ONLINE DRIVERS MEDIA

Purple rice sushi could actually replace chicken + rice in the BB std.diet

Chicken and rice, these are the staples of a classic bodybuilding diet. As far as the chicken goes, you will all be aware that it qualifies mostly due to its high protein and low fat content. Rice, on the other hand, is a decent carbohydrate source and as such not exactly zeitgeisty... I guess we could easily get lost in the high vs. low carb debate again, which is why I would draw your attention to the fact that Saghar Eslami and his colleagues from the University Putra Malaysia did not feed their thirty two healthy young male subjects (aged 18 to 32 yr), who were recruited for this double-blind clinical conducted in the Faculty of Sport Sciences at the University of Isfahan, in Iran, tons of rice (see bottom line for an estimation of how much it would take).

What they did was to provide their subjects, who were not allowed to drink, smoke or do any other exercise except from the prescribed protocol, with either 2x300mg ?-oryzanol or identically looking placebo capsules (There was no significant difference between the placebo and supplement groups with respect to age, weight, energy, carbohydrate, protein, and fat intakes).
According to Eslami et al. the use of gamma oryzanol, which is found in rice bran, wheat bran and certain fruits and vegetables "as a nutritional supplement for strength in athletes is prevalent" (Eslami. 2014), while the research to date has tended to focus on gamma oryzanol effects in patients, especially hyperlipidemics, rather than on resistance athletes.

If we take a look at the existing evidence there are studies by Bucci et al. who found that the intake of 30 mg ferulic acid per day (extracted from gamma oryzanol) for eight weeks resulted in increasing body weight and muscular strength in weight lifters, and a study by Fry et al. which reports strength increases in response to the ingestion of 500 mg/day gamma oryzanol supplementation in 40 year-old or older adults.

Figure 1: Overview of exercise protocol (left); changes in 1RM on the bench and leg curl machine (Eslami. 2014)

In view of the existing evidence its thus not totally surprising that the complex mixture plant sterols and ferulic acid esters had statistically significant effects on the 1RM strength increase in response to the 9-week resistance training protocol with its 4 weekly supervised RT sessions, a set-count of three and a rep range from 6-12 repetitions (at a pace of 2 sec up and 4 sec down) for each exercise (inter-set rest was 3 minutes; exercise selection see Figure 1).

Visible, but not significant changes in body composition

In contrast to the significant changes in muscular strength, the inter-group differences with respect to the already small changes in the anthropometric measurements (see Figure 2) did not reach statistical significance.

Figure 2: Changes in body composition (all non-significant inter-group differences; Eslami. 2014)

As Eslmai et al. point out, "it might be suggested to use this supplement for longer time" and or to "analyze the antioxidant levels in the blood of the athletes to consider exercise effects on oxidation and free radical production as well as inhibitory effect of supplement" (Eslami. 2014), which would be a first step to understand how ?-oryzanol is actually working - up to now this is still pretty much unknown (Fry et al. speculated about increases in testosterone or androgen receptor interaction, but thats not proven yet; Fry. 1997).
References:

• Boonsit, Panita, Dumnern Karladee, and P. Phongpiachan. "Gamma oryzanol content in purple rice Thailand local genotypes." Tropentag, October (2006): 11-13.
• Bucci, L. R., et al. "Effect of ferulate on strength and body composition of weightlifters." J Appl Sports Sci Res 4 (1990): 110. 
• Eslami, Saghar, et al. "Effects of gamma oryzanol supplementation on anthropometric measurements & muscular strength in healthy males following chronic resistance training." Indian J Med Res 139 (2014): 857-863.
• Fry, A. C., et al. "The effects of gamma-oryzanol supplementation during resistance exercise training." International journal of sport nutrition 7.4 (1997): 318-329.
• Patel, M., and S. N. Naik. "Gamma-oryzanol from rice bran oil: a review." J. Sci. Ind. Res 63 (2004): 569-578.
• Tsushimoto, Gen, et al. "DNA-damaging, mutagenic, clastogenic and cell-cell communication inhibitory properties of gamma-oryzanol." The Journal of toxicological sciences 16.4 (1991): 191-202.

Looking for muscle building protein fuel? No need for supplements, when a delicious steak is all it takes to propel the beneficial effects of resistance training on your body comp.

Yes, todays SuppVersity article is about beef protein, but its not about one chocolate flavored overpriced powdered slaugherhouse waste for carnivores, but rather about real beef: muscle meats from cattle, as the ones you put into a pan or onto the barbecue. A group of scientists from the University of Pavia in Italy wanted to know if a simple steak would affect the strength and body composition of young adults involved in a full-vody resistance-training program of eight weeks.

Based on previous studies Negro et al. knew that beef protein (90g from a 340g steak) can help trainees increase their muscle gains, when it is consumed 60 minutes before the exercise (Symsoni. 2011).
Similar, albeit dose-dependent increases in protein synthesis have also been observed by Robinson et al. (2013) who demonstrate that a 170 g serving of lean beef, which was consumed after the workout and provided 36 g of protein, resulted in greater rates of muscle protein synthesis in middle-aged persons than smaller servings of 113 g and 57 g of beef (24 g and 12 g of protein, respectively) when administrated after 3 sets of knee extensions exercise (using a predetermined load toelicit failure within 8–10 repetitions).

Figure 1: Mean myofibrillar muscle protein synthesis (MPS) in response to graded doses of dietary protein at rest and after resistance exercise (left); whole-body leucine oxidation with ingestion of various doses of beef (right; Robinson. 2013).

What neither of the two studies had to offer, though, is a longitudinal analysis of the hypertrophy response to a realistic strength training regimen.
In the study at hand, the forty healthy normal-weight volunteers without significant training experience who were recruited at the University of Pavia through advertisements posted on the main campus, were supplemented "soon after every exercise session" with a 135 g serving of lean beef (tinned meat), providing 20 g of protein and 1.7 g of  fat (water was available to favor the swallowing). With the exception of the tinned meat, the subjects who had an average baseline protein intake of 1.0g/day werent allowed to consume any supplements or ergogenic substances.

1.0g/kg protein +/- 20g of protein from canned beef after workouts = ???

Both, the supplement and the control group participated in the same standardized whole body resistance training program which had been  designed by a certified strength and conditioning specialist.

"All subjects trained three times per week(Monday, Wednesday, and Friday), for a total of nine weeks (one week of pre-conditioning (week 0) and eight weeks of training (week 1 to week 8)). The pre-conditioning week was designed to allow volunteers to become familiar with all the exercises included in the training protocol. During the eight weeks of training, FG [treatment group] and CG [control group] carried out their workout session late in the afternoon or early evening. After a warm-up all subjects performed, in a randomized order, three circuits (Legs Circuit: leg extension, leg press, leg curl; Chest Circuit: pectoral machine, bench press, triceps machine; Back Circuit: vertical row, lat machine, biceps curl)." (Negro. 2014)

Every exercise was performed for 8 repetitions at 75% of 1RM each. With each of the exercises in the circuits being performed four times and four minutes of rest between circuits, the subjects spent about 1.5 h in the gym. All training sessions were closely monitored to ensure effort, repetitions and intensity established.The body composition of the subjects was measured by BIA (Model BIA 101, AKERN-RJL, Florence, Italy) of which the scientists who obviously expected my criticism of their cheapness write that BIA shows "statistically significant linear relationships between LM and FM assessed by BIA and more robust techniques (such as DEXA) in both sexes" (Negro. 2014); yet while this is correct for the relative values the absolute values are often bogus.

Figure 2: Relative changes in body composition (left) and 1-RM strength (right) in response to training +/- beef supplement over the course of 8 weeks (Negro. 2014)

Still, in spite of the fact that the strength gains didnt differ significantly, the changes in body composition (Figure 2, left) speak in favor of the beef supplement.

FM declined from week 0 to week 8 both in FG [beef] and in CG [control], but only in FG this decline was significant (week 0: 15.0 ± 6.7 kg; week 8: 13.1 ± 7.6 kg; ?: ?1.9 ± 2.9 kg; p < 0.05); FFM increased in all subjects, but only FG showed a significant increase (week 0: 52.8 kg ± 9.4; week 8: 55.1 kg ± 10.9; ?: 2.3 ± 2.5 kg; p < 0.01). No significant differences in LM were found from week 0 to week 8 in either FG or CG, however there was an increase trend in FG and a decrease trend in CG (Table 2).

[...] Muscular strength, as assessed by the 1RM bench press, lat machine and leg press, respectively, increased significantly in both groups (Figure 1); this effect was independent of LM values and nutritional stimulus, but only related to the resistance-training program. " (Negro. 2014).

Needless to say that it would be interesting to have a whey control group, or a comparison between different forms of meat (grilled steak vs. minced tartar, for example). For the time being we do thus have to content ourselves with the (unsurprising) insight that it does not necessarily have to be whey if your goal is to augment the post-workout increase in protein synthesis.
References:

• Ginger, Irene D., Et Al. "Effect Of Aging And Cooking On The Distribution Of Certain Amino Acids And Nitrogen In Beef Musclea." Journal Of Food Science 19.1?6 (1954): 410-416. 
• Negro, Massimo, et al. "Protein Supplementation with Low Fat Meat after Resistance Training: Effects on Body Composition and Strength." Nutrients 6.8 (2014): 3040-3049.
• Pennings, Bart, et al. "Minced beef is more rapidly digested and absorbed than beef steak, resulting in greater postprandial protein retention in older men." The American journal of clinical nutrition 98.1 (2013): 121-128. 
• Rémond, Didier, et al. "Postprandial whole-body protein metabolism after a meat meal is influenced by chewing efficiency in elderly subjects." The American journal of clinical nutrition 85.5 (2007): 1286-1292.
• Robinson, Meghann J., et al. "Dose-dependent responses of myofibrillar protein synthesis with beef ingestion are enhanced with resistance exercise in middle-aged men." Applied physiology, nutrition, and metabolism 38.2 (2012): 120-125.
• Symonsi, T. B., et al. "The anabolic response to resistance exercise and a protein-rich meal is not diminished by age." The journal of nutrition, health & aging 15.5 (2011): 376-381.