the importance of maintaining potassium levels—as well as the power of diuretics.

If these tales illustrate anything, it’s that you need to be aware of the sources of potassium and the factors that can affect blood levels of it. The second bodybuilder discussed above had no idea that dropping a few potassium pills and drinking over-the-counter sports drinks could land him in the hospital. The prudent way to handle potassium is to get it in food. Supplements are rarely necessary, and many supplements, such as meal substitutes, already contain good amounts of potassium.

Editor’s note: Have you been ripped off by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com.

¹ John, S.K., et al. (2011). Life threatening hyperkalemia from nutritional supplements: uncommon or undiagnosed? Am J Emerg Med. 29(9):1237.e1-2.

² Mayr, F.B., et al. (2012). Hypokalemic paralysis in a professional bodybuilder. Am J Emerg Med. 30(7):1324.e5-8.

©,2015 Jerry Brainum. Any reprinting in any type of media, including electronic and foreign is expressly prohibited

Have you been ripped off  by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Jerry Brainum's book Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com.

 

The Applied Ergogenics blog is a collection of articles written and published by Jerry Brainum over the past 20 years. These articles have appeared in Muscle and Fitness, Ironman, and other magazines. Many of the posts on the blog are original articles, having appeared here for the first time. For Jerry’s most recent articles, which are far more in depth than anything that appears on this blog site, please subscribe to his Applied Metabolics Newsletter, at www.appliedmetabolics.com. This newsletter, which is more correctly referred to as a monthly e-book, since its average length is 35 to 40 pages, contains the latest findings about nutrition, exercise science, fat-loss, anti-aging, ergogenic aids, food supplements, and other topics. For 33 cents a day you get the benefit of Jerry’s 53 years of writing and intense study of all matters pertaining to fitness,health, bodybuilding, and disease prevention.

 

See Jerry's book at  http://www.jerrybrainum.com

 

Want more evidence-based information on exercise science, nutrition and food supplements, ergogenic aids, and anti-aging research? Check out Applied Metabolics Newsletter at www.appliedmetabolics.com

 

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Does Protein Make You Fat? by Jerry Brainum

Self-styled experts often attribute various side effects to long-term high-protein diets—dehydration, calcium and bone loss, kidney disease and even increased bodyfat. The latter is based on the fact that protein contains calories, and taking in too many calories inevitably leads to gaining bodyfat.

A gram of protein contains four calories, the same as a gram of carbohydrate. Fat is the most concentrated source of calories at 9 1/2 per gram, but according to many nutrition pundits, that doesn’t matter. It makes no difference if you focus on a particular macronutrient—protein, fat or carb; if you consume more calories than you burn as energy, the excess will be stored as bodyfat.


Low-carb-diet proponents vigorously object to what they consider to be an oversimplification. It’s more than just a case of excess calories causing excess bodyfat, they say. There is also a hormonal interaction, namely insulin.

Insulin is indeed the most fattening hormone in the body. Whenever it is secreted, fat is either being maintained or synthesized. Among other functions, insulin blocks the activity of various enzymes that are involved in fat mobilization from fat cells as well as the actual oxidation, or burning, of fat.

Because of that, having a simple carbohydrate—a high-glycemic-index carb—prior to training will block the use of fat as fuel due to the higher insulin release that results. That effect lasts for an average of four hours after the high-carb meal is eaten. The general recommendation is that if you consume any carb prior to training, it should be from a low-glycemic-index source, which will cause less of an insulin release and promote more fat burning.

Even so, the low-carb devotees go further, claiming that calories are less important than carb intake for losing bodyfat. As evidence, they point to published studies that found more fat loss in people who ate low-carb diets than those who ate more carbs, even when the diets contained the identical number of calories. Low-carb diets not only control the harmful effects of insulin but also produce a higher thermic effect after meals. “Thermic,” or “thermogenic,” effect refers to the dissipation of consumed calories into heat. It’s also known as futile energy cycles, since no work is done to dissipate the calories.

Critics of low-carb regimens call this “metabolic magic”—meaning nonsense. A calorie is a calorie is a calorie, they say, and when it comes to ultimate fat loss, how many calories you take in compared to how many you burn is the ultimate arbiter. As evidence, they produce studies showing that while low-carb diets do tend to bring more rapid and greater rates of fat loss initially, as time goes on, it evens out. At the end of a year the fat-loss rate for low-carb diets and other diets is about the same, assuming that they contained the same number of total calories. The naysayers hold that insulin alone cannot make you fat unless you take in an overabundance of calories.

Then there is the protein issue. One of the established tenets of low-carbohydrate regimens is that you must increase your protein. It’s based on a number of established roles of protein in the body. For one thing, a higher protein intake is known to help maintain lean mass, mainly muscle.

Critics of low-carb diets like to point out that the body requires a certain amount of carbohydrate to function properly, an assertion that is not based in science. In fact, there is no established carbohydrate requirement. One reason is that other substances can be converted in the body to the main carbohydrate it uses—glucose. As such, lactate, glycerol from fat and amino acids from protein can all be converted into glucose in the liver. Consequently, carbs are not essential.

All that said, you don’t want to avoid carbs all the time. In some cases they offer definite advantages, such as for those engaged in endurance sports or training. A minimal amount of carb also plays a role in anabolic recovery processes following training, a key reason that you should never consider a zero-carb diet.

The low-carb diet features a higher protein intake because the excess protein helps to spare muscle that might otherwise be degraded for energy. The branched-chain amino acids are particularly effective in that regard. Other reasons for taking in more protein as your calories or carbs drop is to help control appetite, since protein helps you feel full when you’re dieting. Eating more protein also appears to maintain the resting metabolic rate, which ensures optimal fat loss.

What about the notion that taking in too much protein can make you fat? The pragmatic experience of generations of bodybuilders disputes it. While the suggested optimal intake of protein for bodybuilders is 1.7 grams per kilogram—2.2 pounds—of bodyweight, in actual practice most bodybuilders get far more than that. Considering the ubiquitous presence of protein in meat, chicken, turkey, eggs, milk and so on, along with the generous intake of protein supplements and meal-replacement powders, it’s not that difficult for many bodybuilders to take in two to three times more than the recommended dose of protein.

If, in fact, protein was as fattening as some people assert, bodybuilders who eat that much would look like walking versions of the Goodyear blimp. Clearly, they do not. Plus, bodybuilders are nutritionally savvy enough to boost their protein during dieting conditions—which also should be hindering their fat loss but clearly does not. Even people who don’t engage in weight training often eat more protein than they need, yet they rarely, if ever, get fat—unless they eat too many carbs and calories along with the protein.

How can that be? For one thing, the usual fate of ingested protein differs between inactive and active people. In active people excess protein undergoes metabolic changes in which the nitrogen portion is removed and excreted as urea. What about the calories? In active people the excess calories in protein are oxidized in the liver and not stored as fat.

While there is an outside chance that excess protein can wind up as fat in sedentary folks, in reality, they also have to be overeating carbs and calories in relationship to their activity levels. That was shown in a recent highly publicized study published in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association.¹

Twenty-five healthy men and women, aged 18 to 35, all of whom were overweight to varying degrees, stayed in a metabolic unit in a research lab for 10 to 12 weeks. First, they ate a “weight-stabilizing” diet—15 percent protein, 25 percent fat and 60 percent carbs— for 13 to 25 days, and during the last eight weeks they were randomly divided into three diet groups:


• 5 percent protein (low protein)

• 15 percent protein (normal protein)

• 25 percent protein (high protein)

It wasn’t just the protein intake that the researchers were looking at, however. All three groups were purposely overfed during the last two months of the study—specifically, they got 40 percent more calories than what they ate on the baseline, or maintenance, diet. The results showed that those in the low-protein group gained less weight than the others, but they also stored 90 percent of their excess calories as fat. The 6.6 percent increase in resting metabolism in the low-protein group was attributed to the metabolic cost of converting the excess calories into bodyfat. In contrast, in the normal and higher protein groups 50 percent of the excess calories were stored as fat. The rest were burned up in a thermogenic reaction.

Another difference was that neither resting energy expenditure or lean body mass increased in the low-protein group, but they did in the normal- and high-protein groups. The excess calories eaten by all three groups were in the form of fat, which contains the greatest concentration of calories. Despite that, the high-protein group had the least amount of excess calories stored as fat, which underscores the effects of that strategy, as discussed above—that is, more calories are dissipated during a higher protein intake.

Based on the results of this study, the authors say that overall calorie intake, not how much protein you eat, is what makes you fat. In addition, it should be noted that the subjects did not exercise but rather remained sedentary in a metabolic lab. Without question, vigorous exercise changes the way nutrients are used in the body. Not only does exercise burn off excess calories, but the muscle gains accrued during weight training will prevent any possibility of excess protein being converted into bodyfat.

—Jerry Brainum

Editor’s note: Have you been ripped off by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com.

¹ Bray, G., et al. (2012). Effect of dietary protein content on weight gain, energy expenditure, and body composition during overeating. JAMA. 307;47-55.


©,2015 Jerry Brainum. Any reprinting in any type of media, including electronic and foreign is expressly prohibited

Have you been ripped off  by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Jerry Brainum's book Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com.

 

The Applied Ergogenics blog is a collection of articles written and published by Jerry Brainum over the past 20 years. These articles have appeared in Muscle and Fitness, Ironman, and other magazines. Many of the posts on the blog are original articles, having appeared here for the first time. For Jerry’s most recent articles, which are far more in depth than anything that appears on this blog site, please subscribe to his Applied Metabolics Newsletter, at www.appliedmetabolics.com. This newsletter, which is more correctly referred to as a monthly e-book, since its average length is 35 to 40 pages, contains the latest findings about nutrition, exercise science, fat-loss, anti-aging, ergogenic aids, food supplements, and other topics. For 33 cents a day you get the benefit of Jerry’s 53 years of writing and intense study of all matters pertaining to fitness,health, bodybuilding, and disease prevention.

 

See Jerry's book at  http://www.jerrybrainum.com

 

Want more evidence-based information on exercise science, nutrition and food supplements, ergogenic aids, and anti-aging research? Check out Applied Metabolics Newsletter at www.appliedmetabolics.com

 

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Can You Get Brain Disease from Steroid Use? by Jerry Brainum

One of the primary questions often asked about anabolic steroids is how they will affect future health. As with any drug the effects of steroids depends on time and dosage; that is, how much you use and how long you use them. The higher the dose and the longer you stay on the drugs, the greater your chances of health problems.

Bodybuilders and athletes who use steroids rarely suffer serious health problems directly related to steroid use because they cycle the drugs—few stay on them year-round. Various studies have shown that most adverse changes in the body induced by steroids tend to fade when people stop using them. In short, giving the body a break from steroids enables it to repair any damage.

Some effects of high-dose steroid use are more controversial than others; for example, how steroids affect the brain. Numerous reports of out-of-control bodybuilders and other athletes on steroids have given birth to the term “roid rage.” It implies that using high-dose steroid regimens may affect the brain, causing feelings of anger and rage to be increased. Indeed, most of the wars in history have been blamed on higher testosterone levels in men.

The truth, however, is a bit more nebulous. Studies of men who lacked normal testosterone showed that having low testosterone tends to increase feelings of anger more than having normal-to-high levels. That, of course, is the opposite of what most people believe, but it makes sense when you consider all the symptoms that come with having a deficiency in testosterone, including depression and lack of sex drive. What appears to be true is that when an already angry person uses a high-dose steroid regimen, he is likely to become angrier and more reactive to things that peeve him.

That’s not to say that high-dose steroids don’t affect the brain. In recent years numerous studies, almost all involving animals, have shown definite effects, most of them negative. It appears, based on those studies, that both deficient and supernormal levels of testosterone or steroids affect the brain badly. Having too little testosterone has been linked to an increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease; however, according to a recent animal study, using high-dose steroid regimens for extended periods may set you up for the same problems.¹

It has to do with the way that steroids affect a protein called nerve growth factor. The scientists who discovered NGF in the 1950s earned a Nobel Prize in physiology in 1986 for their work. As the name implies, NGF nourishes, repairs and promotes the growth of nerves. Several degenerative-brain diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, show a deficiency of NGF, suggesting that the brain is unable to repair the damage induced by Alzheimer’s. When injected into rat brains, NGF leads to a complete rapid repair of damaged neurons.

When body inflammation is increased, NGF increases, since it exerts anti-inflammatory activity. NGF is also known to set off the repair of myelin, the fatlike coating of nerves that permits nerve transmission.

Athletes lose speed with age because of the ineffective myelin repair that occurs. Basically, nerve transmissions are slowed as a result, and the physical effect is evident. (This is not to be confused with the far more pathological disease of multiple sclerosis, in which patches of myelin are destroyed as a result of a self-inflicted attack by the immune system Giving NGF to people suffering from M.S. can lead to considerable relief of symptoms.)

Although it has not been tested on athletes, NGF may, theoretically, extend the career of athletes whose sports require quick reflexes and power. Then again, not many athletes would want to have NGF injected directly into their brains—no matter how fast it made them.

Various mental diseases are related to a lack of NGF, including dementia, depression, autism, anorexia and bulimia. It’s involved in diseases not directly related to brain function as well, such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and the metabolic syndrome. Among other functions, it interacts with insulin and can suppress excessive appetite. It can even accelerate wound healing and has been linked to feelings of being in love. It peaks during the first year of being in love and then returns to normal.

NGF interacts with two receptors in the brain. The new rat study looked at the effects of steroids on both NGF activity and brain receptors. Although this was a rat study, all of the affected structures in the brain also exist in humans. Whether the same effects would be duplicated in the human brain is probable but still speculative.

As noted, recent animal studies have shown that high-dose steroid regimens—comparable to those used by some bodybuilders and other athletes—are toxic to neurons in the brain. Some have shown that high-dose steroid use amplifies excitotoxic damage to the neurons. One example is the sudden release of the excitatory amino acid glutamate in large amounts in the brain, which commonly occurs during strokes. It’s the exposure to high levels of glutamate that leads to most of the damage or even death of brain neurons during a stroke. That doesn’t mean that the glutamic acid you get from protein foods or drinks is toxic. It relates to a large-scale release of the amino acid in the brain that is unrelated to dietary intake.

Previous animal-based studies have shown that athletic-use doses of testosterone and nandrolone (trade name Durabolin) have interfered with the activity of one of the two brain receptors for NGF. Another study showed that high-dose nandrolone and stanozolol (Winstrol) reduced levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the brain. That’s problematic because BDNF is also involved in the normal maintenance of brain neurons and is increased with exercise. The study implies that using high-dose steroids may block that exercise-related benefit.

In the new study rats were injected with nandrolone and stanozolol in doses equivalent to those used in humans for athletic purposes for 28 days. The result? The steroids significantly interfered with the activity of NGF in the basal forebrain, an area of the brain that is heavily involved in intelligence and memory functions.

The steroids inhibited the transport of NGF from the hippocampus of the brain to the basal forebrain by interfering with the activity of one of the two NGF brain receptors. In doing that, they also interfered with the primary enzyme that produces acetylcholine in the brain. Acetylcholine is a brain neurotransmitter thought to be the primary neurotransmitter involved in memory and intelligence. Notably, neurons that produce acetylcholine are the most heavily damaged in Alzheimer’s disease. Most of the current drugs used to treat Alzheimer’s work by attempting to boost acetylcholine in the brain.

The loss of memory in the steroid-treated rats was reflected in their difficulty navigating a simple maze. Again, it was thought to be a result of loss of NGF activity that adversely affected acetylcholine production. The underlying cause of the whole problem, however, was likely an overactivation of androgen receptors in the brain brought on by the high-dose steroids.

This study raises two questions. First, was the negative effect on memory temporary or permanent? As noted above, most side effects linked to steroid use tend to recede when the steroid use ceases; however, that wasn’t tested here. The other salient question is whether this negative brain effect can occur in humans who are using high-dose steroids. It also suggests that those who stay on such regimens without a break are seriously risking the future health and function of their brains, as their brains will be unable to completely repair any damage that may occur due to the loss of NGF activity.

The damage can result from various factors, such as blows to the head or, less dramatically, constant attack by free radicals produced during the metabolism of oxygen. The brain is largely composed of polyunsaturated fat, which makes it more susceptible to free-radical attacks. Without NGF to repair any damage that may ensue from the constant attacks, the effects on brain function could eventually prove catastrophic.

Editor’s note: Jerry Brainum has been an exercise and nutrition researcher and journalist for more than 30 years. He’s worked with pro bodybuilders as well as many Olympic and professional athletes. To get his new e-book, Natural Anabolics—Nutrients, Compounds and Supplements That Can Accelerate Muscle Growth Without Drugs, visit www.JerryBrainum.com.   IM

¹ Pieretti, S., et al. (2013). Brain nerve factor unbalance induced by anabolic androgenic steroids in rat. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 45:29-35




©,2015 Jerry Brainum. Any reprinting in any type of media, including electronic and foreign is expressly prohibited

Have you been ripped off  by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Jerry Brainum's book Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com.

 

The Applied Ergogenics blog is a collection of articles written and published by Jerry Brainum over the past 20 years. These articles have appeared in Muscle and Fitness, Ironman, and other magazines. Many of the posts on the blog are original articles, having appeared here for the first time. For Jerry’s most recent articles, which are far more in depth than anything that appears on this blog site, please subscribe to his Applied Metabolics Newsletter, at www.appliedmetabolics.com. This newsletter, which is more correctly referred to as a monthly e-book, since its average length is 35 to 40 pages, contains the latest findings about nutrition, exercise science, fat-loss, anti-aging, ergogenic aids, food supplements, and other topics. For 33 cents a day you get the benefit of Jerry’s 53 years of writing and intense study of all matters pertaining to fitness,health, bodybuilding, and disease prevention.

 

See Jerry's book at  http://www.jerrybrainum.com

 

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What is the most anabolic nutrient? By Jerry Brainum

The expression “anabolic nutrient” is much bandied about these days in articles and ads. It suggests that a particular nutrient may promote growth processes, particularly in muscle tissue. Despite the
hype and hyperbole attached to the term, however, the only real anabolic nutrients are protein and amino acids.

Protein is made up of 22 amino acids, some of which are considered essential, while others are nonessential. The difference is that the essential amino acids, of which there are nine, must be supplied in the diet, while the unessential aminos can be synthesized from the essential amino acids and other nutrients.

Research in recent years has shown that when it comes to muscle protein synthesis, which is the main process that results in muscle growth, essential amino acids are the key. And you don’t need a lot. As little as six to eight grams of essential aminos is all that’s required for promoting maximum muscle protein synthesis after training. You can get that in about 25 grams of whey protein.

Of the essential amino acids, the most anabolic are the branched-chain aminos. They are often referred to as “the muscle aminos” because, unlike other aminos, which are metabolized in the liver, the BCAAs are metabolized primarily in muscle. In fact, muscle itself consists of 60 percent BCAAs.

There are three BCAAs—leucine, isoleucine and valine—with leucine being the most potent in aiding the growth process. That relates to its ability to stimulate directly a protein complex called mammalian target of rapamycin—mTOR for short. When mTOR is stimulated, it initiates a cascade of other signaling factors that results in upgraded protein synthesis. No other amino acid comes close to the potency of leucine in triggering mTOR activity.

One recent study examined four varied protein sources—wheat, soy, eggs and whey—in terms of their ability to stimulate protein synthesis in rats.¹ Their leucine contents vary as follows: wheat, 6.8 percent; soy, 8 percent; egg, 8.8 percent; and whey, 10.09 percent. The rats were deprived of food for 12 hours to slow down their muscle protein synthesis activity and then got meals that contained one of the above sources of protein.

The whey and egg meals produced the highest rates of muscle protein synthesis, which correlates to their higher leucine contents; however, an important point was what the study showed about dosage. Once a critical amount of leucine was ingested, consuming any more didn’t further extend the protein-synthesis effect.

Looking at it another way, there is a minimal threshold of leucine in a meal that promotes muscle protein synthesis. So the take-home point of this study is that when you’re eating smaller protein meals, the leucine content is the critical factor for stimulating growth. A corollary is that you can get all the benefits of protein, even with small meals, by choosing higher-quality proteins that are richer in leucine, such as eggs, milk and whey.

Leucine’s potent effect was illustrated in the study when the researchers supplemented the wheat protein with additional leucine. That produced a protein-stimulating effect similar to that of whey. My interpretation is that if you’re eating lower-quality protein foods, such as wheat or vegetables, you can considerably boost the protein-synthesis effect simply by also taking in a higher-quality protein, such as whey, at the same time.

Another study examined just how potent leucine is in promoting muscle protein synthesis.² Twenty-four men took part in the experiment, in which the researchers tested a dose of whey that was considerably less than the 25 grams that has been found to maximize protein synthesis. Instead, the subjects got 6.25 grams, which contains 0.75 grams of leucine, as compared to the three grams contained in 25 grams of whey. The men first did a set of one-legged extensions before having one of the following meals:

1) 25 grams of whey protein

2) 6.25 grams of whey with added leucine, enough to equal the content of 25 grams of whey

3) 6.25 grams of whey with essential amino acid content equal to that of whey for all aminos except leucine

The results showed that adding the leucine to a smaller dose of whey did provide a postmeal boost in muscle protein synthesis, but it was short-lived, lasting only one to three hours. Even the whey with the added aminos minus leucine led to only a temporary boost. Only the greater dose of whey produced a sustained boost in protein synthesis that lasted three to five hours. That was true even though the blood amino acid elevations provided by all the sources usually return to baseline about 2 1/2 hours after the peak plasma amino spike.

The authors suggest that the nonessential amino acids may be the key to the sustained rate of protein synthesis produced by whey. This study also underscores the fact that while leucine may be a key arbiter of muscle protein synthesis, you still need the presence of other amino acids for it to proceed at an optimal rate. Specifically, if you provide a large amount of other amino acids, you don’t need a large dose of leucine to trigger protein production.

Although leucine is most known for its positive effect on protein synthesis, it has a few other attributes that can be very helpful for bodybuilding purposes. Relating to body composition, in the hypothalamus section of the brain, leucine helps to reduce appetite by modifying the activity of leptin, a protein produced by fat cells. Leptin signals the brain, which turns off sensations of hunger.

Once leucine has done its work in relation to muscle protein synthesis, excess leucine can be converted into other amino acids, such as alanine and glutamine. That helps to maintain blood glucose under carbohydrate-restricted conditions. In other words, it helps you maintain energy when on a low-carb diet.

In addition, leucine appears to aid in the creation of mitochondria, the cellular structures where energy is produced as ATP and fat is burned. Leucine also blunts the release of certain peptides in the brain that are associated with intense food cravings, and as such it helps in the fat-loss process.

Mice that are fed a high-fat diet but supplemented with leucine show a 32 percent reduction in weight gain along with 25 percent less bodyfat. The fat loss is related to an uptick in the activity of thermogenic proteins that turn fat calories into heat. The effect may be more potent in mice, as they have more of the highly thermogenic brown adipose tissue than humans. In one study of mice on a high-fat diet, the subjects showed all the symptoms of the metabolic syndrome, including obesity, fatty liver, insulin resistance and negative inflammatory changes in fat cells. Yet, giving them leucine blocked most of those negative metabolic syndrome effects.

Another recent study found that a combination of leucine and vitamin B6 may significantly boost bodyfat loss.³The supplement consisted of 2.25 grams of leucine and 30 milligrams of B6. Cell culture studies had previously shown that leucine exerts a partitioning effect, diverting energy from being stored in fat to being burned in muscle. Leucine increases the activity of genes that control fat release and encourages muscle-fat oxidation. The B6 is added because its actions appear to blunt an enzyme called fatty acid synthase that is an important player in the fat-storage process. The combination of leucine and B6 boosted fat burning in human subjects by 33.6 grams a day while also reducing oxidative and inflammatory markers. In addition, the supplement boosted by 67 percent levels of adiponectin, a fat-cell protein associated with reduced inflammation and increased insulin sensitivity.

The same authors also published a study that examined the effects of combining either leucine or its metabolite, HMB, with resveratrol. Resveratrol is currently a superstar nutrient because numerous animal studies have shown that it blunts many of the processes in the body associated with aging.

Animal-based studies also show that resveratrol can dramatically boost exercise tolerance and may aid in helping to control insulin resistance while encouraging bodyfat loss. That said, the doses that accomplished those effects in animals were massive compared to the levels of resveratrol found naturally. You would need to drink thousands of bottles of red wine (a good natural source of resveratrol) to obtain similar doses. Still, the new study showed that when low doses of resveratrol are combined with either leucine or HMB, the effect is synergistic, leading to body-composition changes similar to those seen with huge doses of resveratrol. Of course, this study involved rodents, so we don’t know yet whether the effect also occurs in humans. We do, however, know that the mechanisms behind the effect exist in humans.

So how much leucine should you get to promote muscle protein synthesis and fat loss? The usual suggested dose is 2.5 grams per meal and another 2.5 grams taken 1 1/2 hours after the meal to help extend muscle protein synthesis.
—Jerry Brainum

Editor’s note: Have you been ripped off by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com

¹Norton, L., et al. (2012). Leucine content of dietary proteins is a determinant of postprandial skeletal muscle protein synthesis in adult rats. Nut and Metabol. 9:67.

²Churchward-Venne, T.A., et al. (2012). Supplementation of a suboptimal protein dose with leucine or essential amino acids: effects on myofibrillar protein synthesis at rest and following resistance exercise in men. J Physiol. 590:2751-2765.

³Zemel, M.B., et al. (2012). Effect of a leucine and pyridoxine-containing nutraceutical on fat oxidation and oxidative and inflammatory stress in overweight and obese subjects. Nutrients. 4:529-41.

©,2015 Jerry Brainum. Any reprinting in any type of media, including electronic and foreign is expressly prohibited

Have you been ripped off  by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Jerry Brainum's book Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com.

 

The Applied Ergogenics blog is a collection of articles written and published by Jerry Brainum over the past 20 years. These articles have appeared in Muscle and Fitness, Ironman, and other magazines. Many of the posts on the blog are original articles, having appeared here for the first time. For Jerry’s most recent articles, which are far more in depth than anything that appears on this blog site, please subscribe to his Applied Metabolics Newsletter, at www.appliedmetabolics.com. This newsletter, which is more correctly referred to as a monthly e-book, since its average length is 35 to 40 pages, contains the latest findings about nutrition, exercise science, fat-loss, anti-aging, ergogenic aids, food supplements, and other topics. For 33 cents a day you get the benefit of Jerry’s 53 years of writing and intense study of all matters pertaining to fitness,health, bodybuilding, and disease prevention.

 

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Whey: Can It Prevent Obesity and Diabetes? by Jerry Brainum

Some bodybuilders never use protein supplements, preferring instead to get all their protein from food sources, such as meat, fish and eggs. Their view is backed by most mainstream dietitians, who note
that it’s not difficult to get all the protein you need to build muscle just from eating food.

In fact, most people eat more protein than they need. Since protein contains four calories per gram—the same as carbohydrate—it’s possible for those who are sedentary to gain some bodyfat by eating large amounts of protein, especially if they also eat too much fat and carbohydrate. That scenario is unlikely in those who are physically active. Their excess protein is oxidized in the liver, with the nitrogen portion converted into urea and then excreted through the kidneys.

So no one argues that it’s easy to get enough protein from various high-protein foods, but does that mean that additional supplements aren’t necessary? For one thing, most protein foods also contain appreciable amounts of either fat and/or carbohydrate. That is a concern for those seeking to lose bodyfat, since every calorie does count—contrary to what some so-called experts say. With concentrated protein supplements you get a source of high protein minus the excess calories. In addition, some people either won’t or can’t eat several high-protein meals a day. Having a source of protein that they can eat on the go is not just a convenience, it’s a necessity.

In recent years milk proteins have been shown to rate the highest in biological value over other sources, such as meat, soy and even eggs. The two primary proteins in milk are casein, which accounts for 80 percent of milk protein, and whey, which is the remaining 20 percent.

Anyone who has kept up with the research on milk protein knows that the two have different absorption properties. Whey is rapidly absorbed, since it stays in solution during the digestive process. Whey uptake peaks at about 60 minutes after ingestion and then declines to baseline after about 90 minutes. The advantage is that the rapid absorption also favors a speedy release of essential amino acids into the blood and muscle, which encourages muscle protein synthesis, the cornerstone of muscle growth.

In contrast, casein curdles in the stomach after you eat it. It looks like cottage cheese, which is mostly casein. The curdling effect favors a more sustained release of aminos over a period of up to seven hours. Initial research that compared whey and casein found that the rapid uptake and release of essential aminos from whey more reliably stimulated muscle protein synthesis, while the slow release of casein promoted a steady trickle into the blood over a longer time, which favored a blunting of muscle catabolism, or breakdown.

It’s not hard to understand how the properties of the two milk proteins significantly benefit bodybuilding trainees; however, there’s far more to milk protein than being a superior source of amino acids. Research shows that besides casein and whey, there are smaller proteins, known as bioactive peptides, in milk that may provide amazing health benefits. I say may because the research is still in its infancy, and all the data haven’t been collected yet.

The scientific method decrees that a finding must be replicated numerous times and under varied conditions before it’s officially accepted as fact. Thus far, most of the research on milk bioactive peptides has involved animals. The good news is that the same mechanisms that allow them to produce their beneficial effects in animals also exist in the human body.

Bioactive peptides are small chains of amino acids linked in a specific formation. While casein contains some, whey is a powerhouse source. Just a day before I wrote this a new study found that one of those peptides has potent protective effects against cancer. Earlier studies showed that because of whey’s high content of the amino acid cysteine, it can be a precursor of glutathione, a major antioxidant in the body. A form of whey is used to prevent the loss of lean mass in cancer patients and those afflicted with HIV.

More pertinent to bodybuilders is the effect of whey on body composition. The process of digesting and absorbing proteins is energy intensive; that is, it uses calories. In fact, it uses more calories to digest and absorb proteins than either fats or carbs. Calories not used in power movement or muscle function are diverted to heat production, a process known as thermogenesis. That term may be familiar to those who use various “fat-burning” supplements, since nearly all of them work by promoting a thermogenic effect: converting fat calories into heat.

Compared to other proteins, such as casein and soy, whey has a greater thermogenic effect, which is attributed to the rapid protein synthesis it triggers, as mentioned above. The rate of protein synthesis produced by whey is twice that of casein, again because of whey’s rapid release of amino acids. The branched-chain amino acid leucine is considered the key amino in muscle protein synthesis, and whey contains 50 to 75 percent more leucine than other protein sources.

Whey may also aid fat loss through its effect on insulin. Many people are confused about insulin. Some worry that it can trigger excess fat production in the presence of excess calories, especially from carbohydrates, but insulin has other properties that are beneficial. It’s also required for cellular uptake of glucose, the elemental form of sugar in the blood. Without proper insulin function, you would have diabetes. Also on the plus side, insulin is known to favor amino acid uptake in muscle and prevent catabolism. In addition, it stimulates the activity of enzymes that produce glycogen from carbs and other sources. Glycogen is required for full muscle recovery after training and also powers anaerobic training, which includes bodybuilding workouts.

Milk protein is a potent stimulus for insulin release, but it’s not a bad thing. The release is within physiological limits and so does not encourage bodyfat synthesis. One study found that only 20 grams of whey protein stimulated enough insulin release to significantly lower elevated blood glucose. In another involving diabetics—who lack proper insulin activity—the subject were fed meals high in rapidly absorbed and digested carbohydrates, but some also got whey at the same meal. Adding whey to the carb meal led to a 57 percent greater insulin release and a smaller drop in glucose after the meal.

Although it isn’t precisely known how whey favors an insulin release, its amino acid content, particularly the high leucine mentioned above, is a chief suspect. Leucine alone is known to stimulate insulin release in the pancreas through at least two mechanisms, one of which involves a metabolite of leucine.

More recent research shows that whey also affects insulin release by promoting the release of gut peptides known as “incretins.” In one study, consuming a whey drink stimulated an 80 percent greater release of gastric inhibitory peptide, which itself encourages insulin release. Whey also promotes the release of another gut peptide called glucagon-like peptide-1 that encourages insulin release and has the side benefit of curtailing appetite. That may explain how whey helps suppress appetite during a diet. Both of the peptides are degraded in the gut via an enzyme that is blunted by whey protein. Recently, a few drugs that treat diabetes were released, all of which block the same enzyme. Unlike whey, however, the drugs are linked to pancreatitis, an inflammation of the pancreas, as well as possible pancreatic cancer, the most deadly cancer of all.

In relation to appetite, it’s once again the fast amino release induced by whey that produces an appetite-suppressive effect. Studies with animals show that leucine can rapidly enter the brain, where it induces appetite suppression. The mechanism is thought to involve a blunting of the release of appetite-stimulating peptides in the brain. The release of insulin induced by whey also potently depresses appetite, mostly because whey blunts the release of ghrelin, a protein that is the most potent appetite-stimulating substance in the body. Ghrelin rises a few hours after a meal and produces intense hunger sensations. It’s not hard to understand how controlling it would aid dieting efforts.

So the combination of a controlled insulin release, the stimulation of gut peptides that promote insulin and the blunting of proteins in the brain that trigger appetite make whey a valuable asset if you’re looking to build muscle and lose excess bodyfat.

—Jerry Brainum


©,2015 Jerry Brainum. Any reprinting in any type of media, including electronic and foreign is expressly prohibited

Have you been ripped off  by supplement makers whose products don’t work as advertised? Want to know the truth about them? Check out Jerry Brainum's book Natural Anabolics, available at JerryBrainum.com.

 

The Applied Ergogenics blog is a collection of articles written and published by Jerry Brainum over the past 20 years. These articles have appeared in Muscle and Fitness, Ironman, and other magazines. Many of the posts on the blog are original articles, having appeared here for the first time. For Jerry’s most recent articles, which are far more in depth than anything that appears on this blog site, please subscribe to his Applied Metabolics Newsletter, at www.appliedmetabolics.com. This newsletter, which is more correctly referred to as a monthly e-book, since its average length is 35 to 40 pages, contains the latest findings about nutrition, exercise science, fat-loss, anti-aging, ergogenic aids, food supplements, and other topics. For 33 cents a day you get the benefit of Jerry’s 53 years of writing and intense study of all matters pertaining to fitness,health, bodybuilding, and disease prevention.

 

See Jerry's book at  http://www.jerrybrainum.com

 

Want more evidence-based information on exercise science, nutrition and food supplements, ergogenic aids, and anti-aging research? Check out Applied Metabolics Newsletter at www.appliedmetabolics.com

 

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