80g Glycerol + 2L Water Decreases Body Weight in Athletes & Increases Overall Performance in Sedentary Subjects

If it does not make you as swole as the colorful ad promised it must not be working, right? The jury was not even any longer "out there" for glycerol, but a recent study makes you rethink, whether you just have to look in the right place to see the benefits.

Another of the "odd" Thursdays without an update from "Your's Truly" Adelfo Cerame. And since there is holiday today, over here, I even thought there would not be a SuppVersity Science Round Up today. But hey, you are lucky you (and Carl) got to work, so you can tune in live at 1PM EST, or even better, start listening live at 1PM in order not to miss the Strength and Hypertrophy Round Table!

As far the  topics for today's installment of the SuppVersity Science Round Up are concerned, you are actually only a couple of lines away from reading about one that's on the list:  The effects of glycerol on exercise performance. I don't have to tell you though that this is not everything. Other things I believe you may be interested in are...

• childhood obesity, physical education and attention at school
• wheat gluten hydrolysate and how they don't come up to the expectations early trials have raised
• ammonia accumulation brain-fog, toxicity, liver 'pathologies' and workout performance
• running next to a street entails 'particular downsides' ("particular" is to be taken literally, here ;-)
• homocysteine levels, mortality, cognitive impairment and more
• epigenetic programming by nicotine and different protein contents before birth

These topics alone obviously won't fit into a single episode, but by now you should be aware that the SuppVersity Science Round Up Seconds, which are always published one day after the show aired, will provide you with the things we have missed and additional information, suggested reads and graphs to the topics we covered...  apropos "won't fit in", since the above is not even everything I have up my sleeve, I thought it would be wise to take the glycerol news from the compilation and tackle it on its own, today.

Can the backbone of bad triglycerides really be good for you?

Glycerol, a 3-carbon sugar alcohol that provides the backbone of triglycerides and is naturally found in foods as a component of dietary fats (Burke. 2011), is one of those supplements that have been all the rage for some time, didn't produce the expected instant results everybody was looking for (in this particlar case mostly "skinbursting pumps" and have eventually, in the course of one or two cycles of the regular yearly reformulations of the pre-workout supplements, completely disappeared from the market. I was therefore surprised, when I hit onto a recent study by researchers from the Physical Education and Sport High School in Konya (Turkey) that was published in one of the latest issues of the Journal of Human Kinetics (Patlar. 2012).

Is glycerol save? There have not been any reported toxicity effects up to doses of 5g/kg body weight. Glycerol does accumulates in body fluids, with the exception of the brain and the eyes and increases osmotic pressure (which was the reason why people used it in "pump supplements"), as well as the total volume of water in the body. If anything was 'dangerous', or I should probably rather say 'detrimental' to it, it would probably be its energy content (it is subject to gluconeogensis in the liver), which puts you at 'danger' of adding one or another pound of body fat you would probably want to avoid. The results of the study at hand to yet suggest that this is not an issue as long as you are active.

In essence the study protocol is nothing extraordinary: Take a couple of guys, 40 in this case (age 22.82 ± 1.49 years), and feed and water them using...

• 1.2 g/kg body weight) followed by water (26 ml/kg body weight) to 10 sedentary individuals (GS) and 10 soccer players from the University team
• just plain water to the another 10 sedentary men and 10 soccer players

Conduct a baseline test in the course of which all subjects are familiarized with the exercise equipment, a cycle ergometer (Monark 814-E) and required to perform an...

• Astrand Cycle Ergometer Test and an
  
• Wingate Anaerobic Power Test
  *the videos are don't show the study participants

in a room that is kept at 30°C and a barometrical pressure of 668 mm-Hg. For the next twenty days, have half of the guys (athletic groups E and GE) perform a 20-m shuttle run test every day. And finally perform a second follow up to see and evaluate the individual and joint effects of exercise and glycerol supplementation.

What's a shuttle run? I guess those of you who play soccer or basketball will know similar drills (at least I have been tormented by my trainers with them before in both sports and could imagine they are also among the standard repertoire of football coaches - though I have never played that myself):

Video 1: The shuttle run is every trainer's darling and would actually make a nice conditioning workout to be implemented into your own routine - whatever it may you are training for (note: the video is a random pick from YouTube and has no relation to the study at hand).

"The subjects warmed up for several minutes by jogging followed by stretching. The test program was installed on the computer and  initiated. A single beep was emitted at regular intervals. The subjects had to complete a lap or shuttle (foot on or over the line) with each beep. If the subjects completed a lap early they had to wait for the beep before starting the next lap. A triple beep indicated the start of a new level with a slightly faster speed required to complete each  lap.

The subjects were encouraged to complete as many levels as possible. An observer monitored the progress of a given subject, recording each completed lap on the recorder form. The subjects were instructed to turn by pivoting and not to run in a wide arc. The test was terminated when a subject was two or more steps from the line, for two consecutive laps. The observer alerted the subject at this time." (Patlar. 2012)

The shuttle run was followed by a couple of minutes of walking to cool down and a stretching exercise. The data was collected, logged and archived for evaluation.

Now if we take a look at the results of this undertaking they are unquestionably somewhat surprising - at least at first sight (see figure 1). In absolute terms it looks as if we had an across the board, almost identical increase in performance due to the daily shuttle runs in the exercise groups and a surprisingly large beneficial effect of glycerol only in the sedentary subjects (which would by the way be in line with many of the more or less disappointing trials on the benefits of glycerol supplementation in athletes; cd. Burke. 2011):

Figure 1: Changes in anaerobic and aerobic performance - relative values on the left, absolute before (white) and after (black) on the right (Patlar. 2012)

If you take a look at the relative pre-post changes in figure 1 (left), instead of the absolute changes a more distinct picture emerges:

• the benefit the sedentary subjects derived from the supplementation looks even more pronounced,
• the aerobic performance of the soccer players in the exercise group did likewise benefit, albeit less than the performance of the sedentary group, and
• shockingly the increase in anaerobic performance which looks pretty much identical is not statistically significant, yet still reduced in the glycerol supplemented athletes in the exercise + glycerol group (note: there is an increase, it's only relatively smaller)

Now, we all know that hyperhydration goes hand in hand with an increase in body water. In figure 1 I did even plaster a huge red sticker with "hyperhydration" onto the graph to give you an idea of a possible mechanism of action. So, if we wanted to be fair, we would have to take that into account... what? Yeah and you want to know if it will make you blow up like a wale, right, ... so let's see:

Figure 2: Changes in body weight and relative power (watts per body weight) in the course of the trial (data based on Patlar. 2012)

If we assume you are a sedentary slob at 80kg you could in fact gain 1.6kg... whether that's only water or if there is some fat there, as well, I cannot tell. Notwithstanding, I mentioned in the red box on safety issues, already that you can hardly expect to down 80g of glycerol with an energetic value of 4.32kcal/g (i.e. 350kcal per day) extra everyday without gaining at least some weight (assuming all other parameters are constant; plus, this could be muscle as well - well, not if you don't work out, though ;-).

You cannot expect to lose weight, but surprisingly it may still happen that you do if you consume those 350kcal of glycerol with 2l water right before your daily shuttle run. 

At least this is what happened to the soccer players in the supplementation group: They lost 2.66lbs of body weight on average. "Weight" is the unfortunate key word here, because we have no way of telling whether that was muscle, water or fat weight, as the scientists did not measure that separately. But let's be honest, it appears more than unlikely that it is (a) water or (b) muscle. After all the relative anaerobic power increased equally in both groups and why on earth would you lose water when you hyperhydrate? Ok, it could be one of those counter-regulatory reactions our bodies love. That again should however lead to performance decrements we did not see... you see, it's like the idiomatic dog that's chasing his tail. Why don't you play ginea pig and let us know what happens ;-)

WADA Warning for competitive athletes: If you are a WADA controlled athlete, you better avoid glycerol. It may sound hilarious, but it is on the WADA list of prohibited supplements since 2012. Why? Well, the increase in blood volume could mask the use of testosterone and co. because the /dl count would be lower if the total blood volume is higher -- this is something the WADA officials consider call a "masking agent" (Wada. 2012).

How much do you need? Don't forget, for glycerol to work its hyperhydrating magic, you must consume it with similarly hilarious amounts of water as the subjects in the study at hand. According to van Rosendal et al. an effective protocol comprises 1-1.5 g/kg glycerol + 25–35 ml/kg of fluid. Assuming you weigh 80 kg you can't get way with anything below 80g of glycerol + 2l water! Obviously way more than what any of the hitherto no longer available 'pump' or pre-workout supplements contained (at least I have not come across one that has a 80g scoop and says "consume with at least 2l of water on the label" - have you?)

Bottom line: I want to be honest, I still have to make up my mind about the usefulness of this supplement. I guess what actually does the trick is the combination of hyperhydration + energy availability. I have been preaching more than enough about the importance of energy availability over the last couple weeks, so I don't think I have to go into any more details here.

What I do think, however, is that few of you will be aware of the 2008 paper by Judelson et al. in which they report that hydration status is a fundamental determinant of the endocrine response to exercise, with dehydration leading to inappropriately high cortisol and norepinephrine levels that go hand in hand with an attenuation of the testosterone response to exercise, and negative effects on carbohydrate and lipid metabolism (Judelson. 2008).

Since you should by now have gotten the notion that insufficient energy does exactly the same, glycerol could well provide a means to counter this ergolytic double whammy. Against that background it is however strange that the athletes could not derive any athletic benefit from it... and weight loss without dieting (at least they were advised to stick to their habitual diets)?

If there is one definitive message you can take home from this study, though, it would be related to the dosage advice in the blueish info-box on the top right of this last paragraph: You better know how to use a supplement correctly! And this goes for the manufacturers of supps, as well as for the consumers: While the formers should finally stop putting ingredients into their supps to have them on the label, consumers should learn to identify hilariously underdosed and thus useless 'kitchen sink supplements' that 'have it all', but in doses where 'all' does not produce 'any' effect... how you can do that? Easy: Just make sure you get your daily dose of educative SuppVersity posts every day!

References:

• Burke LM, Stear SJ, Lobb A, Ellison M, Castell LM. A-Z of nutritional supplements: dietary supplements, sports nutrition foods and ergogenic aids for health and performance--Part 19. Br J Sports Med. 2011 Apr;45(5):456-8. 
• Judelson DA, Maresh CM, Yamamoto LM, Farrell MJ, Armstrong LE, Kraemer WJ, Volek JS, Spiering BA, Casa DJ, Anderson JM. Effect of hydration state on resistance exercise-induced endocrine markers of anabolism, catabolism, and metabolism. J Appl Physiol. 2008 Sep;105(3):816-24
• Patlar S, Yalcin H, Boyali E. The Effect of Glycerol Supplements on Aerobic and Anaerobic Performance of Athletes and Sedentary Subjects. Journal of Human Kinetics. 2012; 34: 69-70. 
• Van Rosendal SP, Osborne MA, Fassett RG, Coombes JS. Guidelines for glycerol use in hyperhydration and rehydration associated with exercise. Sports Med. 2010 Feb 1;40(2):113-29.
• World Anti Doping Association. WADA Prohibited List 2010. < http://www.wada-ama.org/Documents/World_Anti-Doping_Program/WADP-Prohibited-list/2012/WADA_Prohibited_List_2012_EN.pdf > retrieved Nov. 01, 2012. 

Up To 180% Increase in Testosterone w/ Taurine? Androgen Boost Just One of the "Side Effects" of Cysteine Derivative That Won't Benefit (Pre-)Diabetic Baby-Boomers, Only

Image 1: No, taurine is not made from the sperm of Belgian Blues and no it won't make you look like one overnight, either ;-)

After yesterday's allegedly pretty complicated post on the fallacious ups and downs in body weight from repetitive dieting and episodes of overeating, I decided it was about time to readdress one of your all-time favorites: supplemental testosterone boosting. Instead of the next best herb from the Brazilian jungle that has a "history as a potent aphrodisiac in traditional medice" or the shrub that can be found "only in a specific region of the remote [... insert whatever your marketing guy believes would increase sales here]", I decided to take another look at one of the established readily available and dirt cheap ways to give your natural androgen production, fertility, fatty acid and glucose metabolism a leg - taurine, or 2-aminoethanesulfonic acid (which is, by the way, not produced from bull semen, although its name, which has the greek word "tavros", or ταύρος for the wanna-be intellectuals out there, would suggest ;-)

Taurine doubles testosterone production in diabetic rats

The reason I am addressing this again is the recent publication of a study on the beneficial effects of supplemental taurine, administered at a dose of 500mg/kg (human equivalent: 80mg/kg, or 3-4g /day) on the following diabetes related ailments:

What's up with intraperitoneal administered drugs? When something is injected into the peritoneal cavity the cannot vomit whatever scientists would otherwise have to stuff down their pieholes or inject into their tiny veins back up. Unfortunately the bioavailability is usually higher than via the oral route with the differences varying profoundly between compounds. Melatonin, for example, has a bioavailability of 54% when administered orally and 74% for i.p. injections (based on 10mg/kg dose; cf. Yeleswaram. 1997).

• wasting (loss of body weight),
• testicular damage,
• defect spermatogenesis,
• systemic oxidative damage,
• DNA damage,
• loss of natural antioxidant defense,
• low testosterone

in six-week-old male wistar rats. As the data in figure 1 goes to show, the non-essential amino acid, both humans and rodents (not so cats) can produce from dietary cysteine, was administered (as it is common practice in rodent studies) not orally, but via the peritoneal cavity had profound effects specially with regard to the oxidative damage and restoration of the natural antioxidant defense system.

Figure 1: Relative Body, testicular and epididymal weight (left); relative testicular & serum MDA, testicular catalase, serum testosterone and DNA damage (middle) and testicular damage (tissue samples) and Johnson score for spermatogenesis (right); all data except Johnson scores expressed relative to control (calculated based on Tsounapi. 2012)

Yet despite the fact that the serum malondialdehyde (CH2(CHO)2, marker of oxidative damage) decreased from 185% in the streptozotocin treated and consequently diabetic animals to 92% in the animals who received 500mg/kg of taurine for 4 weeks after the streptozotocin injection (50mg/kg intraperitoneally) and were thus lower than in the healthy control animals, the 7.5x increas in blood glucose which was not ameliorated by taurine was obviously too much for the testosterone levels to return into the normal range.

The average American is likely to benefit, as well

Figure 2 (Shin. 2012): Adjusted mean values of total testosterone according to fasting plasma glucose (FPG) - Q1 (65 - 88 mg/dL), Q2 (88 - 94 mg/dL), Q3 (94 mg/dL - 100 mg/dL), and Q4 (100 - 126 mg/dL; prediabetic according to American Diabetes Association)

With a 2x increase over the diabetic group the testosterone boosting effect in the Tsounapi study was yet still highly significant and could, in view of the results of Shin et al. who found that even high-normal (fasting blood-glucose levels ≥ 88 mg/dL) were associated with a decrease in testosterone levels in prediabetic and non-diabetic men (Shin. 2012; ,cf. figure 2), help one or another of the men among the estimated >79,000,000 American adults aged 20 years who are prediabetic (CDC. 2010) to bump their -25% reduced testosterone levels back into the normal range.

Adequate dosages are probably higher for diabetics

That would obviously require adequate dosing schemes which would, according to the Tsounapi study range from ~3-5g and are thus more than twice as high as the 1.5g /day Brøns et al. administered to overweight men with a genetic predisposition for type II diabetes mellitus without seeing the expected outcomes in terms of increased insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance (Brøns. 2004). Especially in diabetics, whose ability to absorb taurine is decreased (-32%), while the amount of taurine they excrete is increased (+35%; cf. Merheb. 2007), dosages in the 5g+ range (like 3x2g per day with meals) could be very well indicated - not least because the previously calculated human equivalent dose did not account for the increased bioavailability from intraperitoneally injected vs. orally ingested taurine.

Taurine, women, pregnancy and healthy children

Likewise, low(-ered) serum levels of taurine have been identified as a correlate of gestational diabetes by Seghieri et al. According the researchers from Italy,

[...] plasma taurine was inversely related to previous gestational area-under-curve of glucose and directly related to post-gestational CP/glucose [CP: C-reactive protein, important marker of inflammation and correlate of cardiovascular disease and other ailments], as well to CP/glucose measured during pregnancy (p<0.05 for both). [Moreover, the] relative risk of altered glucose metabolism during previous pregnancies [impaired glucose tolerance and gestational diabetes] was higher as plasma taurine decreased, even after adjusting for age, time-lag from pregnancy, body mass index and family history of diabetes (OR: 0.980; CI 95%: 0.963-0.999, p=0.003)

Thus taurine is by no means a "man's amino acid" - despite the fact that its concentration is particularly high in "manly" foods, such as fish and meat. In this context, the results of Kim et al. appear noteworthy, as well.

Taurine an essential component of breast milk

Taurine has a whole host of additional beneficial effects related to the prevention of comorbidities of diabetes (Ito. 2012):

• diabetic nephropathy
• diabetic retinopathy
• diabetic neuropathy
• diabetic cardiomyopathy

The Korean researchers found that the taurine content (obviously a vitally important nutrient for infants, as well) is profoundly decreased in the breast milk even of lacto-ovovegetarian mothers, compared to their non-vegetarian counterparts (31.0-54.4 mg/L vs. 19.1-52.3 mg/L; Kim. 1996). That this could be a substantial risk factor for

• diabetes, insulitis and pancreatic dysfunction (Arany. 2004)
• cardiovascular disease (Kulthinee. 2010)
• distortions of the renin-angiotensin system (Thaeomor. 2010)
• high blood pressure (Roysommuti. 2009)
• kidney problems (Roysommuti. 2010)

and all sorts of downstream complications, regardless of the obesity / glucose tolerance of the mother, is supported by a whole host of studies (see references above); and novel papers on related benefits appear on an almost monthly basis.

You don't have to be (pre-)diabetic, on the SAD diet or pregnant to benefit

Despite the fact that (pre-)diabetics, women in childbearing age and the notorious "average American" on his "standard American diet" (mostly this is identical to being prediabetic, as the previously cited data from the CDC goes to show; cf. CFC. 2010) already cover the majority of average Joes and Janes in the Westernized (or should I say super-sized?) world, this would not be the SuppVersity if today's post would not also have some merit for physical culturists.

Image 2: Those of you who listened to my dissertations in Episode III of the Amino Acids for Super Humans series on Super Human Radio, back in the day, will remember: Taurine ain't for obese pre-diabetics, only ;-)

Now, those of you who have been around for a while will probably remember the series of shows I did with my friend Carl Lanore, host, head, heart and soul of the Super Human Radio Network, on "Amino Acids for Super Humans" - and maybe, some of you have even read all the shownotes and will thus remember a study I mentioned both on the air, as well as in detailed notes on Episode III of the Amino Acids for Super Humans series.

T for T: Taurine for testosterone for athletes and beyond

The study I am talking about was conducted by Yang et al. in 2009 and compared the effects of taurine supplementation on male reproduction in rats of different ages. With ~1% taurine at a water the rodents received, which would be (assuming an average weight & water consumption) be equivalent to ~15g for an adult human being - or 3x5g per day (Note: I am emphasizing the split dosages for two reasons: (1) I think it is a mistake not to consider the intricacies of supplementation and chronic low dose vs. bolus does make a huge difference with other supplements, e.g. "Never(!) Sip Your Whey, If You Want to Kickstart Protein Synthesis", and (2) taurine is somewhat harsh on the stomach and taking 15g in one sitting is almost guaranteed to make you sprint to the toilette within no time ;-)

Figure 3: Serum testosterone levels (in mIU/ml) after 22 (baby) and 30 days (adult and aged rats) treatment with or without 1% taurine in drinking water (adapted from Yang. 2009)

As the data I have compiled in figure 3 goes to show, the chronic taurine administration lead to statistically significant increases in serum testosterone levels in rodents from all three age groups, i.e. baby rats (born to mothers who consumed the taurine enriched / control water during pregnancy), 10-week old adult rats, and 72-week old aged. Notwithstanding, the +46% increase in testosterone in the old rats, is probably still the most significant change as it would effectively restore the "old agers" testosterone levels to youthful heights, a change, the real-world significance of which cannot be underestimated in view of the effects "low" (as in "low" in lab standards, not as in low in bro-standards!) testosterone levels can have on your body composition as discussed in one of the installments of the "Intermittent Thoughts on Building Muscle" (specifically "Quantifying the Big T" > figure 2).

Image 3: Believe it or not, eggs contain sulfur and the raw materials to make taurine, but no taurine (cf. Zhao. 1998)

In conjunction with the improved antioxidant activity (SOD, ACP, GSH were all elevated), reduced oxidative damage and markers of muscle and liver damage, AST and ALT, as well as lipid oxidation, MDA, were all significantly reduced) and the increased expression of nitric oxide synthase and subsequent raise in nitric oxide production - by the way, the only parameter with statistical significance p<0.05 only in aged rats- it stands to reason that even people who have already found their way to physical culture are very likely to benefit from one or another gram of supplemental taurine. This is all the more true in view of the fact that even high taurine foods such as crustaceans and mollusks (300-800mg/kg), Albacore tuna (176mg/100g), lamb (110mg/100g), cod (108mg/100g), mackerel (78mg/100g), beef (77mg/100g), wild salmon (60mg/100g) and pork (40mg/100g) contain too little to get anywhere close to where the magic happens.

Implications: I guess based on the previous discussion it should be clear that of the numerous supplements that are marketed to gymrats and health-enthusiasts, alike, taurine unquestionably is one of the most promising ones (suggested dose non-diabetics start with 3x2g or 2x3g /day). Moreover, with the focus of today's post being on testosterone and glucose metabolism, I did not even mention all the proven and purported benefits of taurine, such as its ability to... keep exercise induced oxidative stress at bay (Zhang. 2004; Silva. 2011) prevent fructose induced hypertension (Rahman. 2011) facilitate cell hydration (Lang. 2012) increase skeletal muscle force production (EMS test, Goodman. 2009) preserve function and exercise capacity in skeletal and heart muscle (Ito. 2010) enhance the anorexic effects of insulin in the hyptohalamus (Solon .2012) maintain the lipolytic activity in fat cells (Piña-Zentella. 2012) increase fat oxidation while cycling (Rutherford. 2012; dosage 1.5g pre) counter the obesogenic effects of MSG (Nardelli. 2012 + more on MSG & obesity) increase stomach acid (Huang. 2011) ... and the list goes on and on and should theoretically be extended to all the benefits of TUDCA, I have written about only recently (cf. "Tauroursodeoxycholic Acid (TUDCA) - Research Overview"), because unless you don't have enough taurine all the cholesterol and bile in the world won't help your body to conjugate UDCA to taurine and make TUDCA from it ;-)

A word of caution: Since I know that you are just about to order a couple of bounds of taurine from your favorite bulk supplier, let me briefly mention a not-yet fully elucidated potential downside to excessive taurine supplementation (5g/day in divided doses does not seem to be a problem, though), which relates to its ability to act as a neurotransmitter in the brain: While Louzuda et al. point out that this can be an advantage and would render taurine a potential candidate for the treatment of Alzheimer's and other neurological disorders (Louzada. 2004), it's interactions with the GABA receptor in the brain and peripheral tissues (Hanretta. 1987; Albrecht. 2005; Jia. 2008) may be a problem for people with anxiety issues - whether it exerts anti- or pro-anxiety effects, is yet still a matter of constant debate and I am not even sure how reliable the rodent models are, by the means of which Chen et al., Kong et al. and Zhang et al. (Chen. 2004; Kong. 2006; Zhang. 2007) demonstrated anti-anxiety effects, El Idrissi et al. observed anti-anxiety effects after injection and pro-anxiety effect after chronic supplementation (El Idrissi. 2009), and Whirley et al. observed only "subtle" if not non-existant effects (Whirley. 2008).

References:

• Albrecht J, Schousboe A. Taurine interaction with neurotransmitter receptors in the CNS: an update. Neurochem Res. 2005 Dec;30(12):1615-21. Review. 
• Arany E, Strutt B, Romanus P, Remacle C, Reusens B, Hill DJ. Taurine supplement in early life altered islet morphology, decreased insulitis and delayed the onset of diabetes in non-obese diabetic mice. Diabetologia. 2004
• Brøns C, Spohr C, Storgaard H, Dyerberg J, Vaag A. Effect of taurine treatment on insulin secretion and action, and on serum lipid levels in overweight men with a genetic predisposition for type II diabetes mellitus. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2004 Sep;58(9):1239-47.
• CDC. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National diabetes fact  sheet: national estimates and general  information on diabetes and prediabetes  in the United States, 2011. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human  Services, Centers for Disease Control and  Prevention, 2011. 
• Chen SW, Kong WX, Zhang YJ, Li YL, Mi XJ, Mu XS. Possible anxiolytic effects of taurine in the mouse elevated plus-maze. Life Sci. 2004 Aug 6;75(12):1503-11.   
• El Idrissi A, Boukarrou L, Heany W, Malliaros G, Sangdee C, Neuwirth L. Effects of taurine on anxiety-like and locomotor behavior of mice. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2009;643:207-15.
• Goodman CA, Horvath D, Stathis C, Mori T, Croft K, Murphy RM, Hayes A. Taurine supplementation increases skeletal muscle force production and protects muscle function during and after high-frequency in vitro stimulation. J Appl Physiol. 2009 Jul;107(1):144-54. Epub 2009 May 7.
• Hanretta AT, Lombardini JB. Is taurine a hypothalamic neurotransmitter?: A model of the differential uptake and compartmentalization of taurine by neuronal  and glial cell particles from the rat  hypothalamus. Brain Res. 1987 May;434(2):167-201. Review.
• Huang KH, Chang CC, Ho JD, Lu RH, Tsai LH. Role of taurine on acid secretion in the rat stomach. J Biomed Sci. 2011 Feb 5;18:11. 
• Ito T, Oishi S, Takai M, Kimura Y, Uozumi Y, Fujio Y, Schaffer SW, Azuma J. Cardiac and skeletal muscle abnormality in taurine transporter-knockout mice. J Biomed Sci. 2010 Aug 24;17 Suppl 1:S20. Review.
• Ito T, Schaffer SW, Azuma J. The potential usefulness of taurine on diabetes mellitus and its complications. Amino Acids. 2012 May;42(5):1529-39. 
• Kim ES, Cho KH, Park MA, Lee KH, Moon J, Lee YN, Ro HK. Taurine intake of Korean breast-fed infants during lactation. Adv Exp Med Biol. 1996;403:571-7. 
• Kong WX, Chen SW, Li YL, Zhang YJ, Wang R, Min L, Mi X. Effects of taurine on rat behaviors in three anxiety models. Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2006 Feb;83(2):271-6.
• Kulthinee S, Wyss JM, Jirakulsomchok D, Roysommuti S. High sugar intake exacerbates cardiac reperfusion injury in perinatal taurine depleted adult rats. J Biomed Sci. 2010 Aug 24;17 Suppl 1:S22. 
• Lang F. Effect of cell hydration on metabolism. Nestle Nutr Inst Workshop Ser. 2011;69:115-26; discussion 126-30. Epub 2012 Jan 18.
• Louzada PR, Paula Lima AC, Mendonca-Silva DL, Noël F, De Mello FG, Ferreira ST. Taurine prevents the neurotoxicity of beta-amyloid and glutamate receptor agonists: activation of GABA receptors and possible implications for Alzheimer's disease and other neurological disorders. FASEB J. 2004 Mar;18(3):511-8.
• Merheb M, Daher RT, Nasrallah M, Sabra R, Ziyadeh FN, Barada K. Taurine intestinal absorption and renal excretion test in diabetic patients: a pilot study. Diabetes Care. 2007 Oct;30(10):2652-4. 
• Nardelli TR, Ribeiro RA, Balbo SL, Vanzela EC, Carneiro EM, Boschero AC, Bonfleur ML. Taurine prevents fat deposition and ameliorates plasma lipid profile in monosodium glutamate-obese rats. Amino Acids. 2011 Oct;41(4):901-8.
• Piña-Zentella G, de la Rosa-Cuevas G, Vázquez-Meza H, Piña E, de Piña MZ. Taurine in adipocytes prevents insulin-mediated H2O2 generation and activates Pka and lipolysis. Amino Acids. 2012 May;42(5):1927-35.
• Rahman MM, Park HM, Kim SJ, Go HK, Kim GB, Hong CU, Lee YU, Kim SZ, Kim JS, Kang HS. Taurine prevents hypertension and increases exercise capacity in rats with fructose-induced hypertension. Am J Hypertens. 2011 May;24(5):574-81.
• Roysommuti S, Suwanich A, Jirakulsomchok D, Wyss JM. Perinatal taurine depletion increases susceptibility to adult sugar-induced hypertension in rats. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2009;643:123-33.
• Roysommuti S, Malila P, Jirakulsomchok D, Wyss JM. Adult renal function is modified by perinatal taurine status in conscious male rats. J Biomed Sci. 2010 Aug 24;17 Suppl 1:S31.
• Rutherford JA, Spriet LL, Stellingwerff T. The effect of acute taurine ingestion on endurance performance and metabolism in well-trained cyclists. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2010 Aug;20(4):322-9.
• Seghieri G, Tesi F, Bianchi L, Loizzo A, Saccomanni G, Ghirlanda G, Anichini R, Franconi F. Taurine in women with a history of gestational diabetes. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2007 
• Shin JY, Park EK, Park BJ, Shim JY, Lee HR. High-normal Glucose Levels in Non-diabetic and Pre-diabetic Men Are Associated with Decreased Testosterone Levels. Korean J Fam Med. 2012 May;33(3):152-6. 
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Waxy Maize Reloaded: Hydroxypropyl-Distarch Phosphate (HdP) from Waxy Maize Starch Could Help You Burn Fat While Replenishing Your Glycogen Stores

Image 1: By adding some hydroxypropyl-distarch phosphate from waxy maize starch to your pancakes you can turn it into a fat burning superfood... well, sort of ;-)

Sometimes I miss studies, sometimes I file them in my candidates folder and forget about them, but most often I simply discard them. The latter also happened to a study on the effects of hydroxypropyl-distarch phosphate from waxy maize starch that was published in the British Journal of Nutrition (actually one of my favorites) in February of 2011 (Shimotoyodome. 2011). Due to the unjustified hype that has surrounded its introduction to the supplement market the word(s) "waxy maize starch" had become a red rag to me and the main finding of the study, i.e. the observation of a "lower postprandial glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide response" only seemed to confirm my conviction that waxy maize is yet another industry scam.

Waxy maize a natural cheaper Vitargo? I don't think so!

A few months later, on November, 17, 2011, to be precise, the whole topic resurfaced on the Mind and Muscle forums, which are part of my usual morning read. Apparently a supplement company, which shall not be named, here because otherwise I would have to rail against its hilarious name, had released a product that contained this "new" form of waxy maize. Totally contrary to the common practice, the respective thread, as well as the web-page the company rep was referring to lacked the bragging and exaggerations that usually accompany the launch of a (unique) new product and listed references as well as graphs from real studies - not the ones where the patent holder takes ten bros from the gym and asks them how they liked the product.

Image 2: Even the logo on the website with the "product information" (which by the way lacks a link to a source to by the HDP WM) is somewhat extraordinary. Where is the brawny bodybuilder? Where the fitness chick? Where are the abs and the 20" arms? No "hardcore", no "incredible pumps", no "steroid like gains"... instead references to real studies, graphs and a brief rundown on the science - strange.

About 2 weeks ago, a brief email which contained no more than the question "What do you think about HDP WM?" brought the whole story back onto my radar. The email came from Anthony Roberts, whom I consider to be one of the few real innovators among the countless "experts" and plagiarists, ah... I mean "supplement designers" out there. And since he answered my question if he would mind if I cover the subject on the SuppVersity or whether he was coming up with an article of his own by stating that he preferred to keep to the sidelines, these days, I finally filed the study into my aforementioned "candidates" folder and took a few notes in preparation for this blogpost. But hey, I guess that is enough gossip for today, after all we are here for the facts, so let's go ahead and tackle those.

Heavy carbohydrates = better carbohydrates?

The idea that "not all fats are created equal" should by now have settled on your minds. That "not all carbohydrates" are created equal is yet about to be buried in oblivion with the whole low-to-no-carb craze of the last months (or has it been years, already?). Tough luck, especially for those supplement companies who still have "carby" post-workout products in their line-up the Joes and Janes from the gym refuse to buy, because they are afraid that the "simple sugars" in those products will whiz past the glycogen stores in their muscles and settle right on their hips and bellies.

Muscle glycogen resynthesis 0-2h and 2-4h after ingestion of 4x75g of carbs from either high molecular weight or low molecular weight starch sources at 0, 30, 60 and 90min after a standardized 120min exercise protocol (data adapted from Piehl. 2000)

What is the molecular mass / weight? If you isolated one molecule (i.e. structure build of atoms, like 2xhydrogen + oxygen for water) and put it onto a tiny, tiny scale, the latter would show you the "molecular mass", i.e. the specific weight of the molecule in u (unified atomic mass units). The molecular weight on the other hand is the same quantity, but expressed in 1/12 of the mass of carbon-12. Now with "more mass per molecule" you can pack the same amount of carbohydrates into 1L of water by using a lower number of molecules. And with the latter being one of the main determinents of how fast the solution will empty from the stomach, the high molecular mass, low osmolality starch has a head-start over its low molecular weight cousin.

That this does actually have real-world implications becomes evident when we take a look at the muscle glycogen resynthesis at 0-2h and 2-4h after the consumption of either a high molecular weight, low osmolality or a low molecular weight, high osmolality carbohydrate drink that was ingested in 75g boluses immediately, 30min, 60min and 90min after a standardized exercise protocol consisting of 90 min running on a treadmill (or outdoors), another 60 minutes of a submaximal cycling exercise and a series of short sprints to exhaustion.

In spite of that even bodybuilders, fitness and figure athletes acknowledge the necessity or at least usefulness to "carb load" at least periodically to keep their muscles full and their performance up (I know the low carb faction will now argue that this ain't necessary, but this would be the topic of another blogpost ;-). In this regard, they are yet facing a problem:

• on the one hand, they want to replenish their glycogen stores as fast as possible, i.e. preferably within the first 1-2h after a workout, where the exercise-induced increase in GLUT-4 glucose transporter expression on the muscle facilitates glucose uptake
• on the other hand, though, any glucose that does not get stored within the muscle will initially trigger an insulin response, which would compromise the exercise-induced "nutrient partitioning effect" - in other words, the glucose that is not directly taken up by the muscle will be converted to triglycerides and stored within their adipose tissue

Against that background, the idea that the ingestion of a "super-fast carbohydrate", which the waxy maize myth tells you the latter would be, appears to be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, you would obviously get a fast delivery of glucose to the bloodstream, on the other hand, you would run the same risk as with dextrose or any other "regular fast carb" that all the glucose that is not taken up by your muscle will be stored in your adipose tissue.

What is ameliopectin? Ameliopectin and amylose are the two forms of starch you will find in plants, while molecules which belong to the latter group are quite compact, the former are highly branched and thusly (theoretically) more susceptible to enzymatic breakdown, so that the glucose subunits will hit the bloodstream faster. The high number of branches is also responsible for the increased weight of the molecule (cf. red box above), so that ameliopectin starches are about 10^3-10^4-times "heavier" than their less branched cousins.

Interestingly, the real-world results people who switch from dextrose or maltose to waxy maize as their post-workout carbohydrate source, almost always report less bloating, less water retention and lower fat gains from the same amount of carbohydrates. Contrary to what the myth says, the reason for this slight, but recognizable advantage of waxy maize over the more common post-workout carbs dextrose or maltose is not that the glucose is hitting your blood stream so fast that you make "optimal use of the post-workout window of opportunity", but rather the opposite.

The truth about "regular" waxy maize

Even a cursory search of the literature will return dozens of results which show quite conclusively that waxy maize or "waxy corn starch", as it is also referred to, is by no means the "turbo-charged" glycogen replenisher the industry tried to make people believe. Studies such as Goodpaster (1996), Anderson (2002), or Sands (2008) rank waxy maize under the "slower digestible carbs" with a tendency to lower glucose in exercise- and non-exercise scenarios. 

What is quite ironic now is that the "waxy maize scam" could long have become at least a mediocre success, if people had realized that the blunted blood glucose and insulin response could be an advantage not only for bodybuilders and physique competitors and average Joes and Janes trying to build a men's health or shape cover-model physique, but also - and this may come as a surprise - for endurance athletes.

HdP WM - Leaning out with waxy maize 2.0

Now, if a slightly blunted glucose and insulin response, as with regular waxy maize can prevent the obesogenic side effects of high insulin levels (and the ups and downs in blood sugar which compromise the performance of endurance athletes), it appears to be only logical that a starch with a similarly high molecular weight should deliver the glycogen to the muscle at an even lower risk of fat storage.

Figure 1: Blood glucose, triglycerides, insulin and NEFA levels (left) and body weight, liver weight and and total white adipose tissue weight (right) of mice after 24 weeks on regular control or high fat diets with either regular starch (HFD, control), hydroxypropylated distarch phosphate waxy corn starch (HdPWCS) or high-amylose corn starch (data adapted from Shimotoyodome. 2009)

Compelling evidence that this is could be the case from the initially mentioned study from the February 2011 issue of the British Journal of Nutrition (Shimotoyodome. 2011). Based on previous observations in rodents, in which the scientists had compared the effects of high fat diets the carbohydrate component of which contained either unmodified starch, hydroxypropylated distarch phosphate (RS4), or high-amylose corns starch on the development of diet-induced obesity in mice (results cf. figure 1), Shimotoyodome and his colleagues had speculated that a the inclusion of RS4 into a regular meal could induce similarly beneficial effects on the hepatic fatty acid oxidation capacity and energy homeostasis in humans, as it did in mice (cf. figure 2).

Figure 2: Hepatic fatty acid oxidation capacity, medium-chain acyl-CoA (MCAD) dehydrogenase and acyl-CoA oxidase (ACO) activity (left, arbitrary units) and average oxygen consumption (VO2), respiratory exchange ratio (RER), 78h energy expenditure and fat oxidation (right, expressed relative to high-amylose starch group) of mice after 24 weeks on a high fat diet with either hydroxypropylated distarch phosphate waxy corn starch (HdPWCS) or high-amylose corn starch (data adapted from Shimotoyodome. 2009)

And while the increase in energy expenditure in the HdP waxy maize group did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.064), the upregulation of the fatty acid oxidation capacity, medium-chain acyl-CoA (MCAD) dehydrogenase and acyl-CoA oxidase (ACO) activity in the liver of the mice, as well as the subsequent absolute and relative increase in 78h fat utilization (+13%, cf. figure 2, right) would probably be very welcome "side-effects" for any of the afore-mentioned potential customers.

Hydroxypropylated distarch phosphate waxy corn starch pancakes, anyone?

In order to test their hypothesis Shimotoyodome et al. came up with the world's first dydroxypropylated distarch phosphate waxy corn starch pancake and fed the latter, as well as an identical pancake with regular waxy maize (this makes the study particularly interesting for us, after all we will see how WM 2.0 and WM 1.0 compare) to ten healthy male volunteers (age 35.2y; BMI 23.6 kg/m) - each one on seperate occasions, of course.

Figure 3: Composition of the test meals (left) and postprandial changes (min vs. max) in blood glucose, insulin, glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP), TAG and NEFA concentrations (data calculated based on Shimotoyodome. 2011)

The subjects had to report to the lab fasted after having ingested a standardized meal on the evening before the experiment took place. Before and up to 180min after the ingestion of the 1673.6kJ test meals, their resting energy expenditure (REE) and blood concentrations of various biomarkers were measured and the results suggest that mice and men react similar to the ingestion of HdP waxy maize: The maximal glucose, insulin and GIP levels in glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) levels were blunted in the HdP compared to the regular waxy maize group.

Figure 4: Time-course of the changes in blood glucose (left) and insulin (right) after ingestion of waxy maize or HdP waxy maize pancakes (data adapted from Shimotoyodome. 2011)

If we take a closer look at the time course of the insulin and glucose responses in figure 4 the ameliorative effect of the replacement of regular waxy maize (which, as you will remember already is a "slow(er)" carbohydrate source) with its HdP cousin, is particularly pronounced and statistically significant in the early part of the post-prandial window.

Figure 5: Area under the curve for glucose, insulin and GIP in mice after administration of 2mg/g highly gelatinized regular or HdP waxy maize starch to mice in the presence of 0.4, 1 or 2mg/g of the saturated fatty acid triolein (data adapted from supplementary material to Shimotoyodome. 2011)

From the supplementary material to the study, we also know that this effect (at least in rodents) is even more pronounced, when the amount of fat (in the experiment the scientists co-administered triolien, an unsaturated form of oleic-acid) in the meal is reduced - as it would probably be when you ingested the HdP WM post workout.

Figure 5: Insulin response of mice after administration of 2mg/g highly gelatinized regular (left) or HdP waxy maize starch (right) in the presence of 0.4, 1 or 2mg/g of the saturated fatty acid triolein (data adapted from supplementary material to Shimotoyodome. 2011)

And with the exercise induced increase in GLUT-4 receptor expression the moderate increase in glucose and - most importantly - the quasi non-existent rise in insulin (cf. figure 6), I would venture the guess that the statistically significant increases in fatty acid oxidation the scientists observed in their non-exercised (but fasted) subjects subsequent to the ingestion of the HdP waxy maize pancakes, would have been even more pronounced if this "experimental junk food" had not contained 10.8g of fat, 7.5g of sucrose (table sugar), 15.3g of maltodextrin and 1.8g of other carbohydrates.

Figure 6: Changes in ppostprandial energy expenditure (left) and fatty acid oxidation (right) after the ingestion of regular and HdP pancakes (data adapted from Shimotoyodome. 2011)

But let's not be greedy ;-) I mean, after all, we still have an average +250kJ/d increase in postprandial fatty acid oxidation in the 180min postprandial period and that not over the regular WM pancake, which produced an average reduction of -1108kj/d, but over baseline (just to make this 100% clear the subjects burned more fat after they ingested the HdP pancake than they did in the fasted state!). And that would be a big plus for physique competitors and regular dieters, alike... even if the total effect size is not earth shattering, a meal replacement shake with HdP waxy maize as the sole carb source could in fact revive a part of the supplement market which is virtually dead, ever since the original MetRx shakes have disappeared from the scene.

Implications:Whatever the future of this fast absorbing (into the intestine), slow digesting, high molecular weight, resistant starch which supplies your body with a likewise nourishing as fatty acid oxidation triggering influx of short chain fatty acids and undisclosed, but comparatively minimal amounts of glucose may be. Functional food, meal replacement, or post-workout supplement, I guess you know that the SuppVersity is the place to go if you want to keep up with the news ;-)