Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "
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04.11.2013 |
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The anabolic effect of betaine
Betaine
Sugar beet contains fairly high levels of betaine, and the substance is a by-product of the sugar production process. Large companies like DuPont are financing research on potentially interesting ergogenic effects of betaine, in the hope that they find a way of making money from this dirt-cheap substance.
DuPont funded a study we recently wrote about. Bodybuilders who took 2.5 g betaine daily for six weeks lost fat mass and gained several kgs of lean body mass. DuPont also financed the study we are writing about here.
Study
For two weeks the students were given two doses of 1.25 g betaine daily. After the supplementation period the researchers got the students to train their legs. Just before [Pre] and 15 minutes after the workout [Post] the researchers analysed the subjects' blood. Just before the workout and 10 minutes afterwards they also took a sample of muscle cells out of the subjects' leg muscle.
Then the researchers repeated the procedure, but gave the subjects a placebo.
Results
The hormonal effects of betaine suggest that anabolic processes are at work – and this is exactly what the researchers saw when they looked at the activity of anabolic signalling proteins in the muscle cell samples. Post workout the researchers observed increased activity of the anabolic signalling molecules Akt and p70-S6k.
Betaine supplementation resulted in a significantly higher post-workout concentration of growth hormone and IGF-1.
Conclusion
"Future studies will interrogate whether betaine supplementation effects on anabolic and catabolic signaling components are consistent in a variety of exercise prescriptions and among more subject sample populations, and what the mechanisms of betaine action might be in providing an ergogenic benefit."
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