ISSN Exercise & Sport Nutrition Review: Research & Recommendations
I thought I should put a link here to this recent research review, published in the Journal of the International Society of Sport Nutrition. It’s a loooong (43 pages) and somewhat dry read… but it IS readable, and has a LOT to say on the subject of supplements, whether for muscle-building, performance-enhancement or… weight loss.
To wit: the authors looked at a LOT of the literature, to determine which supps were “apparently effective,” “possibly effective,” “too early to tell,” or “apparently ineffective.” Needless to state, there weren’t a whole lot of supp ingredients that made it into the first two categories.
For those of you who are active in lifting, there’s also a great set of dietary guidelines to optimize performance and recovery. They covered everything from nutrient timing to energy, macronutrient, micronutrient and fluid intakes.
It’s a pretty thorough piece of work – worth a read, if you’re curious about the science.
June 28, 2010
ISSN Exercise & Sport Nutrition Review: Research & Recommendations – http://blog.ultimatefatburner.com/2010/0…
June 29, 2010
that was excellent. thanks for linking it.
i am a little surprised about glutamine. they concluded that it has no real effect on lean mass. it may have some effects for overall immunity benefits but for muscle building, it looks like a no-go.
also a little surprised at the amount of protein they recommended when trying to put on mass. not against it just never seen it really published before. i am surprised in how many calories a cyclist for the tour de france may need. yikes! how do you even get that much food down your gullet?
and if there is just one thing that i would like to get out to people that are overweight/obese is this:
“Conclusion
Maintaining an energy balanceand nutrient dense diet, prudent training,proper timing of nutrient intake,and obtaining adequate rest are the cornerstones to enhancing performance and/or training adaptations. Use of a
limited numberof nutritional supplements that research has supported can help improve energy availability(e.g., sports drinks,carbohydrate,creatine,caffeine, b-alanine, etc)and/or promote recovery(carbohydrate,protein,
essential amino acids,etc) can provide additional benefit in certain instances.”
Another words, get your diet right, bust your butt in the gym, and throw away most supplements. maybe this would put a stop to the crap like alli and such.
June 29, 2010
Started skimming through this. Lots of info. Will definately need some time to go through the whole thing.
I will add comments later as I go through it.
Thanks Elissa
June 29, 2010
@dennis: yep, that’s a pretty good summation. It all comes back to good ol’ diet and exercise.
In general, people expect too much from supps. Can’t say that I blame them, though. After all, you can walk into entire stores featuring nothing but supps, and read about seeming miracles everywhere. So it’s not exactly hard to get the impression that supps can make a much bigger difference than they really do.
This review is a great antidote to that, because the folks at ISSN don’t have any particular ax to grind. If anything, they’re rather pro-supplement. But the reality is that the hype is waaaay ahead of the research.
July 7, 2010
Thank you for the article! So if baking soda buffers lactic acid is that a good thing for mass training? Or would baking soda make it so that you wouldn’t break down the muscle as much as you otherwise could with the lactic acid that is buffered?
July 8, 2010
FWIW, I honestly don’t know of anyone who uses sodium bicarb for lifting on a regular basis – probably due to the known downsides: one is the amount of sodium involved; another is the potential for stomach upset (which is very real) and other GI symptoms at the recommended doses. Finally, there’s the taste.
I imagine these are the reasons why the report states “This can improve exercise capacity in events…” (emphasis mine). Consuming 0.3g/kg (21g for a 70kg man) or 10g/day for 5 days would be a bit of a nasty business – but worth it if you’re an athlete prepping for a competition.
Beta-alanine (by itself, or in a supp like H+ Blocker – which Paul is fond of) is what most lifters prefer for tempering the effects of hydrogen ion accumulation.