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| Myostatin Inhibitors, NO, Prohormones, Protein Supplements |
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Myostatin Inhibitors Myostatin is a protein that negatively regulates muscle growth. At a certain point, myostatin is released to prevent muscle from getting "too big." Interestingly, a specific sulfo-polysaccharide extract (CSP-3) cultured from algae has been discovered, in the laboratory, to bind to the myostatin protein and prevent myostatin from keeping muscles smaller. If this supplement can bind to the myostatin protein in the body, it could neutralize the inhibition that the myostatin protein puts on new muscle growth. However, no one knows whether or not this actually happens. Just because a compound binds to myostatin in a laboratory experiment done outside of the body doesn't mean that it will survive digestion, find the skeletal muscle, make it into the muscle, and bind to the myostatin protein in the muscle. Until more research is done, we suggest skipping this one, especially since myostatin is found in the heart as well as skeletal muscle. Nitric Oxide Boosters Nitric oxide (NO) is a free radical gas produced in the body from the breakdown of the amino acid arginine. The primary function of NO is to relax smooth muscle, like the kind in your blood vessels. In doing so, NO can decrease blood pressure, increase bloodflow to muscles and organs, and prevent blood platelets from clumping up (platelet clumping is a bad thing because it can damage vessels). So upon first glance, it looks like NO-boosting supplements might be health promoting. But how can they help build muscle? Well, some supplement companies have suggested that increased bloodflow to muscles might be anabolic (although there is no good evidence that NO-induced bloodflow increases can build muscle). Interestingly, however, NO boosters don't actually contain any nitric oxide. Rather, they contain the amino acid precursors for NO. Whether these amino acids actually raise NO is another question entirely. So, in the end, although some users report a better "pump" when training, there's little evidence that this bestselling supplement actually helps build muscle. And even less evidence that this supplement is actually safe. We suggest saying no to NO for now. Prohormones Prohormones come in an increasing number of types with slightly different intended results. These include muscle and/or strength gain, increased aggressiveness during training, improved sexual performance, and cosmetic physique effects. These improvements are expected to occur as a result of increases in testosterone or testosterone precursor concentrations in the blood. Protein Supplements Protein supplements, simply put, provide a convenient way to meet your daily protein goal if you can't find a way to get all of your daily protein from food. In this way, we consider protein supplements more closely related to food than supplements. One way to think of protein supplements is that they are lower-quality alternatives to chicken, beef, fish, etc. We say lower quality because they don't contain the other vitamins and minerals that chicken, beef, fish, etc., contain. Most protein supplements currently available are made of one or more components of milk protein. Whey protein, a popular supplement, makes up about 20 percent of the protein found in milk, while casein protein, a less popular supplement, makes up about 80 percent of the protein found in milk. If you're interested in using a protein supplement during the day, your best bet is to use a whey/casein blend. |
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