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Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "
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14.12.2009 |
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Weight loss with chlorella
Supplements containing the dried micro-alga Chlorella cause spontaneous weight loss. Researchers from the Japanese Sun Chlorella Corporation report this in article in the Journal of Medicinal Food. The Japanese company also manufactures Sun Chlorella A, which is available in Europe. The supplement probably enhances the way the body deals with glucose and insulin.
All very well. But a baker who praises his own bread should be regarded with a certain scepticism. And that’s the case here. For example, the article by the Japanese is very well written. You notice immediately when you read it that this is not the wooden prose that scientists usually produce. These are sentences written by expensive text-writers who don’t hesitate to charge a couple of hundred Euros an hour for their services. This publication is not only science, but also PR. But even so, the content is interesting enough for a posting on the shabbiest supplements site on the net.
For twelve weeks the researchers got 17 Japanese men with a healthy lifestyle [the N group] and 17 men with an unhealthy lifestyle [the D group] to take 40 Chlorella tablets per day. The intake was divided over two moments in the day. During the twelve weeks the Japanese kept track of the subjects’ cholesterol and glucose levels and their body fat percentage. Four weeks after the supplement course had finished the Japanese examined the test subjects for the last time.
The figure below shows how the amount of body fat fell in the test subjects of both groups. The trial stopped in week 12. The measurement in week 16 was the after-test measurement.
The total cholesterol level went down during the period of the trial.
The researchers took blood samples from their subjects, and examined the activity of certain genes. They discovered that the supplement made the genes for GLUT4 work harder. GLUT4 is a glucose transport molecule. Physical training makes it more active in muscle cells, so it supplies them with more glucose. It’s partly due to the increased activity of GLUT4 after training that insulin is such an effective bodybuilding drug. But that’s another story.
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