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Pyruvate = Recomp agent, not performance enhancer?

I am not sure if you even remember that pyruvate, which is made from glucose through glycolysis, and can be converted back to carbohydrates (such as glucose) via gluconeogenesis, or to fatty acids through acetyl-CoA, has once been touted as (yet another) "next big thing" by parts of the supplement industry.

The idea was that pyruvic acid could supply energy to working muscles through the citric acid cycle (also known as the Krebs cycle) when oxygen is present (aerobic respiration), and alternatively ferment to produce lactate when oxygen is lacking (fermentation) - this would make it the perfect workout fuel for high intensity exercise, but theory and practice are two very different animals.
Past studies investigating its efficacy have however yielded mixed results. In the year 2000, Michael A. Morrison , Lawrence L. Spriet , David J. Dyck reported that "oral pyruvate supplementation does not increase blood pyruvate content and does not enhance performance during intense exercise in well-trained cyclists." (Dyck. 2000)

Similarly disappointing results have been reported by Ebersole et al., likewise in the year 2000 for improvements in critical power (there were none) and stand in contrast to observations by JL Ivy who found that pyruvate, when "provided as an oral supplement for several days", whill "enhance aerobic endurance capacity" in rodents (Ivy. 1998) or Stanko et al. who found back in 1990 that feeding  dihydroxyacetone and pyruvate for 7 days  increased  arm  muscle  glucose  extraction  before  and  during exercise,  thereby  enhancing  submaximal  arm  endurance  capacity of (albeit) untrained men.
Olek, et al. the authors of the most recent pyruvate paper in the open access journal nutrients, were well aware of the fact that pyruvate (PYR), in spite of its importance in energy metabolism, has not been shown to have ergogenic effects after prolonged supplementation. In view of the fact that Morrison et al. indicated that acute oral intake of calcium PYR (Calcium Pyruvate), even at a dose of 25 g, did not modify the PYR concentration in the whole blood or in the plasma, while Olek et al. have previously shown that a single dose of sodium PYR (NaP) does, the researchers from the Gdansk University ofPhysical Education and Sport in Poland decided to re-examine the effect of a single NaP ingestion on blood acid-base status and the exercise metabolism markers.

"Since 0.1 g of sodium bicarbonate per kg of body mass induces metabolic alkalosis 60 min following ingestion [14,15], we hypothesized that a similar NaP treatment before commencing the high intensity physical exertion may change the exercise metabolism." (Olek. 2014)

Nine active, but non-specifically trained, malesubjects (mean ± SEM: 23 ± 1 year old, 1.75 ± 0.02 m height, 72 ± 2 kg body mass) participated in the double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study.

"On separate days, the subjects reported to the laboratory in the morning, then rested for 30 min and then ingested placebo or NaP in a random order. In the previous studies the subjects consumed PYR in the amount of ~0.07–0.08 g/kg body mass;  therefore, the subjects in our study ingested NaP in a single dose of 0.1 g/kg body mass (which is ~0.08 g of PYR per kg body mass). " (Olek. 2014)

An hour following the ingestion, the subjects performed the physical exertion. The exercise protocol consisted of 2 min at a power output of 50 W and then for 6 min at a constant power output, corresponding to ~90% O2max. To determine  O2max, participants performed a graded cycle ergometry test on an electromagnetically-braked, cycle ergometer. After an initial warm-up period, the work rate was increased by 25 W/min until volitional exhaustion was achieved.

Figure 1: Lactic acid and blood pH during the placebo (•) and (o) pyruvate trial (Olek. 2014)

As you can see in Figure 1 the lactic acid concentration after the workout was significantly higher in the dotted pyruvate trial. Interestingly, though, the pH and thus the acidity of the blood was only marginally elevated - a clears sign that the buffering function of sodium pyruave Olek et al. had speculated about is real.

Table 1: Gas exchange, ventilation and heart rate responses during and after severe-intensity exercise following placebo and sodium pyruvat eingestion. Values are the means ± SEM (Olek. 2014) | As you can see, there are no asterisks (*) which means: None of the differences reached statistical significance.

A brief glimpse at the measured differences in O2 uptake, CO2 output, minute ventilation, respiratory exchange ratio, and heart rate (see Table 1) does yet reveal that the study at hand generally confirms what previous studies by Ebersole et al (2000) and Morrison et al. (2000)  suggested: In spite of the fact that it would be 100% logical, if we saw performance improvements with pyruvate supplementation, the parameters Olek et al. recorded do not suggest that there were any.

And even when it was administered as creatine pyruvate, Van Schuylenbergh et al. did not find any benefits on cycling performance in a 2003 study.
References:

• Ebersole, Kyle T., et al. "The Effect Of Pyruvate Supplementation On Critical Power." The Journal Of Strength & Conditioning Research 14.2 (2000): 132-134.
• Ivy, John L. "Effect of pyruvate and dihydroxyacetone on metabolism and aerobic endurance capacity." Medicine and science in sports and exercise 30.6 (1998): 837-843.
• Kalman, Douglas, et al. "Effect of pyruvate supplementation on body composition and mood." Current Therapeutic Research 59.11 (1998): 793-802.
• Koh-Banerjee, Pauline K., et al. "Effects of calcium pyruvate supplementation during training on body composition, exercise capacity, and metabolic responses to exercise." Nutrition 21.3 (2005): 312-319.
• Morrison, Michael A., Lawrence L. Spriet, and David J. Dyck. "Pyruvate ingestion for 7 days does not improve aerobic performance in well-trained individuals." Journal of Applied Physiology 89.2 (2000): 549-556.
• Stanko, Ronald T., Denise L. Tietze, and Judith E. Arch. "Body composition, energy utilization, and nitrogen metabolism with a 4.25-MJ/d low-energy diet supplemented with pyruvate." The American journal of clinical nutrition 56.4 (1992): 630-635.
• Van Schuylenbergh, Reinout, Marc Van Leemputte, and Peter Hespel. "Effects of oral creatine-pyruvate supplementation in cycling performance." International journal of sports medicine 24.02 (2003): 144-150. 
• Wilson, Leanne, et al. "Pyruvate induces mitochondrial biogenesis by a PGC-1 ?-independent mechanism." American Journal of Physiology-Cell Physiology 292.5 (2007): C1599-C1605.

Marathon de Sable ? Tomato juice

Its about time for another quickie, a news quickie about exercise & supplementation, about vitamin D and tomato juice... actually its rather about tomato juice, a special carbohydrate + protein bar and the notorious "Gatorate(R)-ish" carbohydrate supplement every endurance athlete believes he must be taking. But lets be honest, who cares about tomato juice, carbohydrate, protein bars, pseudo Gatorade and their individual and joint effects on the health and performance of constantly (over-)taxed ultra-marathoners, if the other new item in todays article deals with the potential beneficial effect of vitamin D on IGF-1 and its anabolic consequences?
You care? Ok, in that case, you may be inclined to hear that the bar contained 30.20 g (19.7 g sugars) carbohydrates, 5.2g fiber, a surprisingly high amount of fat (15.6g) and. of course, protein 30.8g to be precise (14.3 g whey protein). If we add the energy content of carbs, fats and protein up, we get an energy content of ~400kcal for the bar and thus approx 24x more than in 100ml of the tomato juice, which is - as you can see in Table 1 more or less devoid of "nutrients", but packed with antioxidants.

Table 1: Average nutritional value per 100 g of tomato juice and protein bar used in the present study (canned, salt added) and the carbohydrate supplementation beverage, as provided by the manufacturer (Samaras. 2014)

As you can see in Figure 1, enough antioxidants to elicit significant increases in flow-mediated dilatation, which was used as an estimate of endothelial function, by the researchers from the  General Hospital of Giannitsa in Greece.

Figure 1: Changes (% pre) in response to tomato juice & protein bar supplementation (Samaras. 2014)

Interestingly, the thiobarbituric-acid reactive substances, and protein carbonyls were significantly decreased in both supplementation groups - a good indicator that these changes were not mediated by the red night-shade elixir, but rather by the protein + carbohydrate bar, which lead to a "whey-typical" increase in reduced glutathione.

Is the vitamin D you produce at the beach youre visiting only rarely the secret to perfect glucose control? Learn more in the "Beyond Carbohydrate Series"

If the marathoners had now had low vitamin D levels, they may even had gained some muscle, if they had followed a similar protocol as the subjects in another recently published study from the St. John Fisher College Rochester NY.

And the results of this study dont even seem completely nonsensical. As a SuppVersity reader you do after all know about the existing evidence of the negative effects low vitamin D levels will have on the function and strength of skeletal muscle ("low" in this context means less than 30ng 25-OHD on the lab report). Against that background, it does after all appear to be logical that refilling the levels would in one way or another help maintain or even build skeletal muscle.

The actual news here is yet not that vitamin D could potentially prevent muscle atrophy and increase hypertrophy. Its rather that these effects could be brought about by the significant increases in total IGF-1, as well as the IGF-1 binding proteins 1 + 3 researchers from the College of Rochester observed, when they added 4,000 IU of vitamin D to the diets of 6 vitamin D insufficient and deficient men (39.0±8.6yo with 25OH D 20.0±7.7ng/mL) who participated in a one-hour exercise program consisting of stretching (ST), aerobic (AB), and resistive (RT) exercises (Darr. 2014)

Suggested Read: "Underestimated Vitamin D Sources: Especially Eggs, But Also Chicken, Pork, Fish & Dairy Contain an Overlooked, Physiologically Relevant Amount of Ready-Made 25OHD" | more

The aerobic training was a intensity treadmill walk, which was rotated with a moderate strength (50% 1-RM, 15, 10 repetitions) full body workout consisting of squats, bench presses, leg presses, and lat pull downs. As previously said, the scientists found that the vitamin D binding protein 3 levels (BP3) were increased after the resistance training in the vitamin D (n=6) vs. placebo (n=7) group (30%). And while the total IGF-1 levels decrease in the placebeo group, the increase in various binding proteins buffered this effect in the vitamin D group. Similar, yet less pronounced effects were observed in response to the aerobic training.

Whether the scientists assumption that the increases in BP3 and BP1 levels and the maintenance of the total IGF-1 levels "potentially alter [...] the IGF system for enhanced muscle health" is accurate, let alone practically relevant is something this study cannot actually confirm.

And lets be honest, is it even likely? For someone without a pre-existing vitamin D deficiency? No. For someone with similarly low vitamin D levels as the deficient and insufficient subjects in a 2011 study by Stockton et al. (2011)? Probably, yes - but are you actually D-ficient?
References:

• Ceglia, Lisa, et al. "Effects of alkali supplementation and vitamin D insufficiency on rat skeletal muscle." Endocrine 44.2 (2013): 454-464.
• Darr, Rachel, et al. "Vitamin D supplementation effects on the IGF system in men after acute exercise (828.15)." The FASEB Journal 28.1 Supplement (2014): 828-15.
• Samaras, Antonios, et al. "Effect of a special carbohydrate-protein bar and tomato juice supplementation on oxidative stress markers and vascular endothelial dynamics in ultra-marathon runners." Food and Chemical Toxicology (2014).
• Stockton, K. A., et al. "Effect of vitamin D supplementation on muscle strength: a systematic review and meta-analysis." Osteoporosis international 22.3 (2011): 859-871.

You wont see the same effects with pineapple/juice (Aiyegbusi. 2011).

Proteases are as any Wikipedia user will lean enzymes that break down proteins (proteolysis) by hydrolyzing the peptide bonds that link amino acids together in the polypeptide chain forming the protein.

Proteases have evolved multiple times, and different classes of protease can perform the same reaction by completely different catalytic mechanisms. Proteases can be found in animals, plants, bacteria, archaea and viruses. And proteases can be found on among the favorite supplements of naturopath.
Up to today, however proteases could not be found on the list of scientifically proven performance enhancers. With the latest study from the University of Tasmania, the latter has changed: According to the results Shing et al. published in the latest issue of the European Journal of Sport Science, bromelain, a protease that can be found among others in several foods, most prominently pineapple, can reduce (a) the subjective feelings of fatigue and (b) help to maintain testosterone concentration in competitive cyclists taking part in a six-day cycle stage race.

The former is what Shing et al. conclude based on the results of a study that involved fifteen highly trained cyclists [age: 22, years, height: 1.79, body mass: 68.69]. In the corresponding randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

• 8 of the cyclist 1000mg of bromelain per day, while
• 7 of the cyclists got a visually identical placebo supplement

which was consumed daily across six days of competitive racing. Blood was collected from each cyclist on days one, three and six of racing and analysed for creatine kinase (CK), myoglobin, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and testosterone.

Figure 1: Changes in CK and testosterone during the 6 days of competitive cycling (Shing. 2015).

The results of the study show significant elevations in CK activity (this protein is indicative of muscle damage), LDH activity (this protein is necessary to get rid of lactate) and myoglobin concentration in both groups. What was different, though was that the testosterone concentrations of the athletes who received the bromelain supplement tended to maintain stable, while those of the subjects in the placebo group decreased significantly over the course of the 6-day race period.

In conjunction with the perceived feeling of fatigue with was lower in the bromelain group on day four of racing (P = 0.01), the results of the study at hand to this in fact suggest that the consumption of 1,000mg of bromelain can have beneficial effects on some, albeit not directly performance relevant parameters in trained athletes.
References:

• Aiyegbusi, Ayoola I., et al. "A comparative study of the effects of bromelain and fresh pineapple juice on the early phase of healing in acute crush achilles tendon injury." Journal of medicinal food 14.4 (2011): 348-352.
• Pavan, Rajendra, Sapna Jain, and Ajay Kumar. "Properties and therapeutic application of bromelain: a review." Biotechnology research international 2012 (2012).
• Shing, Cecilia M., et al. "Acute protease supplementation effects on muscle damage and recovery across consecutive days of cycle racing." European journal of sport science ahead-of-print (2015): 1-7.

What could be better than starting your day with the first rays of the sun? Doing this with a person you love, I suppose.

If you have listened to Super Human Radio earlier this week (download episode), you will have heard that Carl "caught" me off guard calling me without prior notice during the live show. We ended up talking about the use of melatonin and my beloved "daylight lamp" (light therapy lamp), which kept my energy levels up even at the darkest winter mornings over the past couple of months.

If you listened to the show, you may also remember that Carl mentioned that it would be great to have a light-based alarm clock - something like a light therapy lamp that increases its intensity gradually at a given time and will thus wake you up from a deep slumber.
Well, I already mentioned during the show that a corresponding device is already available, but pretty useless for someone who usually uses blindfolds to get a good nights sleep. For the rest of you, who are sleeping in a pitch black room without covering their eyes with a blindfold, on the other hand, Carls suggestion could be a viable means to "improve both cognitive and physical performance after waking." (Thompson. 2014).

This is at least what a recent study from the University College London would suggest. For the corresponding experiment, the researchers from the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health recruited 8 young adults (four males; four females) with a mean age of 24 ± 9 years who had not been involved in nocturnal shift work or undertaken transmeridian travel during the past 30 days (thats important to ensure that their circadian rhythm was not messed up in the first place).
The trials themselves were ordered in a counterbalanced fashion and were separated by 5–9 days. In the two days leading up to the tests, the participants were asked to sleep the exact times in their own homes that they would in the laboratory. to monitor compliance wrist accelerometers were issued.

Did you know that previous studies support the use of dawn simulations to tread seasonal effective disorder, where it was on top of that associated with lower remission rates than regular light therapy (Avery. 1993 & 2001). In addition, dawn simulations have been shown to have beneficial effects on the necessary and natural and healthy (Clow. 2010) early morning increase in cortisol (Thorn. 2004)?

"The experimental trials were identical with the exception of the 30 min prior to waking. During this time par ticipants either slept normally in complete darkness, the control condition (c), or were exposed to dawn simulation (DS).

Each night’s sleep ended with an audible alarm. At the same moment, a researcher entered the room to ensure that the participant was awake. Participants were then allowed to attend the bathroom if required.

After waking, a 75 min testing protocol commenced which consisted of: three bouts of cognitive assessment, one physical performance test and monitoring of physiological and subjective variables." (Thompson. 2014)

In view of the fact that I already gave away the results, its probably not really surprising that the data in Figure 1 confirms that being waken up by artificial sunlight had significant beneficial effects on the cognitive and physical performance of the subjects.

Figure 1: Changes in number of total additions and reaction time in cognitive tests (Thompson. 2014)

What did not differ, though, were the sleep efficiency, sleep latency, and the total sleep time. In a similar vein, the differences in perceived sleepiness and body temperature were visible, but not statistically significant.
References:

• Avery, David H., et al. "Dawn simulation treatment of winter depression: a controlled study." American Journal of Psychiatry 150 (1993): 113-113.
• Avery, David H., et al. "Dawn simulation and bright light in the treatment of SAD: a controlled study." Biological psychiatry 50.3 (2001): 205-216.
• Clow, Angela, et al. "The cortisol awakening response: more than a measure of HPA axis function." Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 35.1 (2010): 97-103.
• Thompson, Andrew, et al. "Effects of dawn simulation on markers of sleep inertia and post-waking performance in humans." European journal of applied physiology (2014): 1-8.
• Thorn, Lisa, et al. "The effect of dawn simulation on the cortisol response to awakening in healthy participants." Psychoneuroendocrinology 29.7 (2004): 925-930.