Arizona 4

So, last day at Athletes Performance finished. Emotionally I feel in both directions, sad to leave this positive enviroment but also great to get home to business and family. It has been two interesting weeks, with some new stuff to put in my backpack. There is no way my backpack is getting to heavy, the questions is how much I can carry. I kind of like the thought that would bring in all those experts in certain areas to my facility aswell, in this way I don’t have to be good at all stuff there is, I could focus on one particular thing, since we know all those areas have so many directions. Then I could be great insted of good. Unfortunatley I don’t see this happend in anytime near so I better keep up.

We had some discussion today about supplements regarding HMB and L-Glutamine. You guys who reads my blog now I don’t sell/advocate this as I have my doubts about it’s benficial effects, it sure doesn’t hurt you but when it comes around supplements there should be a valid reason for spending money on it.

HMB:

Beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) is a leucine
metabolite that has recently gained popularity as an “anticatabolic.”
This supplement is marketed to suppress protein
breakdown in the recovery phase after a workout,
thereby burning only carbohydrates and fat for energy and
increasing lean body mass.

Studies that doesn’t support the use of it:

And we have many studies that also supports the unpretentious effects of HMB supplementation. However, how would a controll group respond to either a 5grams och pure L-leucine or a 10oz chicken breast? Still beneficially changes in protein markers? Absolutley. And how significant are those affects in the long term? What about whole day calorie consumption? What about if you ate or had a shake before the training, is the amino acids magically removed from the bloodstream?

And what about this L-Glutmine, manufactures put it in their products to make them look good, even though most of us know we have no beneficial efects of it. So why pay for it?

The addition of glutamine to a CHO + EAA beverage had no effect on post-exercise muscle glycogen resynthesis or muscle protein synthesis.

Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2006 Oct;31(5):518-29.

In fact, intracellular glutamine concentration may not be compromised when plasma levels are decreased postexercise. In addition, a number of recent intervention studies with glutamine feeding demonstrate that, although the plasma concentration of glutamine is kept constant during and after acute, strenuous exercise, glutamine supplementation does not abolish the postexercise decrease in in vitro cellular immunity, including low lymphocyte number, impaired lymphocyte proliferation, impaired natural killer and lymphokine-activated killer cell activity, as well as low production rate and concentration of salivary IgA.

J Appl Physiol. 2002 Sep;93(3):813-22.

BCAA ingestion does not appear to affect fatigue during prolonged exercise, there is little support from controlled studies to recommend glutamine ingestion for enhanced immune function, and although glutamine stimulates muscle glycogen synthesis, its addition to carbohydrate supplements provides no additional benefit over ingestion of carbohydrate alone.

Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2001 Mar;11(1):133-45.

It is concluded that ingestion of a glutamine/carbohydrate mixture does not increase the rate of glycogen resynthesis in muscle. Glycogen resynthesis rates were higher, although not statistically significant, after ingestion of the drink containing the wheat and whey protein hydrolysate compared to ingestion of the control and free glutamine drinks.

Int J Sports Med. 2000 Jan;21(1):25-30.

The purpose of this study was to determine if high-dose glutamine ingestion affected weightlifting performance…

These data indicate that the short-term ingestion of glutamine does not enhance weightlifting performance in resistance-trained men.

J Strength Cond Res. 2002 Feb;16(1):157-60.

We conclude that glutamine supplementation during resistance training has no significant effect on muscle performance, body composition or muscle protein degradation in young healthy adults.

Eur J Appl Physiol. 2001 Dec;86(2):142-9.

In conclusion, our results show that decreased plasma and muscle glutamine levels have no effect on whole-body protein turnover or muscle protein kinetics. Therefore, it is unlikely that, in vivo, the intracellular muscle concentration of glutamine is a major regulating factor in muscle protein kinetics.

Clin Sci (Lond). 1999 Jun;96(6):639-46.

We conclude that intravenous infusion of amino acids increases the fractional rate of mixed muscle protein synthesis, but addition of glutamine to the amino acid mixture does not further stimulate muscle protein synthesis rate in healthy young men and women.

Metabolism. 2000 Dec;49(12):1555-60.

The purpose was to determine if glutamine supplementation would prevent a loss of lean mass in athletes during a 12-day weight reduction program. It was hypothesized that supplementation would spare lean body mass. Subjects (n=18) exercised and dieted to create a 4186kJ· day-1 energy deficit and a 8372 kJ· day-1 energy deficit on days 1-5, days 6-12, respectively. The glutamine (GLN) group (n=9) ingested 0.35 g· kg-1 body mass of glutamine while a placebo was administered to the remaining subjects. Body mass (BM), lean body mass (LBM) and fat mass (FM), were measured at days 0, 6, and 12. GLN and placebo groups both lost significant amounts of BM, LBM and FM. There were no significant differences between groups. The findings indicate little benefit for retention of lean mass with supplementation of glutamine during a short-term weight reduction program.

Journal of Sports Science and Medicine (2003) 2, 163-168

Have a great weekend!