Herbs Can Work if You Know How to Work Them

Ginkgo Biloba image via Wikipedia

I recently published some very informative articles on ergogenic dietary supplements by Melvin Williams. Or at least “supposedly” ergogenic dietary supplements. Obviously, while many supplements may have health benefits, some are more ergogenic than others.

As you may recall, an ergogenic is anything that can help us do work or increase our capacity to do work. In other words,  improve our performance.

Out of all the links to those articles that people can click on,  such as vitamins, minerals,  aminos,  or metabolites  (like creatine) it is no surprise to me whatsoever that HERBS is the most popular.

Herbs seem to promise so much,  well,  promise compared to the common and mundane nutritionals. Unfortunately, most of the herbals that athletes and strength trainees turn to as “apaptogens” are pretty much worthless.

Some “herbs” that are currently marketed as dietary supplements or even “miracle cures” actually have a great deal of nutritional value and have been used in cooking for thousands of…for a very long time.

While they are not miracles by any stretch of the imagination they have some surprising uses.

As well,  there are some humble herbs that you may never have considered that can be helpful.  They don’t have the “star quality” of ginseng or ginkgo biloba but image, these days, is rarely a true measure of ability!

The trick is knowing what they are really good for as opposed to what the supplement industry would have you think they are good for. I’m not sure I should admit it,  but I know a little bit more about these kind of uses than the average bear.

So read on if you want to know some of those uses.  In this post I discuss an herb you probably thought wasn’t even for humans,  catnip, and something I KNOW fennel  to be good for.  Also, associated herbs are discussed. I am sticking to the topic of what I do with these herbs and am refraining from rambling on about their many supposed attributes.

Continue Reading >> Ground Up Strength: What Are Herbs Really Good For?

 

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Ergogenic Supplements: Vitamins, Minerals, Aminos, ETC.

Ergogenic is the fancy word given to any external aid that can help our performance.  The word comes from the Greek word for work, “ergon” and it means increasing work or the ability to do work.

By far the most popular ergogenic aids, besides “pharmacological” aids, are nutritional aids in the form of dietary supplements. A billion dollar industry is built around these types of supplements and athletes and exercisers spend and spend, often without knowing exactly why they are using the supplements they are using, and whether there is any real science behind their use as ergogenics.

It’s not all fancy designer “hardcore” supplements like nitric oxide or Biotest Anaconda snakeoil. Or even caffeine, for that matter.  That is, they are not always “sport supplements” or “bodybuilding supplements” or “strength supplements”.   Or even creatine or caffeine,  for that matter.  Common dietary supplements such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids, herbs, and phospholipids are used to increase performance as well.

We know that some of these supplements can help support a healthy diet, but will they really make up perform better? Will we lift more? Train longer? Recover faster? Are they magic bullets?  I’ve published a number of review papers at GUS  on these common nutritional supplements to get your started answering these questions for yourself.

Vitamins and Sports Performance

Minerals and Sports Performance

Amino Acids and Sports Performance

Herbs and Sports Performance

Metabolites,  Constituents and Extracts

Phospholipids and Sports Performance

Colloidal Silver Products

Dietary supplements containing silver are a dime a dozen and are frequently presented as a cure-all for anything from acne to a case of the Martian pox. These are such products as:

• colloidal silver

• ionic silver

• native silver

• silver alginate

• silver protein

• mild silver protein

• colloidal silver protein

• true silver protein

Most products tend to be an “ionic silver solution” which is silver in a solution rather than suspended silver.

Continue Reading >>  Ground Up Strength:  Colloidal Silver and Other Silver Products

Creatine And Exercise

This position statement and literature review of creatine supplementation from the ISSA is “everything you need to know” about creatine.

Topics include:

• Creatine Myths and Fallacies
• Creatine Background
• How do You Take Creatine and How Does It Effect Muscle Creatine Stores?
• What Are the Different Types of Creatine Supplements and Combinations?
• How Does Creatine Supplementation Effect My Exercise Performance and Training Adaptations?
• Is Creatine Safe?
• What About Children and Adolescents Using Creatine?

The use of creatine as a sport supplement has been surrounded by both controversy and fallacy since it gained widespread popularity in the early 1990’s. Anecdotal and media reports have often claimed that creatine usage is a dangerous and unnecessary practice; often linking creatine use to anabolic steroid abuse [1]. Many athletes and experts in the field have reported that creatine supplementation is not only beneficial for athletic performance and various medical conditions but is also clinically safe [2-5]. Although creatine has recently been accepted as a safe and useful ergogenic aid, several myths have been purported about creatine supplementation. – Buford, et al.

Continue Reading –>> Ground Up Strength: Creatine And Exercise.

Pharmaceutical Grade Supplements

Image by veo_ via Flickr

I’ve updated/improved the  Fish Oil Quality article to include more in-depth discussion of the term “pharmaceutical grade”. This goes way beyond fish oil to arm against this very misleading marketing practice. As I point out in the article, the fish oil industry are the main culprits but many vitamin manufactures are joining the fray, claiming that their B vitamin, for instance is “pharmaceutical grade” which means it is 99% pure or some other claim.

You can find out what their claims of “pharmaceitical grade” are referring to in the article,  if they are referring to anything…plus a whole lot more about fish oil. The take home message for “pharmaceutcal grade” is that it is much like the term “natural”: anyone can put it on their label. It’s a largely meaningless term.

Not only is their no real meaning to the term there is no standard purity for pharmaceutical ingredients. Pharmaceutical ingredients are manufactured to purities appropriate for their use in drug preparations, i.e. the “requisite” purity.

Websters defines a pharmaceutical as MEDICINAL DRUG. Fish oil and vitamins are NOT medicines. Joint supplements are NOT medicines.

By the way, another little ‘uh-oh’ moment in regards to fish oil:

Fish Oil Dosage

Three to six grams daily dose of fish OIL will suffice for most individuals. Apparently many ‘experts’ do not understand the difference between the dosages used in studies and the omega 3 fatty acid yield. Therefore they think that three to six grams means three to six grams of EPA/DHA which is requires a ridiculous amount of oil.

You can read more about this in in Fish Oil: Just the Facts

Another subject that goes hand in hand with the whole “pharmaceutical grade” thing is “premium price designer fish oils” as Tom Venuto calls them in Fish Oil May Help You Burn Fat, But Not That Much Fat. I’ve added a comment at the end of that one regarding my views on this matter.

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Supreme Greens, Coral Calcium Maketers Must Pay Millions

Under Fire from the FTC

The Federal Trade Commission has charged marketers of two dietary supplements with falsely claiming that their products can prevent and cure cancer and other diseases. According to the FTC’s complaint, Boston-area marketers Direct Marketing Concepts, Inc. (DMC), ITV Direct, Inc. (ITV), and Donald Barrett (Barrett), along with their business partners, California corporations Healthy Solutions, LLC and Health Solutions, Inc., and their principals Alejandro Guerrero (a.k.a. Alex Guerrero), Michael Howell, and Greg Geremesz; and Wayne, Pennsylvania-based Triad ML Marketing, Inc., King Media, Inc., and Allen Stern, have sold “Supreme Greens with MSM” and “Coral Calcium Daily” to consumers through two widely-aired infomercials. The FTC alleges that the Supreme Greens infomercial promoted the supplement as a means to treat, cure, and prevent cancer and other diseases, and to cause significant weight loss, as well as being a safe for consumption by all, including pregnant women and persons on medication. The FTC further alleges that the Coral Calcium Daily infomercial touted the supplement as a means to treat and cure cancer and other diseases and as a superior form of calcium based on its purported bioavailability.

T-Nation/Biotest’s Newest Insult To Our Intelligence

A couple of posts at my GUS blog in regards to Biotests ridiculous new supplement claims and the T-Nation article/video announcing it.

I, Bodybuilder

Anaconda Meets Alan Aragon.

Fish Oil May Help You Burn Fat…

Image via Wikipedia

But Not THAT Much Fat!

By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS

www.BurnTheFat.com

At least a half a dozen human studies and more than two dozen animal studies have been completed in the last 10 years which suggest that these omega-3 fatty acids found in fish may help you lose more fat. However, the fat loss benefit is not as much as some people want you to believe…

Continue Reading >> Ground Up Strength: Fish Oil May Help You Burn Fat….

“Truth About Nutrition” Marketers Agree to Pay $3 Million

Image via Wikipedia

Marketers of Dietary Supplements and Devices Agree to Pay $3 Million to Settle FTC Charges of Deceptive Advertising

Marketers of dietary supplements and health-related devices have agreed to pay $3 million in consumer redress to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that they deceptively claimed their products treated or prevented a wide variety of serious diseases and medical conditions.

The challenged products included an infrared sauna sold to treat cancer; and a variety of nutritional supplements sold to treat, reduce the risk of, or prevent various health conditions, including cancer, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, strokes and heart attacks, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, arthritis, multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases, ulcers, herpes, asthma, and glaucoma. The marketers sold their products on their Web site and in print materials, but their main advertising vehicle was a nationally broadcast, live, hour-long, call-in radio program titled “The Truth About Nutrition.”

Continue Reading the FTC release.

Hydroxycut Warnings and Recalls

The FDA has warned consumers to stop taking Hydroxycut.

Hydroxycut is a very popular dietary supplement which is marketed as a weight-loss aid, fat burner, energy-enhancers, etc. by Lovage (under the Lovate and MuscleTech brand names).

The FDA warning came after 23 reports of adverse events concerning the liver, including jaundice, increased liver enzymes (a potential indicator of damage only), and brown urine. Liver damage resulting in the need for liver transplant was also reported.

Nausea, vomiting, excessive fatigue, light colored stools, stomach pain, loss of appetite (hmmm?), and itching are other symptoms.

Lovate has voluntarily recalled the following products:

Hydroxycut Regular Rapid Release Caplets, Hydroxycut Caffeine-Free Rapid Release Caplets, Hydroxycut Hardcore Liquid Caplets, Hydroxycut Max Liquid Caplets, Hydroxycut Regular Drink Packets, Hydroxycut Caffeine-Free Drink Packets, Hydroxycut Hardcore Drink Packets (Ignition Stix), Hydroxycut Max Drink Packets, Hydroxycut Liquid Shots, Hydroxycut Hardcore RTDs (Ready-to-Drink), Hydroxycut Max Aqua Shed, Hydroxycut 24 Hydroxycut Carb Control, and Hydroxycut Natural.

See the FDA Hydroxycut Warning

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