2009 Studies & Research Blog

Thanks to the dramatic rise of obesity in certain areas of the world, especially modernized countries such as the United States, the health industry has responded with a large number of supplements intended to promote the demise of love handles and pot bellies. These weight-loss solutions range from "revolutionary" exercise equipment hawked on late night television advertisements and intense, carefully-designed exercise programs to meticulously measured and restrictive diet plans and miracle pills and gels. While there is obviously no shortage of these dietary aids, there is a shortage of one thing - effective, long-term answers to obesity and its associated issues, such as cardiovascular disease and Type-2 diabetes.

The problem is that most of these products, workout programs and diet plans are designed - either intentionally or coincidentally - in a way that makes them effective for only a short period. A crash diet or a workout program that one can only struggle through for a few weeks may produce great results at first, but as these activities cannot be sustained over a number of years or even months in some cases, the eager dieter may eventually end up back at square one. Yo-yo dieting is all too common, and many people find that pounds lost through painstaking effort are quite simple to gain back. Often, this either discourages the dieter and the individual abandons all further attempts, or simply concludes that whatever method was used is an ineffective scam before moving on to another equally ineffective method.

The other issue is that many popular weight loss supplements - whether they work well or not - contain an enormous number of ingredients that may not be very good for the body in the long term. A lot of weight or fat loss supplement formulations rely on obscene amounts of caffeine to provide increases in resting metabolic rate, energy expenditure and a hunger-blunting effect. One problem with this is that after time, one will develop a tolerance to the caffeine and it will not be as effective. In addition, using strong stimulants for a long period can lead to adrenal fatigue. And even worse, research has shown that caffeine can cause a decrease in insulin sensitivity, which can increase the risk of obesity (1).

So is there any weight loss supplement that actually works and doesn’t contain a large list of confusing, potentially deleterious ingredients? Sure - try a natural alternative, fenugreek extract. In the past, fenugreek seeds have been found to improve blood glucose levels and insulin responses, which provide long-term benefits in the fight against obesity (2). Additionally, fenugreek seeds have also been shown to improve HDL (good) cholesterol levels and reduce LDL (bad) cholesterol levels (3).

But that’s not all - brand new research, published by the journal Phytotherapy Research, has found other advantages in long-term weight management offered by fenugreek. This new study found that insulin response was not only improved with fenugreek supplementation, but that powder from fenugreek led to higher feelings of satiety, with participants feeling fuller for longer periods of time (4). This tends toward reduced food intake later on, and can also train one to recognize appropriate portion size, which will aid future weight-loss efforts.

Based on this research, fenugreek seems to be a viable alternative to potentially harmful weight-loss supplements or crash diets that offer limited, if any, results.

SOURCES:

1. Keijzers GB, De Galan, Tack CJ, Smits P: Caffeine can decrease insulin sensitivity in humans. Diabetes Care, 2002; 25:364–369

2. Sharma, R.D. Effect of fenugreek seeds and leaves on blood glucose and serum insulin responses in human subjects. Nutrition Research, 1986; 6(12): 1353-1364

3. Al-Habori, Molham and Raman, Amala. Antidiabetic and hypocholesterolaemic effects of fenugreek. Phytotherapy Research, 1998; 12(4): 233-242

4. Mathern, J.R., Raatz, S.K., Thomas, W., Slavin, J.L. Effect of Fenugreek Fiber on Satiety, Blood Glucose and Insulin Response and Energy Intake in Obese Subjects. Phytotherapy Research, 2009; 10.1002

If you’re looking to lose body fat, the single most important thing that must be done is to create a caloric deficit.  You can either do this through reducing back on the total calories consumed, increasing your activity levels so you’re now burning more than before, or with a combination of both.

Without creating a negative calorie balance, the body will be in an equilibrium with energy in and energy out or could see a shift in the opposite direction where additional body mass is added (fat or muscle gain).

After you’ve set your calorie intake for fat loss however, then the next step is looking at the macronutrient distribution pattern. This can be highly variable from diet to diet ranging from low carb, low fat, high protein, or isocaloric where there are an equal portion of calories coming from proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.

Different people seem to do better on certain types of diets since they can stick with them easier, but it’s still important to look at what the effects are of various macronutrient ranges on overall body fat loss.

Recently a study was published in the Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism journal that looked at the relationship between high or low carbohydrate diets with regards to physical activity level differences on obese women.

They have divided a group of forty healthy, but obese women into four different groups.  The first group consumed a low fat diet coupled with low exercise levels.  The second group consumed the same low fat diet however had higher levels of physical activity.  The third and fourth groups consumed high carbohydrate (and correspondingly low fat) diets and also were divided into a higher activity group and a lower activity group.

The daily diet and workout regime was carried out over a period of ten weeks total. After these weeks had passed, the researchers noted that those who were consuming the low fat, high carb diet and were less active showed greater fat loss than those who were more active, while those who took in the higher fat, lower carbohydrate diet and were more active showed greater fat loss than those who were not.

So from this study it appears as though more active individuals can tolerate a higher fat content diet while those who are not exercising will notice better results by keeping dietary fat lower and total carbohydrates on the higher side.

Keep in mind this still assumes your total daily calorie intake is kept in check as if that’s still too high, no fat loss will take place.  

Reference:
Lopez-Fontana, CM. et al. (2009). Daily physical activity and macronutrient distribution of low-calorie diets jointly affect body fat reduction in obese women. Applied Physiology Nutrition and Metabolism.

In the world of fitness, it seems as though many people have exercise attention deficit disorder.  Simply put, as soon as some people begin on exercise routine or protocol, they’re already on the lookout for a new one.  Often, exercisers just don’t give their plans enough time and become frustrated at the lack of results.  What they don’t realize is that changing one’s body is more of a marathon than a spring - most alterations are made gradually, and visible evidence of progress can take a long time to develop.  For this reason, a perfectly good workout scheme can gain a bad reputation simply because not enough time or effort was put into the program.  Of course, some programs are poorly designed and aren’t going to deliver lasting results no matter how much dedication one displays.  For just as there are fad diets, fad exercise routines exist, popping up like weeds yet promising that the grass is greener.

At first glance, pylometric training may appear to be one of these fad workout plans.  After all, pylometric training is relatively new and doesn’t quite adhere to traditional strength-training procedures.  One major difference is that pylometric training involves rapid, explosive movements, rather than the slow, sustained lifting and lowering phases that characterize most strength or mass gain programs.  Additionally, pylometric training uses minimal, if any, added weight, relying instead on body weight and momentum to provide the stimulus for developing muscular strength.  And often, pylometric exercises mimic moves used in sports, whereas most weight-lifting exercises aren’t direct translations of athletic movements.

Despite these differences, though, pylometric training is quite powerful, and research has shown that it can be as effective, if not more so, as traditional strength training protocols.  For example, a study from the latest issue of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research compared the effects of twelve weeks of a pylometric training routine with those of a traditional strength training program.  The pylometric training consisted of three sessions per week, with exercises such as drop jumps and hurdle jumps.  The traditional training was also performed three times per week and included endurance, core stability training, knee extension and flexion and hip adduction and abduction.

After the twelve weeks, the pylometric training proved to be valuable.  Although the pylometric group had a lower average score in the countermovement jump than the traditional training group at the beginning of the study, the pylometric group ended up outperforming the traditional group by more than 3 centimeters in that jump at the end of training.  In addition, the pylometric group increased depth jump height by 18 percent, while the traditional training group actually performed worse in this assessment after the twelve weeks.  And these measures of explosive strength were not the only category in which the pylometric training produced the most positive changes; the protocol also improved contraction speed more than traditional training.

So if you’re tired of traditional training and want an alternative that can offer increases in explosive strength or improvements in sports performance, pylometric training may be for you.

SOURCE:

Campo, Silvia Sedano, et al. Effects of lower-limb plyometric training on body composition, explosive strength, and kicking speed in female soccer players. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2009; 23(6): 1714-1722

After you’ve successfully experienced a weight loss, the next step that you need to focus on is maintaining that weight loss.  Unfortunately the number of individuals who find they relapse as time goes on is quite high, therefore at the end of the day, while they were successful with their weight loss diet, they were not successful with keeping the weight off.

It’s important to note some of the differences that various types of diets can have on weight maintenance. Recently researchers out of Denmark compared three diets and what their impact on body weight and composition was both in terms of maintaining at least an 8% weight loss as well as for risk factors of cardiovascular disease or diabetes.

They had nondiabetic but overweight men and women randomly assigned to one of three different diet groups.  The first group was a moderate fat diet consisting of 35-45% total calories coming from dietary fat with at least 20% of those calories being from monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), the second group took in a low fat diet consisting of 20-30% of total energy from fat, and the third group was a control group who had 35% of their total energy intake come from dietary fat.  Protein was kept constant at between 10-20% of total energy needs throughout all three diets.

After the study was performed, it was demonstrated that more subjects who were consuming the monounsaturated fat diet dropped right out of the study, and that the group that showed the lowest weight regain was the low fat group – however all groups did show some regain.

Additionally, fasting insulin levels were decreased the most in the monounsaturated fat group, demonstrating that this diet may be superior in terms of diabetes development.  

From the results the researchers concluded that the composition of the diet did not have a very large influence on weight regain as all groups did show similar amounts, with low fat diets have a slight advantage.  Furthermore, the diet higher in monounsaturated fats, while it did have the highest dropout rate, also allowed subjects to see the greatest improvement in the ratio of LDL to HDL and fasting insulin levels.

If you’re attempting to maintain a weight loss you experienced, your best bet is to always find a diet that you find easiest to follow.  Adherence will be the top factor in maintaining a weight loss, but after that, it may be worthwhile to look closer at the individual foods you’re eating to see which ones offer the greatest health benefits.

Reference:

Astrup, A. et al. (2008). Comparison of 3 ad libitum diets for weight-loss maintenance, risk of cardiovascular disease, and diabetes: a 6-month randomized, controlled trial. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Nov;88(5):1232-41.

Next time you’re in the gym, find a group of ten random people, and ask them all one simple question - what is your goal?  In other words, how do you want to transform your body?  Chances are, unless you’re at an elite gym full of hardcore bodybuilders, you’ll get the same exact answer from nine out of ten in that group.  And what is that stock answer going to be? "

"I want to lose body fat and gain muscle."

No kidding, everyone would love to do that, even those who have never picked up a weight in their lives.  Who wouldn’t want to trade in their spare tire for a six pack and flabby arms for sculpted biceps and triceps?  But while many are focused on this goal and convinced that they can do it, it’s not that simple.  Sadly, the body just doesn’t work that way, or a lot of personal trainers would be out of business, and Arnold Schwarzenegger would just be an average-looking guy.  Simply put, there are constraints that prevent people from dropping fat while gaining size.  The main issue is that to drop body fat, one must be in a caloric deficit.  But to build muscle, one must be in a caloric surplus.  What this means is that it would indeed be possible to gain size and lose fat if you could overcome one issue - figuring out how to be in a caloric deficit and a caloric surplus at once.

For this reason, sticking to one goal - losing fat or gaining muscle - is for the best.  Similarly, most supplements tend to be geared toward one of these ends.  There are supplements created for mass gaining as well as those for cutting, yet few ever seem to be designed for both.  There is one notable exception though - a natural antioxidant called alpha-lipoic acid.  In addition to being created by body cells, alpha-lipoic acid, or ALA, is found in brewer’s yeast, organ meats and red meats.  However, ALA truly shines when it is supplemented in addition to those sources.

Research has shown that ALA can do what few other supplements can - benefit both dieters and those looking for mass.  One study indicated that just 10 days of ALA supplementation increased glucose concentration in muscles by 21 percent, which suggests that even longer periods could bring very impressive results.  In addition, the ALA greatly improved glycogen synthesis.  And while these effects are great for those looking to add muscle, the study also showed benefits for those looking to drop body fat.  Specifically, ALA battled insulin resistance and regulated glucose metabolism, even leading to a 33 percent increase in glucose oxidation (1).  Additionally, other studies have shown that ALA can boost the metabolism, which can lead to fat loss (2).

So if you thought you couldn’t have the best of both worlds - think again, because ALA will benefit you no matter what your goals.

SOURCES:

1. Jacob, S., et al. The antioxidant alpha-lipoic acid enhances insulin-stimulated glucose metabolism in insulin-resistant rat skeletal muscle. Diabetes, 1996; 45(8): 1024-1029
2. Hagen, Tory, et al. (R)-alpha-Lipoic acid-supplemented old rats have improved mitochondrial function, decreased oxidative damage, and increased metabolic rate. The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology Journal, 1999; 13:411-418.

Often when going on a fat loss diet, your primary concern is that you’re seeing results in as fast of a time period as possible with minimal effort.  You aren’t as worried about what the long term implications of such a diet will be on the body because often you only see this diet as a short-term solution – something to get you to your goal weight.

Then you plan to adopt a policy of moderation and hopefully stick at your goal weight for the years to come.  While it’s fine to think this way, it is important to realize that the changes you make while on your diet should still be somewhat long lasting because if you revert back to your former ways, the weight will come back.

Therefore, it is worth some consideration as to what some of the implications of your diet program will be.

Recently a study was published by the School of Molecular and Biomedical Science in Australia that compared the effects of a very low carb diet, a very low fat diet, and a high unsaturated fat diet with a control group in terms of impacts on cardiovascular risk factors.

One hundred and thirteen subjects were assigned to one of the four different groups and the study took place over a 15 month period (3 months of intensive support followed by 12 months of minimal support).  The very low carbohydrate diet consisted of 60% total calories from fat and 4% of total calories from carbohydrates, the very low fat diet consisted of 10% of the total calories coming from dietary fat, and the high in unsaturated fat diet consisted of 30% of total calories coming from unsaturated fat sources.

After the study was finished and results were collected, it was noted that the group that experienced the greatest weight loss over the fifteen month period were those following the high in unsaturated fat diet followed by the very low carb diet and then the low fat diet.  What’s more though is that there was a significant reduction in cardiometabolic risk factor among all three diet groups in comparison to the control group, however there was no significant difference between the groups.

From this information we can conclude that the process of lowering your body weight is going to have a greater impact on your cardiovascular risk profile than the particular diet you choose to use.  Many people are very quick to assuming low carbohydrate diets are the best for sheer weight loss purposes and lower fat diets are best from a health standpoint, but this does not always hold to be true.

Finding the best diet for you that yields the greatest weight loss will be much more important over the long term.

Reference:
Clifton, PM. Et al. (2009). Long-term effects of a low carbohydrate, low fat or high unsaturated fat diet compare to a no-intervention control.  Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. Aug 17.

A recent double blind placebo controlled study looking at cycling performance lasting  eight weeks has been completed. Well trained cyclists took 2-4g of beta-alanine a day and completed two tests, that would mimic a race and the final sprint phase.  The results of this study showed, beta-alanine significantly improved sprint performance at the end of endurance exercise session. This study very closely mimics what a competitive cyclists would undergo during training or competition. Beta-alanine’s versatility continues to be uncovered, so far showing it can increase anaerobic strength, powder, delay muscular fatigue and increase lean body mass.

Van Thienen R, Van Proeyen K, Vanden Eynde B, Puype J, Lefere T, Hespel P. Beta-alanine improves sprint performance in endurance cycling.
Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009 Apr;41(4):898-903.

By: ATHLETIC EDGE NUTRITION

It’s no secret that obesity is something to be avoided - after all, if it weren’t a problem, the steady rise in overweight individuals wouldn’t be referred to as the "obesity epidemic," but rather the "obesity achievement" or the "portly party."  However, carrying more than a few extra pounds around isn’t something to be pleased about. In addition to driving away members of the opposite sex, love handles or a beer gut can mean that you have to buy an extra airplane ticket or worse, lead to the development of a number of adverse medical conditions.  One of the most common complications associated with obesity is Type 2, or "Adult Onset" Diabetes, which results from insulin resistance.  Additionally, obesity can lead to cardiovascular disease and a higher risk of stroke.

But these conditions aren’t the only incentive to keep off the extra pounds.  Recent research indicates that obesity can not only have unwanted effects on your body, but on your brain as well.  This research was based upon years of efforts, with individuals classified into three groups: normal weight, overweight and obese.  Normal weighted subjects were defined as those with Body Mass Indexes (BMI) of 18.5-25; overweight subjects had BMIs of 25-30; and obese subjects had BMIs of 30 and above.

And while one might expect that obesity’s negative effects are merely limited to physicality, the results found clear differences in the brain scans of each of the groups.  As the BMI of subjects increased, the concentrations of both Grey and White Matter in the brain decreased, suggesting that obesity led to atrophy in the brain tissue.  Most of the tissue reduction occurred in the frontal lobe, which is involved in higher mental functions such as decision making and assessing consequences; the hippocampus, which plays a role in spatial navigation and memory; the anterior cingulate gyrus, which is involved in emotion and regulation of blood pressure and heart rate; and the thalamus, which regulates periods of sleep and wakefulness and relays and processes sensory information.

As the researches noted, obesity and the adverse conditions associated with it " increase risk for cognitive decline and dementia."  And the degree of damage in the brain associated with obesity was not small; overweight subjects had four percent less brain tissue than normal weight individuals, while obese subjects had eight percent less brain tissue.

While some of the consequences of obesity have been long established by science, this research indicates that an unhealthy lifestyle can have many more significant adverse effects than most people comprehend.

SOURCE:

1. Raji, Cyrus A., et al. Brain Structure and Obesity. Human Brain Mapping, 2009.

Despite all the research available that suggests that milk should be a part of a healthy diet, there are still many people who believe that milk will keep them from their goals. They believe that from a fat loss standpoint, milk is going to prevent weight loss from taking place and could even cause them to gain weight.

Many of those who are looking to build muscle also avoid dairy, thinking they are better off turning to meat sources for protein and also mistakenly believe that dairy could have negative implications on their system.

Now however, more studies are coming out demonstrating that chocolate milk is one of the best drinks to take post-workout and can really increase muscle synthesis rates.

To enforce the point that milk is good for muscle building even further, researchers published a study in the Biological Trace Element Research journal regarding the effects of calcium supplementation on testosterone levels.

They looked at the effects of four weeks of calcium supplementation on free and total testosterone levels in both active and sedentary adult males.

The group of thirty males were divided into three different study groups.  The first group was non-exercising and received 35 milligrams of calcium per kilogram of body weight.  The second group received the same 35 milligrams of calcium per kilogram of body weight and underwent a training program for 90 minutes each day, five days a week.  Finally, the third group of subjects underwent the same training program, only they did not receive the calcium supplementation.

Throughout the study, testosterone levels were determined both before and after supplementation, before the exercise began while the subjects were at rest and then after the training had finished taking place.

The researchers noted that the plasma free and total testosterone levels increased at the exhaustion point and did so to a higher degree in the calcium supplemented groups.

From this then we can note that taking a calcium supplement on a regular basis while engaging in intense exercise training can help to promote greater testosterone release by the body, possibly increasing the results you get from your muscle building program.

This again proves to you that dairy products should be consumed in your diet. Not only are they a slower digesting source of protein, but they are also relatively low in fat if you’re choosing the correct varieties.

Reference:

Baltaci, AK. Et al. (2009). Testosterone levels in athletes at rest and exhaustion: effects of calcium supplementation. Biological Trace Elements Research. 129(1-3):65-9.