The Wonders of Fish Oil
March 17, 2008
Keith Scott has recently put together a great list of the reported benefits of fish oil. Check it out below:
Reported Benefits of Supplementing with Fish Oil:
- Fat Loss and improved body composition - Research has shown that fish oil seems to turn on the body’s fat burning mechanism and even better, it was shown that most of the fat loss was in the abdominal region. Yes, your belly fat!*
- Fights Inflammation - reduces the inflammation causing substances in the body. Inflammation will kill you eventually. It wreaks havoc on your body and long term health. Not to mention it is responsible for painful conditions around the body. Fish oil can help with muscle soreness and joint pain
- Improves Cardiovascular health -Fish oil lowers triglycerides, reduces the likely hood of blood clots, can lower high blood pressure, reduces chance of stroke.
- Mental Health - Reduces depression, and elevates the mood. It was even found that fish oil supplementation in children with ADHD dramatically improved their symptoms.
- Healthy Eyes - Fights Macular Degeneration, Glaucoma and dry-eye syndrome
- Boosts the immune system - Less time being sick, and better fight against colds and other illness.
- Increase s.ex drive - Do I really need to explain this any further?
- Helps with menstrual pain - Women rejoice!
- Improves digestion - So many people out there live with digestion problems. This supplement can really help with some of those issues.
- Fights Osteoporosis
- Helps to prevent cancer
- Lowers the risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease
- Helps with Asthma
- Helps with Multiple Sclerosis
- Helps with skin problems - Eczema, and psoriasis. I can personally attest to this benefit. All of my life I battled with Eczema, and never won until I started using fish oil. Now, I rarely get an outbreak and if I do, it is short lived.
- Helps with Diabetes
- Can lower stress
- Reduces headaches
- Helps with Fibromyaglia
What is the Best Meal Replacement Shake - Part 2
December 20, 2007
In Part 1 of this article we looked at the inception of Meal Replacement Shakes into the sports supplement industry starting with Met-Rx in the mids 1990’s. As knowledge of sports nutrition continues to grow with each year it only makes sense that nutritional supplements would also grow.
Enter the “Next Generation of Meal Replacement Shakes”
So what does it take to be considered a Next Generation MRP? A blend of different proteins, “healthy” fats, and low carbohydrates (5-15g). The addition of some fiber would be nice too but hardly any companies are adding this to their products.
Previously I reviewed two very similar products: MuscleMilk by CytoSport & Max Milk by EAS. This time I am going to look at
- True Mass by BSN
- Infusion by S.A.N.
- Muscle XGF by AST Sports Science
Let’s get started.
True Mass by BSN
Flavors: Chocolate Milk Shake, Strawberry Milk Shake, Vanilla Ice Cream
Size: 5.75lbs
Servings per Container: 18
Calories: 626
Protein: 46g
Fat: 15.5g
Carbohydrates: 75g
True Mass doesn’t fit into this category as well as the other products that I have reviewed but since it is a relatively new product and tons of people seem to love BSN I thought I would give it a more indepth look.
The Upside: Putting on muscle requires tons of calories. Many people have trouble sitting down and consuming 500-700 calories in one sitting and then repeating this 6-7 times a day. The upside to True Mass is that it contains 626 calories per serving. This is a serious dose of energy! Unlike many “mass gainers” of old True Mass contains a blend of some higher quality proteins. The protein found in the largest amount is whey concentrate (not the best but that’s okay) that is “rich in alpha-lactalbumin” (nice). This is followed up by a higher quality whey isolate containing whey isolate fractions. Why should you care about the protein peptide fractions? Because they are absorbed faster than unfractionated proteins. This will give you slow and fast digestion of amino acids allowing your blood amino acid levels to be elevated longer. The longer your blood amino acids levels are elevated the longer protein synthesis will be cranking. And isn’t that what we all want? Other proteins found in True Mass are calcium and micellular casein. However, these are at the end of the list so I’m not sure how much you will actually be getting. The protein blend is rounded out with glutamine peptides and branched chain amnio acids (these too will get into your blood stream pretty quick).
Looking at the fat content of True Mass it contains sunflower oil (more on that later) and medium chain triglycerides (MCTs). I discussed the benefits of MCTs in part one of this article series.
The Downside: Unfortunately True Mass fails where all “mass gainer” products fail – poor carbohydrate choices. True Mass contains 75 grams of carbohydrates with most of that coming from maltodextrin (ugh). In the fiber category it contains a dismal 5grams. Since I believe there is no such thing as “bad” food I think that there can be a place for True Mass in ones diet regardless of the less than optimal carbohydrate choices (more on that later too).
The other component of True Mass that I believe could be improved on is the fatty acids composition. The main fat source in True Mass is sunflower oil. Sunflower oil is predominantly (71%) made of omega-6 fatty acids. As I’ve mentions previously as Americans we get enough omega-6 fats and would benefit more from the addition of omega-3 or monounsaturated fats.
The Bottomline: So let’s say you love BSN products, you love the taste of True Mass, and you need extra calories in your diet. How can True Mass fit in? I would recommend having True Mass as the first meal 45-60 minutes after your workout nutrition. During this time period your body’s glucose sensitivity is extremely high so hopefully all the maltodextrin will get put to good use aiding in your body’s recovery process and not being packed away in fat cells for a rainy day.
Infusion by S.A.N.
Flavors: Chocolate Peanut Butter, Cinnamon Oatmeal, Vanilla Caramel, Wildberry Yogurt
Size: 2.42lbs
Servings per Container: 15
Calories: 324
Protein: 47g
Fat: 12g
Carbohydrates: 11g
Infusion has the best nutrient profile of all the products that I have reviewed . I don’t know why more people don’t use this supplement. The tag line for Infusion is “Nutrition so Powerful You Know You are On Something!” I don’t think it is THAT good, but it still is a great product.
The Upside: Let’s start with the protein content. Infusion contains more whey protein isolate (WPI) than whey protein concentrate (WPC). As we discussed before WPI is a more pure form of whey than WPC. The rest of the proteins found in Infusion are very similar to MuscleMilk; micellar casein, alpha-lactalbumin, colostrums, and glutamine peptides. All around a great protein blend.
The fatty acids blend in Infusion contains CLA, Flax, MCT, and unfortunately Sunflower Oil. 3 out of 4 is pretty good though! Infusion contains 11 grams of carbohydrates, similar to other products in the category. However, S.A.N. is the industry leader in this New Generation of MRPs in the carbohydrates section because Infusion contains SIX GRAMS OF FIBER! Finally, a product with a healthy dose of fiber. The icing on the cake is that the fiber found in Infusion comes from oats. Oats are a great source of the so-called “super fiber” beta-glucan.
The bells and whistles that round out Infusion are leucine, phenylalanine (2 of the branched chain amino acids), and the probiotics acidophilus and bifidus. I won’t go into details about probiotics, their benefits, and what you need to know about shopping for them because that is a topic for another article. However, the addition of probiotics to the Infusion formula is definitely a plus.
The Downside: Their claim that the product is “Nutrition so Powerful You Know You are On Something!”
The Bottomline: Infusion is my personal favorite of the group. Fiber, a great protein blend, healthy fats – Solid all around.
Muscle XGF by AST Sports Science
Flavors: Chocolate, Vanilla
Size: 2.64lbs
Servings per Container: 16
Calories: 350
Protein: 38g
Fat: 18g
Carbohydrates: 9
This is the newest product by AST Sports Science. Although it is marketed as a lean mass weight gainer, it fits perfectly in with my “Next Generation of MRP” heading.
The Upside: Starting with the protein content – Muscle XGF contains AST’s new 8 stage protein/amino acid blend. Even though it is called MyoGen-8 there are 10 different proteins/amnio acids in the formula. They are (in order):
- Calcium caseinate protein
- Milk protein concentrate
- Whey protein concentrate
- Whey protein isolate
- Hydrolyzed whey protein
- Colostrum
- Glutamine peptides
- l-Taurine
- l-Leucine
- Lactoferrin protein
MyoGen-8 gives the user a blend of fast and slow digesting proteins (this is what you want).
The fats found in Muscle XGF are sunflower, canola oil, flaxseed oil, and CLA. As I’ve commented on before, I’m not a huge fan of sunflower oil. Canola oil contains both omega-6 and omega-3 (mostly omega-6 though). The amounts of flaxseed and CLA are most likely minimal otherwise I’m sure AST would list their amounts. Muscle XGF does contain 3 grams of creatine and 1 gram of leucine. These are two solid additions to the product!
The Downside: While AST has put together a solid protein blend the protein quality is something that could be improved on. The leading 3 ingredients are calcium casienate and two protein concentrates. Protein concentrates are lower in purity when compared to protein isolates. Another aspect that sticks out is the lack of micellar casein (although it might be present in the milk protein concentrate). Maybe it was cost prohibitive to include it but this is a high quality protein that consumers are becoming accustomed seeing. The lack of fiber is another downside to Muscle XGF but this is something that most companies fail to put in their formulas.
The Bottomline: While Muscle XGF may contain protein concentrates it still has a solid protein blend and healthy doses of creatine and leucine. Creatine and Leucine are often added to products but not in high enough quantities to make a real difference. AST definitely went against the grain including 3 grams of creatine and an additional 1 gram of Leucine in Muscle XGF.
As you can see this new generation of meal replacement shakes is much different that the original products produced by Met-Rx. While these products are an improvement on the original meal replacement shakes they should not be a substitute to a good whole food based nutritional regimen. Each of the products I reviewed has its positives and negatives. It is important that as a consumer you decided what your goals are, what is important to you, and choose your product accordingly.
Note: This articles was originally published at Bodybuilding.com
Beta-Alanine: Anti-Aging Supplement??
October 16, 2007
Yesterday we looked a some of the basics regarding beta-alanine, carnosine, and how these compounds can help increase performance. Yesterday, I also hinted at the fact that carnosine may actually be able to help slow (notice I didn’t say prevent as you can’t prevent aging - this is a distinction many unscrupulous supplement companies neglect).
One cellular process that is thought to play an integral role in the aging process is a non-enzymatic reaction known as glycation. Glycation is a reaction that occurs between sugars and proteins in which sugar molecules bind to proteins altering their structure and function. These modified proteins are known as advanced glycation end products. (AGEs). In addition to aiding in the aging process AGEs have also been implicated in the progression of heart disease, diabetes, and neurodegerative diseases (e.g. Alzheimer’s).
So how does carnosine and beta-alanine come into play? Carnosine prevents the negative effects of AGEs by two different mechanissm. One of the detrimental effects of AGEs is that they can cause oxidative damage. Carnosine is a potent anti-oxidant and can help prevent the oxidative damage caused by AGEs. Carnosine has also been shown to act as a “suicide peptide” preventing bodily proteins from being glycated.
As you can see there is a lot of really interesting (and valuable) research regarding beta-alanine and carnosine going on around the world. It is too early to start making claims about carnosine’s ability to “prevent Alzheimer’s disease” but the research to date shows very promising health and performance effects related to beta-alanine supplementation.
Beta-Alanine: The Basics
October 15, 2007
One of the hottest nutritional supplements to hit the market recently has been beta-alanine. Basically, beta-alanine is a precursor to the compound carnosine which works by “quenching” the acidic environment created by working muscles. If the cellular environment within the muscle becomes to acidic then the muscle stops working; the theory is that carnosine attenuates the onset of an acidic environment allowing you to do more work (lift more weights, run faster, etc). As you can imagine the has gotten a lot of people in the fitness and performance industry excited as the more work you can do and weights you can lift the biggest, faster, and stronger you can become.
You may be wondering “Why supplement with beta-alanine? Why not supplement with carnosine?” Carnosine is made up of beta-alanine and histidine (an amino acid). In the gut carnosine is split into beta-alanine and histidine and then re-assembled back to carnosine in muscle or other cells in the body. Since histidine is already very abundant in the body and food supply the limiting factor with carnosine synthesis is beta-alanine. Supplementing beta-alanine has been show in studies to increase intramuscular carnosine concentrations. That is why people supplement with beta-alanine and not carnosine.
As you can probably tell from a performance perspective carnosine and beta-alanine have the potential to make a huge impact. But what may be even more interesting is the role that carnosine may place in slowing the aging process.
Tomorrow we’ll look at how carnosine can prevent aging (and potential the onset of some diseases).
New Research - Burn More Fat While You Sleep!!!
September 12, 2007
I have previously written about the various scientific findings regarding CLA (here and here to name a few places). CLA has been sold as a weight loss supplement for a long time but only until recently has science shown measureable weight loss benefits in humans (CLA works great in mice). However, there is still tons of research going on regarding CLA and its weight loss, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer effects.
Most recently a very interesting study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The researchers found that when people supplemented with 3.2 g/d of CLA (the recommended dosage for weight loss purposes) they burned more fat when they slept! This is true. Not only did the subjects that took CLA burned more fat when they slept, the fat they burned was NOT dietary fat they had recently consumed. It was stored body fat. This study gets even better as the researchers reported that the individuals that took CLA had decreased urinary protein losses. In other words the CLA group had improved protein retention when they slept. This is really interesting. If I owned a supplement company that sold large dosages of CLA - my new headline would be
”CLA - Scientifically Proven to Burn More Body Fat and Build Muscle while you SLEEP”
Since I don’t own or work for a supplement company I guess I won’t run an ad with that headline in every Muscle & Fitness and Flex magazine for the next 6 months. The real question is….
What do you do with these findings? At the moment not a whole lot. CLA is a nice add-on to a fat loss program but “add-on” is the key word. If you aren’t spot on with your nutrition, training with weights 3x per week, and doing 3 interval sessions per week then don’t waste your time with CLA. Focus on those other aspects first. If you want to know how to structure a fat loss program that gets results check out Your Naked Nutrition Guide.
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