Definition: "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance "
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27.10.2010 |
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The joint anabolic effect of EPA and HMB
The omega-3 fatty acid EPA enhances the mild anticatabolic effect of the leucine metabolite HMB [structural formula below]. Pharmacologists at Aston University came to this conclusion after doing an animal study, published in Cancer Research in 2005.
Omega-3 fatty acids inhibit muscle breakdown too. Some trials show that weakened cancer patients who are given protein shakes containing EPA even build up a little lean body mass.
The higher the dose, the greater the effect of the leucine metabolite on the lab animals' gastrocnemius [calf muscle].
The figure below shows that high daily doses of over 0.125 g/kg bodyweight had no extra effect. The black bars represent muscle protein production, the white ones muscle breakdown. HMB is primarily an anticatabolic.
HMB and EPA together worked better than each substance separately, as the figure above shows. It shows the weight of the gastrocnemius after 3 days of being given the supplement.
So EPA and HMB do not work synergistically, but their anticatabolic effects are cumulative, in the researchers' view.
The researchers worked out how the anticatabolic effect of HMB and EPA works. The compounds inhibit the proteasome in the muscle cells. The graph below shows the extent to which they do this. The proteasome is a kind of cellular demolition workshop, where the enzyme chymotrypsin cuts up proteins into little pieces.
"HMB may be safely used either alone or in combination with EPA to treat muscle atrophy in cancer cachexia and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome", the researchers conclude. Their work was financed by Abbott Laboratories, the owner of the EAS supplement brand.
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