More Testosterone Boosters: Andrographolide & Quassinoid Rich Fraction from Eurycoma Longifolia. Preview: Science Round-Up - Sesamin, Teas, Muscle Swelling & Growth...

Do you really get along without estrogen when you want to build muscle (read the answer)

You thought I would already have forgotten my promise from last week to tell you about the other potential testosterone & libido (+fertility) boosters? How dare you ;-)! I just wanted to keep thrill of anticipation and in order to prolong that a little further, I will start out - as on every Thursday - with a sneak preview on today's Science Round-Up  (airs on the Super Human Radio Network on 1PM, click here to listen live).

As you may imagine there were not all too many novel papers published since last week. Notwithstanding, I could assemble enough material for the 1h show. According to my current plan, the schedule will look like this:

• the fat burning effects of n-6 sesamin, AA and D-GLA
• the antibacterial effects of raspberry extracts
• fermented green tea and liver protection
• the optimal brewing time for tea depending on your goals
• the futility of using green tea as a "fat burner" in healthy individuals
• muscle swelling and skeletal hypertrophy & training with cuffs
• exercise will make you hungry, you will eat more and still lose weight

... and more if there is still enough time. Ok, I guess you have been waiting long enough, now. So let's take a look at the promised testosterone boosters and their individual effects:

Andrographolide - Never heard of it? The data suggests it may be wort remembering

Don't worry if you have never heard the name "Andrographolide" before, because even if you did, you are probably only aware of the effects the active agent in Andrographis paniculata (Burm. F.) is supposed to have on the gastro-intestinal tract and upper respiratory infections, fever and herpes (Ayurveda), detoxification (TCM) and the prevention and treatment of the common cold (Scandinavia; cf. Mishra. 2007).

Figure 1: Mounting frequency in male rodents receiving 50mg/kg andrographolide (HED: 8.1mg/kg) compared to sildenafi (left) and long-term effects on serum testosterone levels (right; Sattayasai. 2010)

As the data in figure 1 goes to show you it can help you find back your libido and increase your testosterone levels. With the libido effects being not as immediate, but more long-lasting than with sildenafil and the effects on testosterone only after 4 weeks of continuous use, it is yet not a 1:1 alternative for the typical Western immediate satisfaction seeker ;-)

That said, as with all the natural test-boosters the chance that they will translate into muscle gains are pretty slim - and this stuff first has to prove its efficacy in humans.

Eurycoma Longifolia may be worth taking a look at - though for a brief HTPA boost, only

I guess many of you will know "longjack" aka "Tonkat Ali" and who knows some may even have a supplement that was either based on or did at least contain some of a couple of milligrams of it. Now, in case that did not work, the underlying reason may well have been that your extract was devoid or at least low in the active quassinoids the scientists from the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences Universiti Sains Malaysia in Penang, Malaysia, administered to male rats at dosages of 25mg/kg (4mg/kg for a human).

Figure 2: Endocrine effects of different doses of quassinoids from Tonkat Ali (Low. 2012)

As the data in figure 2 goes to show you, this was actually actually the case and the mechanism appears to be mediated by direct effects on the luteinizing hormone release in the hypothalamus.

Now don't get too excited. While previous studies have shown that the change of toxic side-effects is low, the study at hand did also reveal that

Comparing natty test boosters with anabolic agents (read more)

"[...] the over stimulated effect of testosterone production by E. longifolia probably may not be an issue as the peak testosterone level recorded at the first complete spermatogenesis process of 52 days was reduced back to the normal level even though the animals were given a higher dose or prolonged treatment period, due probably to the effect of homeostasis." (Low. 2012)

That said, chances that you will actually gain some muscle mass on this stuff are (as usual with natty test boosters) zero. To give your HPTA a kickstart the LH inducing effect could come handy, though. So if you whacked your natural testosterone production by whatever means, it is worth a try (not as a standalone PCT, however).

That's it for now, so if you want more news, you better don't forget to tune in live to the SuppVersity Science Round-Up on Superhuman Radio at 1PM (EST)

References:

• Low BS, Das PK, Chan KL. Standardized quassinoid-rich Eurycoma longifolia extract improved spermatogenesis and fertility in male rats via the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. J Ethnopharmacol. 2012 Dec 19.
• Mishra SK, Sangwan NS, Sanwan RS. Andrographis paniculata(Kalmegh): a review. Phcog. Rev. 2007; 1, 283–298.
• Sattayasai J, Srisuwan S, Arkaravichien T, Aromdee C. Effects of andrographolide on sexual functions, vascular reactivity and serum testosterone level in rodents. Food Chem Toxicol. 2010 Jul;48(7):1934-8.

Natural Sildenafil & Testosterone Alternatives: Pedalium Murex & Paederia Foetida +150% Testosterone and +200% Erectile Function. Plus: Icariin, Aromatase & Stronger Bones. Probiotics, Phytosterols & Thyroid Activity.

If the Aliens have seen these Bugarash apocalypse pilgrims, they have probably turned tail and fled ;-)

I guess the SuppVersity figure of the week was a date "12/21/2012", I mean this is a once in a life-time event! Or do you really believe there will be another chance for mankind to be snatched from the jaws of extinction?

Ok, enough of the sarcasm, the world is still there and the SuppVersity is still operating, so let's get to the not so short On Short Notice items for today.

If there had been more room in the headline I would probably have labeled it "Endocrine Special" and I guess once you have gone through the posts, you will agree that this would certainly have made sense.

• Traditional treatment of osteopenia with Epimedium brevicornum works, 'cause it's a potent aromatase promoter (Yang. 2012) -- When a group of researchers from the Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the School of Chinese Pharmacy, Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Chengdu, China, set out to investigate the mechanism behind the anti-osteoporotic effects of the dried leave extract from Epimedium brevicornum, they already suspected that it would probably be related to some sort of endocrine modulation.
  
  

  

  Figure 1: In vitro effect of Forskolin and Icariin on aromatase expression in KGN cells (Yang. 2012)

  With estrogen deficiency being the major cause of osteoporosis, a disease which does by the way affect over 200 million people worldwide (Riggs. 1998), being their the most likely mechanism behind the bone building and bone mineral density (BMD) protective effects, it was obvious to study, whether there was some sort of interaction between the extract and the data in figure 1 shows that Yang et al. were right to do so (note: the cell line used in the study was a KGN granulosa cell that's closely associated with the developing female oocyte, so effects could vary from one tissue to the other)
  
  Now all that certainly sounds as if this was bad stuff no sane male human being should be taking. Luckily, for many of you, my fellow men, who may have been exposed to Epimidium / Icariin from various supplements, this is not the case. Why? Simply because estrogen is not the enemy and Epimidium has not only been found to have anti-aging effects (whole extracts; Yan. 2009), it also prevents neurotoxicity from beta-amyloid plague the key feature of Alzheimer's and similar diseases (Zeng. 2010; listen to Thursday's Science Round-Up for other amyloid beta inhibitors / protectant's) and the neurotoxic effects of excess corticosteroids (Liu. 2011). In addition, Epimidium pubescen flavenoids have been shown to reverse the negative effects even passive exposure to cigarette smoke may have on the bone mineral density of male rats (Gao. 2012) and Icariin the common denominator in all of the members of the Epimidium family exerts direct proliferative and thus pro-fertility effects on the sertoli cells in male rodents (Nan. 2012).
  
  

  

  Table 1: Analysis of Chinese Epimidium species (MDida. 2010)

  Ah, and last but not least the beneficial effect Horny Goat Weed (likewise one of the members of the Epimidium family) has on male libido are likely partly a result of the increased aromatase activity, as well. If it works for you, your estrogen levels are probably pretty low to begin with (this reasoning is based on the profound beneficial effects of estrogen on male libido in men expressing little to no aromatase enzyme; Carani. 1999).

• Pedalium murex Linn. fruits may not be as potent acute libido and erectile performance enhancers as sildenafil, but the effects accumulate and persist just as its unique testosterone boosting effects (Sharma. 2012) -- In case taking a potential proestrogenic compound like Horny Goat is nothing you feel would do anything good for your libido, you may want to use some Pedalium murex Linn. in traditional Indian medicinea herb that has been used in traditional Indian medicine for centuries to treat male sexual dysfunction and impotency.
  

  

  Figure 2: Effects of different doses of an ethanolic extract from Pedalium murex (P.m.) and Sildenafil citrate (5mgkg) on penile erection scores and post ejaculatory interval (time it takes to be able to have sex again) exrpessed relative to saline treated control (based on Sharma. 2012)

  As the data in figure 2 shows, its effects on erectile performance are slightly less pronounced than those of sildenafil citrate, but at an appropriate dosage and after some time, it will probably do its job sufficiently for most men with respective problems. What's really exiting though, is that the data in figure 3 clearly shows that it does so not by simple nitric oxide effects (P. murex at 10 mg/
  ml exhibited a relative nitric oxide release of 15.3 mM as compared to a nitric oxide release of 39.3472.7 mM with sildenafil citrate), but probably (also) by boosting testosterone levels. 
  
  

  

  Figure 3: Serum testosterone levels during and after Pedalium murex or Sildenafil citrate administration expressed relative to saline control (Sharma. 2012)

  Since the testosterone levels remained elevated for 14 days after the treatment was seized these observations make P. murex a potential candidate for the next best natty test booster.to be powered by advertisement lines like "up to 125% increase in testosterone that last for more than 2 weeks" even when you take some time off. I guess, the only serious downside here is the close relation of P. murex to the notoriously useless Tribulus, which does also contain furostanol glycosides. Luckily Magnle and Jolley found another potentially active ingredient in P. murex fruit. The compound goes by the name diosgenin and appears to be a direct precursor for the synthesis of sex hormones including testosterone (Mangle. 1998).
  
  Since I don't think you will have to wait very long until the first major players in the supplement business will jump on this bandwagon - you know that a single rodent study is enough to make fortune until people realize that this stuff does not work, at all - you will probably soon be able to test it on yourself. In case you intend to do that, you should certainly look for a standardized ethanolic extract with ~20%+ of diosgenin (that was the content of the extract Sharma et al. used) and a serving size of 16.2mg/kg per body weight, the HED of the 100mg/kg group (that would be 1,300mg /day of the extract for an 80kg adult).

• Paederia foetida Linn. (P. foetida) yet another Indian libido and testosterone boosting herb (Soni. 2012) -- If you like the appeal of exclusiveness a climbing plant found in the Central and Eastern Himalayas, at elevations of up to 5000 ft, you may prefer the an ethanol extract of Paederia foetida Linn. (P. foetida) leaves over the previously discussed Pedalium murex fruit extract.
  
  

  

  Figure 4: Penile erection index and testosterone levels of rats after 15 and 28 days on P. foetida, data expressed relative to saline control (Soni. 2012)

  According to a recent study from the same group of Indian scientists (yet a different lead author), the effects of P. foetida and P. murex are in fact virtually identical. While the general protocol was very similar (in this done on rat, not mice) the positive control was not Sildenafil citrate, as in the previously mentioned experiment, but an intramuscular injection of 0.5 mg/kg body weight of testosterone suspension in arachis oil twice a week. It's actually a pity the scientists didn't measure the actual testosterone levels in the animals in the testosterone group. I would be curious how the 2.5x increase in the high dose group (200mg/kg, human equivalent ~2,600mg/day) would compare. When it comes to the erection quality, it did at least easily top the results of injectable testosterone (see figure 4), which is yet allegedly not the best erection booster, anyway. And if we went by the data on body weight and the weight of the testes, seminal vesicles, prostate glands and epididymis, it even appears to be more anabolic than testosterone; after all the body weight gain in the PF groups were 15%. 23% and 34% higher than in the control group and comparable if not higher to those that were induced by testosterone (+29%).
  
  And for all the supplement producers and fans of stacks it may be important to know that the leaves of P. foetida, which is also used as carminative, antiinflammatory, astringent, spasmolytic, antidiarrhoeal, diuretic and antilithic do contain a whole host of well- and lesser known compounds, e.g. iridoid glycosides, sitosterol, stigmasterol, campesterol, ursolic acid, hentriacontane, hentriacontanol, ceryl alcohol, palmitic acid and methyl mercaptan, but no diosgenin. So Ayurvedabol (TM) or whatever name ending on -bol, -drol or -ripp-off has not been used by the creepy competition, already, could benefit from having both Paederia foetida and Pedalium murex in it ;-)

• Combination of probiotics and phytosterols ramps up thyroid function and (re-)establishes a healthy lipid profile (Awaisheh. 2012) -- While I could offer you a minimum of two additional libido enhancing, potentially pro-anabolic testosterone booster, I know that not all of you are into these products (am I right ladies?), so I thought it prudent to close this installment of On Short Notice with a study on thyroid metabolism, which could be is of interested for all of you.
  
  
  Which phytosterols are there and where can I find them? The major phytosterols in the human diet are sitosterol (high in nuts, amaranth, avocados, grape leaves), stigmasterol (high in coriander, chocolate and soy), campesterol (high in various vegetable oils, spec. conola / rapeseed) and brassicasterol (high in cabbage, broccoli, other brassica, but also coriander, seafood and rapeseed oil).
  Contrary to some previous studies and anecdotal reports on the Internet, a recent paper by scientists from the Department of Food Science at the Al-Balqa Applied University, in Salt, Jordan, suggest that phytosterols don't have thyroid inhibiting, but promoting effects.
  
  In their latest study Awaisheh et al. investigated the effects of a probiotic stack containing two strains of each of Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus gasseri, and Lactobacillus reuteri and a phytosterol supplement on the lipid metabolism in rodents. Their results show that the addition of the phytosterol supplement promoted the already pronounced effects the probiotics had on the hypercholesterolemia of the rodents who were fed with a high-fat-high-cholesterol basal diet for 8 weeks. In addition, the phytosterols, yet not the probiotics alone, elevated the levels of serum total thyroxine (TT4), total triiodothyronine (TT3), and free triiodothyronin (fT3), which could have exerted additional benefits on the non-measured triglyceride levels.
  
  These results do actually come as a surprise and I would like to see more research - specifically in human trials - before I would buy products from producers who seize the scientists suggestion that this renders probiotics and phytosterols potential candidates for "functional foods" - I mean, let's be honest ever since the first "functional foods" hit the market people have been getting sicker: Do you really believe that's because they don't eat the "good" cholesterol lowering margarine instead of their beloved Kerrygold butter? I don't think so.

That's it for today.. well, aside from the promise to include the other testosterone and libido boosting herb studies in another SuppVersity post and a selection of the latest  SuppVersity Facebook News, of course:

• Iron deficiency makes H Pylori go on a rampage - Iron deficiency enhances H. pylori virulence and increases risk of gastric cancer (read more)
• Danish folk medicine for depression? Not really, but there are a couple of promising natural MAO-A inhibitors the Danes have been using for centuries (read more)
• Strength training equally heart healthy as aerobics - 6-weeks of strength training show particular beneficial effects in African American men (read more)

Since I it's still pretty early and I am certainly not going to the city, before the shops close and all the people who believed they wouldn't need Christmas presents this year, since the world would *put whatever apocalyptic catastrophe you like here*, have gone home, I may be adding some more news later. Until then, I hope you have some fun with what's already there and are looking forward for the 2nd installment of the "Making HIIT a Hit" series that will be published tomorrow.

References:

• Awaisheh SS, Khalifeh MS, Al-Ruwaili MA, Khalil OM, Al-Ameri OH, Al-Groom R. Effect of supplementation of probiotics and phytosterols alone or in combination on serum and hepatic lipid profiles and thyroid hormones of hypercholesterolemic rats. J Dairy Sci. 2012 Nov 22.
• Carani C, Rochira V, Faustini-Fustini M, Balestrieri A, Granata AR. Role of oestrogen in male sexual behaviour: insights from the natural model of aromatase deficiency. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 1999 Oct;51(4):517-24.
• Gao SG, Liu H, Li KH, Liu WH, Xu M, Jiang W, Wei LC, Zhang FJ, Tian J, Xiao WF, Yang Y, Song Y, Lei GH. Effect of Epimedium pubescen flavonoid on bone mineral density and biomechanical properties of femoral distal end and femoral diaphysis of passively smoking male rats. J Orthop Sci. 2012 May;17(3):281-8.
• Liu B, Zhang H, Xu C, Yang G, Tao J, Huang J, Wu J, Duan X, Cao Y, Dong J. Neuroprotective effects of icariin on corticosterone-induced apoptosis in primary cultured rat hippocampal neurons. Brain Res. 2011 Feb 23;1375:59-67. 
• Mangle MS, Jolley CI. HPTLC studies on Tribulus terrestris (Chota ghokru) and Pedalium murex (Bada ghokru). Indian Drugs. 1998; 35:189–194.
• MDidea Extracts Professional. Horny Goat Weed or Epimedium Herb: Botanical Origin, Archeology, Traditional and Pharmacological findings of Epimedium species, fractions and isolated components. 08th, Oct. 2010. < http://www.mdidea.net/products/herbextract/icariin/data10.html > retrieved on 12/21/2012. 
• Nan Y, Zhang X, Yang G, Xie J, Lu Z, Wang W, Ni X, Cao X, Ma J, Wang Z. Icariin stimulates the proliferation of rat Sertoli cells in an ERK1/2-dependent manner in vitro. Andrologia. 2012 Nov 7.
• Riggs BL, Khosla S, Melton LJ 3rd. A unitary model for involutional osteoporosis: estrogen deficiency causes both type I and type II osteoporosis in postmenopausal women and contributes to bone loss in aging men. J Bone Miner Res. 1998 May;13(5):763-73. 
• Sharma V, Thakur M, Dixit VK. A comparative study of ethanolic extracts of Pedalium murex Linn. fruits and sildenafil citrate on sexual behaviors and serum testosterone level in male rats during and after treatment. J Ethnopharmacol. 2012 Aug 30;143(1):201-6.
• Soni DK, Sharma V, Chauhan NS, Dixit VK. Effect of ethanolic extract of Paederia foetida Linn. leaves on sexual behavior and spermatogenesis in male rats
• Yan S, Wu B, Lin Z, Jin H, Huang J, Yang Y, Zhang X, Shen Z, Zhang W. Metabonomic characterization of aging and investigation on the anti-aging effects of total flavones of Epimedium. Mol Biosyst. 2009 Oct;5(10):1204-13.
• Zeng KW, Ko H, Yang HO, Wang XM. Icariin attenuates β-amyloid-induced neurotoxicity by inhibition of tau protein hyperphosphorylation in PC12 cells. Neuropharmacology. 2010 Nov;59(6):542-50.

Mobile Contraception: 850Mhz GSM Mobile-Phone Radiation Reduces Sperm Vitality, Membrane Integrity and Motility.

Image 1: If you carry your phone in your pocket, you reduce your sperms chances to hit a home run ;-)

I don't know if you actually realized that there is a separate category "sex" in the navigation bar of the SuppVersity. Well, I guess if you have, you will probably have been disappointed when you hit the respective button, because sexually exciting news from the realms of exercise and nutrition science are scarce and even today's blogpost is probably not exactly what you would expect when you read the word "sex" on the Internet. If you come to think about it from the increasingly popular paleolithic point of view, sex is however nothing but a means of reproduction, our ancestors have been practicing... well you know the whole ancestral litany ;-)

2,000,000 infertile couples in the US and the figures keep rising

What I am really driving at, here, is that for way more of your fellow human beings than you may think sex becomes a meticulously planned undertaking in a pairs hitherto futile endeavor to parent a child. According to the most recent figures from the American Pregnancy Association, a total of 2,000,000 married couples are considered "infertile" and the figures keep rising year by year and while infertility can have many reasons, of which stress, bad nutritional habits, diabesity and metabolic syndrome are recurrent topics here at the SuppVersity, the "contraceptive potential" of electromagnetic radiation is largely ignored by the iPhone-addicted American (and European) public. Thusly, I personally found it not very surprising that the most recent scientific evidence for the anti-feritility effect of GSM mobile radation (850Mhz, yes the same your beloved iPhone uses) comes from a study that was conducted by a team of researchers from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Libya, countries where having more than a single spoiled child is still the norm and not the exception - even among academics.

Image 2: Would you buy underwear from this guy if I told you that he is from the Swiss company Isa Bodywear and sells what he claims is radio-protective slips for 29CHF per piece? No? Even if I told you that the experimental approach from the study at hand was valid?

Update: A brief note on a clever objection regarding the real world significance of this kind of artificial experiment. Darko Zdravić, argued not without good reason on Facebook, that putting a mobile phone next to some sperm in a dish was not exactly a perfect model for the little buggers in your scrotum; and without question, Darko is right. I had in fact thought about that myself before and dug up an even more recent study that is going to be published in the physics journal Health Physics in January 2012, which deals with the validity of this approach and then simply forgot to mention that in the "original version" of this article. According to Mouradi and his co-workers, who constructed an artificial scrotum to test the "protective" effect the multiple tissue levels under which your sperm usually reside, the model is adequate, but you would have to subtract 0.8-1.2cm from the distance that is used when no absorbing tissue is placed in between the sperm and the EMR emitting device (Mouradi. 2012). That being said ~4cm is still about the mobile to sperm distance you would get when you put your phone right into the pocket and don't forget that your beloved iPhone radiates even more intensely than the Nokia phone used in the study ;-)

For their research, Mohamed A. Dkhil and his colleagues collected semen samples from 20 healthy donors, including only donor specimen, which had sperm parameters within the normal range defined by the WHO. The subsequent separation procedures, which somehow sound like they were events in the SpermOlympics, involved a so-called "swim-up test" (I guess I don't have to tell you what part of the lifecycle of a sperm requires some serious up-ward swimming ;-), by the means of which the "best" swimmers, which would obviously have the greatest chance to inseminate the ovocyte, were selected. 50% of these "performance athletes" were subsequently exposed to the electromagnetic radiation of a Nokia73 GSM phone (SAR 1.46W/kg which is about the same specific absorption rate the independent German computer magazine measured for the iPhone4S with 1.62W/kg in UMTS mode) at 5 cm distance, which is similar to carrying the phone right in the front pocket of your jeans.

Figure 1: Reductions in vitality, membrane integrity and mobility of previously healthy (elite ;-) sperm after 60-min exposure to cell-phone radiation (data adapted from Dkhil. 2011)

If you take a look at the data in figure 1 you will have to realize that 60 min of this "totally benign" type of EMR reduced the number of vital sperm (as measured by eosin test), increased the number of sperm with membrane defects (as measured by HOS test) and reduced their total motality by ~88%. If I do now tell you that all those effects had a statistical significance way below the cut off of p<0.05, I hope that you will probably agree with the scientists assessment that their results provide an experimental validation of previous epidemiologic data from Fejes et al. (2005) Erogul et al. (2006) and others, who have been warning the public for years that "the prolonged use of cell phones may have negative effects on the sperm motility characteristics." (Fejes. 2005).

And by the way, even if your sperm survive the chronic electromagnetic assault, chances are that the chronic stress of being within everybody's reach 24/7 will finish them off. So, regardless of whether you want or do not want to father a child in the near future, I suggest you reconsider whether or not it is really necessary, let alone desirable to be enslaved by an electronic gadget and the people at the other end of the wireless line.

Human Study: OTC Supplement Doubles T-Levels & Boosts Erections More Than Tadalafil - Too Good to Be True?

Just to make sure you don't suffer from withdrawl symptoms until Adelfo posts the next update on his current contest prep, I thought I'd share a photo that shows where he is currently at - not bad for someone of whom a handful of you have been shocked to hear that he eats at least 200g carbs per day and ice-cream almost every evening, right?

It's Thursday and before I'll get to a question on a very recent study I received via the SuppVersity Facebook page, I will brief you on the line-up of today's installment of the SuppVersity Science Round-Up on the Super Human Radio Network. By now, most of you should actually be familiar with the modus operandi: In case you cannot listen live at 1PM EST, you can always download the show ~2h later either from the "Physical Culture for Your Ears" menu in the sidebar of the SuppVersity, or right over at www.superhumanradio.com - obviously, you can also wait for tomorrow's SuppVersity Science Round-Up Seconds, in which I am providing some additional information on things we have discussed and post selected topics that did not make it into the show.

Apropos topics, the first topic we are going to address does actually pertain to the second part of this post and revolves around a recently published paper by Fabrizio Iacono et al. whose results do - just as SuppVersity reader Mark, who pointed me towards this article, says - look "too good to be true".

Now, upon closer scrutiny it turns out that they may well be "true", but are not just as "good" as they may initially look like. From this testosterone-laden topic we are then going to proceed with topics revolving around male and female longevity, optimal workout types and intensities for different trainees,the health effects of garlic, colostrum and chocolate and related topics.

I could mention more, but am afraid that this will just increase the risk of rushing through the items too quickly. Optimally, you just tune in live and pick up the rest in "print" in tomorrow's SuppVersity Science Round-Up Seconds!

200% increase in total and 130% increase in free testosterone

Just a reminder: Taurine has also (rodent) data showing up to 180% increases in testosterone and that's not exclusively in the sick and old.

This subheading sounds as if I was to pimp the "revolutionary new testbooster" by "whatever company" that will get you muscular and ripped in no time, right? Well, in the end it could well be the text of an advertisement, yet not one from any of the usual suspects but rather one for TRADAMIX®, a blend of "three natural substances with an 'anti-aging' effect on the tissues of the male genitourinary apparatus" (Tradapharma Sagl. 2012) - I know, without the usual "-bols", "-diols", or at least some indirect references to illegal anaobolic substances in the product name, this does not sound like it would work, but the +200% increas in total and +130% increase in free testosterone are for real and documented in a peer-reviewed study involving seventy patients (67.3± 3.7 years) with stable marital relations and reduced libido, with or
without erectile dysfunction who received either the infamous PDE-5 inhibitor Tadalafil (5mg/day) or two servings of the aforementioned 'testicular anti-aging supplement' (Iacono. 2012).

But before we even get to the testosterone levels, let's tackle the main problem of these guys and the actual research interest of the scientists from the University “Federico II” of Naples in Italy first. After all, the main outcome of the study at hand were the improvements in sexual desire and erectile function and those were almost identical in both groups - from 16 to 33 and 16 to 31, in the supplement vs. drug groups, respectively. If you go by the results of the international index of erectile function (IIEF) questionnaire (see figure 1, left), on the other hand, the dietary supplement yielded actually outperformed the blockbuster prescription drug by almost 10%:

Figure 1: Results of international index of erectile function (IIEF) questionnaire and RigiScan (device to measure penile tumescence and rigidity continuously that's used to differentiate vascular from psychogenic erectile dysfunction) before and after 2 months of treatment with Tradamixina and Tadalafil (Iacono. 2012).

What's probably even more impressive, though, are the differential effects of Tradamixina vs. Tadalafil on the RigiScale values (see figure 1, right). The RigiScale is an etablished means to differentiate psychogenic from organ-related (vascular) erectile dysfunction (Basar. 2001) and the fact that there was a significant reduction of RigiScale positive subjects in the Tradamixina group does already suggest a possible reason for the initially mentioned 200% increase in total and 130% increase in free testosterone (see figure 2).

Figure 2: Total and free testosterone levels before and after the administration of Tradamaxine (2 servings per day) or Tadalafil (2mg/day) to Seventy patients (67.3± 3.7 years) with stable marital relations and affected by reduced libido for 2 months (data based on Iacono. 2012)

What this underlying reason is? Well, probably reduced systemic inflammation, which leads to reductions in cortisol, blood glucose, insulin resistance, oxidative damage to the testes etc. and thus simply facilitates the restoration of normal testosterone levels.

If you know how google works, it'll take you maybe 5 minutes and a credit card and you'll have a couple of pounds of the ingredients right on the way to your doorstep.
Yep, you heard me right: A boost of +200% just brought those guys who started with 10ng/dl below the already way too broad normal range from 260-1080ng/dl (values may vary from lab to lab) in a quasi hypogonadal state, back to midrange levels of 680ng/dl.

Real world implications for healthy young men: The chance that a healthy, fit individual with normal testosterone levels would see a boost of 200% in his total or 130% in his free testosterone levels is not low, it is simply ZERO!

Notwithstanding, Tradamixina (or rather its ingredients) is actually more than just a cilialis alternative. While the latter is a short term solution to get rid of the symptoms of an underlying disease, the combination of Ecklonia Cava, tribulus, and d-glucosamine + n-acetyl-d-glucosamine could actually tackle the most frequent cause of erectile dysfunction, which is the triad of inflammation, insulin resistance and arteriosclerosis (for more details see info-box to the right).

So how does this stuff work? Although investigations into the mechanism by which the provision of Tradamaxine did work its magic was actually not part of the study, it's actually not difficult to hypothesize what may be the underlying cause of these unquestionably astonishing results. Firstly, the brown algae Ecklonia Bicyclis (better known as Ecklonia Cava!)of which each serving has 150mg has a very high content of sterols, polyphenols and tannins and is probably the main active ingredient of a formula which includes 396mg of tribulus and 144mg of d-glucosamine and n-acetyl-d-glucosamine as a 'support'. The phlototannins 7-phloro eckol and 6,6′-bieckoll that have been isolated from Ecklonia, a marine brown algae which has been used for centuries in traditional medicine in Asia, are more or less unique with respect to the potency of their antioxidant activity (Li. 2009). In conjunction with tribulus, d-glucosamine and n-acetyl-d-glucosamine, which also exhibit a certain degree of anti-inflammatory activity, a decrease in systemic inflammation is the most likely cause of the profound pro-sexual and pro-hormonal effects of this blend, which is yet by no means as unique as the producers would have it.

Bottom line: It is no coincidence that erectile dysfunction has been identified as a "harbinger of cardiovascular clinical events" (Thompson. 2005) and "a sentinel event for CAD [coronary artery disease]" (Irekpita. 2009). So if you are in the unlucky situation to suffer from vascular (and not physogenic) erectile dysfunction, and had the choice between a drug that will ameliorate the symptoms, i.e. Tadalafil, or a supplement that will treat the underyling cause, the decision for the supplement and against the lifestyle drug should be obvious, right?

Still, there is one, ... no, actually there are two things I would like to ask you, before you run all spiked up to the next best supplement shop: Firstly, how accurate would you say is the authors' claim that there was "no conflict of interest", if no one else, but the lead author of the study, has been granted a patent on the formula on April 4th, 2012 (US2012/089722 A1)? And secondly, do you really believe that it is a mere coincedence that the researchers deliberate use the hardly known appellation Ecklonia Bicyclis for a brown algae all of you probably know as Ecklonia Cava (see "Ecklonia Cava Polyphenols Help Shed Weight Even in The Presence of a Slight Caloric Surplus") throughout the whole paper without mentioning once that it is better known as "Ecklonia Cava"? I am well aware that studies are expensive and need to be financed and I am by no means suggesting that the results are - as Mark suspected - "too good to be true" (remember. the men were hypogonadal to begin with), but this paper does still have a somewhat peculiar aftertaste.

References:

• Basar MM, Atan A, Tekdogan UY. New concept parameters of RigiScan in differentiation of vascular erectile dysfunction: is it a useful test? Int J Urol. 2001 Dec;8(12):686-91.
• Iacono F, Prezioso D, Illiano E, Romeo G, Ruffo A, Amato B. Sexual asthenia: Tradamixina versus Tadalafil 5 mg daily. BMC Surg. 2012 Nov 15;12 Suppl 1:S23.
• Irekpita E, Salami TA. Erectile dysfunction and its relationship with cardiovascular risk factors and disease. Saudi Med J. 2009 Feb;30(2):184-90. 
• Li Y, Qian ZJ, Ryu B, Lee SH, Kim MM, Kim SK. Chemical components and its antioxidant properties in vitro: an edible marine brown alga, Ecklonia cava. Bioorg Med Chem. 2009 Mar 1;17(5):1963-73.
• Thompson IM, Tangen CM, Goodman PJ, Probstfield JL, Moinpour CM, Coltman CA. Erectile dysfunction and subsequent cardiovascular disease. JAMA. 2005 Dec 21;294(23):2996-3002. 
• Tradapahrm Sagl. Tradamix. 2012 < http://www.tradamix.com/en/ > retrieved on 11/29/2012.

Asparagus Extract Tops Anti-Diabetes Drug Glibenclamide. Plus: Dozens of Add. Health Benefits - From Aphrodisiac to Anti-Hangover & from Neuroprotection to Anti-Aging

Coho salmon, shrimp and asparagus with melted butter - better than any diabetes drug ;-)

Within the last couple of weeks, I have been moving news-items like this one into the "On Short Notice"  category, or simply totally discarded the dozen or so "herb XYZ" or "extract ABC ameliorates hypoglycemia in rodent model of type II diabetes" papers that are published on a weekly basis. The mere number of studies on whatever exotic, herb, spice or isolated polyphenol from the most remote areas (usually in Asia) the names of which I often even have heard about before, is simply too large to cover them all... and let's be honest: In the end, it's also downright boring to read about stuff that decreases blood glucose in a rodent model to a miniscule extend, when you already know that chances that you ever get your hands on a significant amount of that are zero, right?

There are however, two good reasons, why Rahman Md. Hafizur, Nurul Kabir and Sidra Chishti most recent paper, which has been published on November 24 in the latest issue of the British Journal of Nutrition, has still made it not just into the short, but actually the 'official' SuppVersity news are twofold: Firstly, the effects of the Asparagus officinalis extract they administered at two different dosages to their rodents were just mediocre, but - as you are about to see - right on par with the diabetes drug glibenclamide, a sulfonylurea based medication that is often sold in combination with metformin (the respective drugs are called Glucovance and Glibomet). And secondly, briefly summarizing the main results of the study provided a nice incentive to dig somewhat deeper into the already established beneficial health effects of asparagus - and I can tell you, those are about as numerous as the aformentioned boring "herb XYZ"-studies ;-)

From the scientists' petri dishes to the rodent cage and... onto your dishes?

Asparagus officinalis L. is probably what the average Westerner would call "common asparagus". It's native to most European, African and Asian countries and its medicinal usage has been reported in the British and Indian Pharmacopoeias and in traditional systems of medicine such as Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha. Most of you will probably be aware of its mild diuretic effects and the distinct smell of your urine which will betray that you are someone who loves its delicate flavor in salads, vegetable dishes, soups and (if you are like me) poundwise with melted Kerrygold butter, some potatoes a decent amount of ham or some grilled meat during the asparagus season... but I am digressing here, let's get back to the facts.

To get to the bottom of previously reported beneficial effects of asparagus in various inflammatory (metabolic) diseases, the initially conducted an in-vitro study, to test the radical scavenging ability of their Asparagus extract and found that ...

"[...] A. officinalis at a concentration of 0·5 mg/ml exhibited 86·8 % radical-scavenging activity, as shown by a significant decrease in the absorbance of DPPH radicals. These results suggest that A. officinalis has potent antioxidant activity, as the positive control propyl gallate exhibited 91·4 % radical-scavenging activity. (Hafizur. 2012)

Afterwards they injected a group of male and female Wistar rats with streptozotocin to induce diabetes. Subsequently, the rodents received either 250 or 500mg/kg body weight of an Asparagus officinalis (AO) extract or 5mg/kg body weight of glibenclamide (GIB) once daily via an oral syringe - the dosage was adapted once weekly according to changes in body weight.

Figure 1: Fasting blood glucose and insulin levels, total antioxidant status (TAS was measured using the ABTS) and beta cell area / islet expressed relative to control at the end of the 29 day study period (based on Hafizur. 2012)

A cursory glance at the data in figure 1 reveals: The initially betrayed anti-hypoglycemic effects (hypo[...] = ability to lower [blood sugar]) the high dose of Asparagus officinalis extract (AO500, figure 1) had on the fasting glucose levels of the animals were as potent as those of the diabetes drug glibenclamide.  Moreover, the treatment with AO500 had a slightly, but statistically significanty higher impact on the total antioxidant capacity and the same benificial effect on the morphology and function of the pancreas. Nevertheless, neither the A. officinalis extract, nor the glibenclamide treatment were able to restore the compromised insulin producton to more than ~70% of the value the non-streptozotocin-intoxicated animals.

There is much more to asparagus than it's antidiabetic effects

As impressive as these results may be, if we simply rely on the findings Hafizur, Kabir and Chishtiit present in this recent paper, we will actually miss not just half, but rather 95% of the potential health benefits the different genus and parts of asparagus have to offer.

Figure 2: A. racemosis administered at a dose of 200mg/kg per day makes male rats about as horny (and able to perform) as bi-weekly injections of testosterone (Thakur. 2009) - not that you would need that, but it's nice to know anyways.

Despite the fact that asparagus is a highly nutritious source of vitamin B6, calcium, magnesium and zinc, and a very good source of dietary fiber, protein (in at least in view of the fact that it's an almost zero calorie veggie ;-), vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin K, thiamin, riboflavin, rutin, niacin, folic acid, iron, phosphorus, potassium, copper, manganese, selenium, highly bioavailable chromium, and even small quantities omega-3 fatty acids (Morales. 2012), so that the regular incorporation of asparagus alone into your diet will supposedly be beneficial for you, some of the more intricate health effects may in fact require the extraction of and supplementation with specific phytonutrients from Asparagus officinalis, A. racemosus, A. cochinensis and its various cousins.

In order to give you an idea of what you can expect, I have compiled a comprehensive, yet by no means extensive list of benefits which have been ascribed to root, seed, and even leaf extracts of asparagus over the past decades

• anti-cancer effects: Asparagus contains saponins that have in-vitro anti-(liver-)cancer effects (Ji. 2012); 
• neuroprotective effects: Chinese asparagus contains pregnanes that sooth neuro-inflammation (Jian. 2012; compounds could be present in regular A. officinalis as well) and can protect your liver and brain from aging (Xiong. 2011); 
• antiaging effects: A. contains enzymes that help with protein digestion (Ha. 2012); 
• hypolipidemic effects: n-butanol extracts from A. officinalis exert anti-hyperlipidemic effects (Zhu. 2011); 
• antimicrobial effects: A. has antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli, Shigella dysenteriae, Shigella sonnei, Shigella flexneri, Vibrio cholerae, Salmonella typhi, Salmonella typhimurium, Pseudomonas putida, Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus (Mandal. 2000); 
• allows for geno-typing at home ;-) A. allows you to do a personal gene analysis to find out whether you have a single nucleotide polymorphism at rs4481887, which would make it impossible for you to smell the distinct odor the urine acquires after eating asparagus (Pelchat. 2011); 
• anti-hangover effects: A. helps your liver to metabolize alcohol and can even prevent a hangover (Kim. 2009); 
• buttery taste: A. contains phytochemicals which generate the sensation of having butter in the mouth (Dawid. 2012); 
• anti-stress effects: Ethanolic extracts from Asparagus racemosus have anti-stress activity and help your adrenals take a time out (Joshi. 2012)
• carbblocking effects: Asparagus racemosus inhibits the digestion of carbohydrates and enhances insulin action (Hannan. 2011); in this context it is interesting to remark that the in-vitro essay of the the study at hand suggested that A. officinalis, or rather the specific extract the scientists used in their study "has a very little effect on delaying glucose absorption" (Hafizur. 2012)
• immune promoting effects: A. racemosus ramps up natural killer cell activity (Thakur. 2012); AR also enhances memory and prevents amnesia (Ojha. 2012), 
• profound aphrodisiac effects: A dried root extract likewise from A. racemosus more than doubled the 'desire' of male rodents within 29 days (Thakur. 2009; cf. figure 2)
• MAO and acetylcholine breakdown inhibition: A. racemosus competitively inhibits acetylcholine and monoamine metabolizing enzymes (Meena. 2011)

As this highly incomplete list goes to show you, the health benefits are numerous. Unfortunately, this does also apply to the different phytochemicals which trigger all these effects. The probability that the next best extract you may find on the shelves or virtual outlets of a supplement store is actually going to to yield the health benefits you may be looking for are therefore pretty slim.

Although parts of it are edible as well, A. racemosus, is actually better known for its multitude of beneficial health effects that range from Antibacterial activity (some) antisecretory and antiulcer activity over mood enhancing and anti-depressive properties, and immunomodulatory effects to such profane things as libido enhancement or getting rid of superfluous water before a show or photo shoot.

Bottom line: In view of the practical problems associated with spotting appropriate extracts, I guess it would be best you take the fact that a 2003 paper in scientific journal Nutrition (Pellegrini. 2003) ranked asparagus 7th among 34 fruits and vegetables with respect to its free radical scavenging abilities, as an incentive to simply incorporate asparagus into your diets more frequently.

If, on the other hand, you are dealing with any specific health condition, it would certainly make sense to look for an extract that contains the proper genus of asparagus, is made from the right parts of the plant and - if possible - is even standardized for a specific compound: If you were interested in upping your estrogen levels, you would for example have to pick a whole plant extract of A. dumosus that would at best contain a standardized amount of 20-hydroxecysterone (Kaur. 1998). If it's rather the anti-ulcer effects you are after, your 'asparagus product of choice' should be made of the roots of A. racemosus ideally standardized for its Shatavairin content (Bhatnagar. 2005)... 

And now, you tell me eating healthy was complicated and taking supplements was easy ;-)

References

• Bhatnagar M, Sisodia SS, Bhatnagar R. Antiulcer and antioxidant activity of Asparagus racemosus Willd and Withania somnifera Dunal in rats. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2005 Nov;1056:261-78.
• Dawid C, Hofmann T. Identification of Sensory-Active Phytochemicals in Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.). J Agric Food Chem. 2012 Nov 8.
• Ha M, Bekhit Ael-D, Carne A, Hopkins DL. Characterisation of kiwifruit and asparagus enzyme extracts, and their activities toward meat proteins. Food Chem. 2013 Jan 15;136(2):989-98. 
•  Hafizur RM, Kabir N, Chishti S. Asparagus officinalis extract controls blood glucose by improving insulin secretion and β-cell function in streptozotocin-induced type 2 diabetic rats. Br J Nutr. 2012 Nov;108(9):1586-95.
• Hannan JM, Ali L, Khaleque J, Akhter M, Flatt PR, Abdel-Wahab YH. Antihyperglycaemic activity of Asparagus racemosus roots is partly mediated by inhibition of carbohydrate digestion and absorption, and enhancement of cellular insulin action. Br J Nutr. 2011 Sep 8:1-8.
• Ji Y, Ji C, Yue L, Xu H. Saponins isolated from Asparagus induce apoptosis in human hepatoma cell line HepG2 through a mitochondrial-mediated pathway. Curr Oncol. 2012 Jul;19(Suppl 2):eS1-9.
• Jian R, Zeng KW, Li J, Li N, Jiang Y, Tu P. Anti-neuroinflammatory constituents from Asparagus cochinchinensis. Fitoterapia. 2012 Oct 24.
• Joshi T, Sah SP, Singh A. Antistress activity of ethanolic extract of Asparagus racemosus Willd roots in mice. Indian J Exp Biol. 2012 Jun;50(6):419-24. 
• Kaur H. Estrogenic activity of some herbal galactogogue constituents. Ind J Anim Nutr. 1998;5:232–4.
• Kim BY, Cui ZG, Lee SR, Kim SJ, Kang HK, Lee YK, Park DB. Effects of Asparagus officinalis extracts on liver cell toxicity and ethanol metabolism. J Food Sci. 2009 Sep;74(7):H204-8. 
• Meena J, Ojha R, Muruganandam AV, Krishnamurthy S. Asparagus racemosus competitively inhibits in vitro the acetylcholine and monoamine metabolizing enzymes. Neurosci Lett. 2011 Sep 26;503(1):6-9.
• Morales P, Ferreira IC, Carvalho AM, Sánchez-Mata MC, Cámara M, Tardío J. Fatty acids profiles of some Spanish wild vegetables. Food Sci Technol Int. 2012 Jun;18(3):281-90.
• Ojha R, Sahu AN, Muruganandam AV, Singh GK, Krishnamurthy S. Asparagus recemosus enhances memory and protects against amnesia in rodent models. Brain Cogn. 2010 Oct;74(1):1-9.
• Pelchat ML, Bykowski C, Duke FF, Reed DR. Excretion and perception of a characteristic odor in urine after asparagus ingestion: a psychophysical and genetic study. Chem Senses. 2011 Jan;36(1):9-17.
• Pellegrini N, Serafini M, Colombi B, Del Rio D, Salvatore S, Bianchi M, Brighenti F. Total antioxidant capacity of plant foods, beverages and oils consumed in Italy assessed by three different in vitro assays. J Nutr. 2003 Sep;133(9):2812-9. 
• Thakur M, Chauhan NS, Bhargava S, Dixit VK. A comparative study on aphrodisiac activity of some ayurvedic herbs in male albino rats. Arch Sex Behav. 2009 Dec;38(6):1009-15. Epub 2009 Jan 13.
• Thakur M, Connellan P, Deseo MA, Morris C, Praznik W, Loeppert R, Dixit VK. Characterization and in vitro immunomodulatory screening of fructo-oligosaccharides of Asparagus racemosus Willd. Int J Biol Macromol. 2012 Jan 1;50(1):77-81.
• Zhu X, Zhang W, Pang X, Wang J, Zhao J, Qu W. Hypolipidemic effect of n-butanol Extract from Asparagus officinalis L. in mice fed a high-fat diet. Phytother Res. 2011 Aug;25(8):1119-24.

Licorice More Estrogenic Than Estradiol: Some of the Flavonoids in Glycyrrhiza Glabra Roots Turn Out to Be Superinductors of the Estrogen-α & -β Receptors

Image 1: In view of the fact that most confectionary licorice contains no more than ~3% of the roots of the licorice plant, I would rather bother about the tricks the ~74g of carbohydrates (on a 100g base) of this treat may play on your insulin levels than about any potential negative effects the consumption of a few or even a whole bunch of these licorice wheels may have on your testosterone levels or overall manliness ;-)

You probably have heard about licorice, the root of Glycyrrhiza glabra, a legume with a slightly sweet taste and one of the ingredient of the eponymous candy being a potent adrenal "revitalizer" that is used and advocated my many naturopathic doctors. If you frequent any of the major health and fitness boards on the Internet, you will yet also be familiar with some of its unwanted side-effects, first and foremost its scientifically validated anti-androgenic (specifically testosterone reducing) effects (Zamansoltani. 2009). While Zamansoltani et al. yet still speculated, whether the reduction in serum testosterone they observed as a result of administration of 150-300mg/kg of licorice extract (HED ~ 40-80mg/kg; 3.2-6.4g for a 80kg human) to male rats still speculated, whether these reduction were the result of "[i]ncreas[es] in T metabolism, down-regulation of androgen receptors or activation of oestrogen [sic!] receptors", a recent study that was published in the Annals of Bioanalytical Chemistry shows that the latter, i.e. the (profound!) activation of both types of estrogen receptors probably was the underlying cause of the emasculation of the licorice treated bucks (Simons. 2011).

Estrogen receptor superinductors were not invented by Dr. Spock

In a pretty meticulous analysis, Rudy Simons et al. found that several fractions of an ethyl acetate extract from licorice root displayed estrogenic activities at either the estrogen-alpha or estrogen-beta receptor that were more pronounced than the ones of the reference "drug", estradiol (E2).

Figure 1: Relative estrogenic activity (in % of estradiol = E2) of 51 fractions that were isolated from an ethyl acetate extract from licorice root (data adapted from Simons. 2011).

If you take a closer look at the 51 fractions the scientists identified by liquid chromatography-massspectrometry and analyzed for their activity by the means of yeast estrogen bioassays, you will recognize that not just one or two, but a whole host of these "fractions", which themselves were complex mixtures of similar compounds, exhibit partly profound estrogenic activity. In that it is particularly noteworthy that the superinduction (activity >E2=100%) was not caused by a post-translational stabilization of the firefly luciferase reporter enzyme, which would have disqualified these results as shortcomings of the yeast essay Simons et al. had used - a effect which has been previously described for genistein, one of the phytoestrogens in soy and soy products.

Figure 2: Relative content and estrogenic activity of individual fractions F1-F5, F6-F21 and F22-F51 from the ethyl acetate extract from licorice root used in the study (calculated based on Simons. 2011).

Of all the fractions, the scientists isolated from the licorice extract, which was supplied by Frutarom US, fraction 41 (F41) with an estrogen-alpha receptor activity of 159.9% at the low (3µg/ml) and 186.9% at the high (10µg/ml) concentrations was by far the 'worst offender'. In view of the fact that we do not know how much of these flavonoids actually make it into the bloodstream, the 103.1, 97.9, 95.5, 74.6, 68.7, 57.2 and 57.3% estrogen-beta activity of fractions F24-F30 at a much lower concentration of 0.3µg/ml is probably more of a concern and most likely the underlying cause of the anti-androgenic effects of licorice, which have also been established in a human study on seven 22-24 year old healthy male subjects by Decio Armanini et al. in 1999 (Armanini. 1999):

Figure 3: Changes in testosterone, androstenedione and 17-hydroxy-progesterone levels (ng/dl) in 7 healthy men upon oral adminstration of 7g of a commercial licorice preparation (data based on Armanini. 1999)

As you can see in figure 3, the 7 g of a commercial preparation of licorice (containing 0.5 g of glycyrrhizic acid) the men in the Amanino study received in the form of tablets (Saila, Bologna, Italy) on a daily basis had an immediate and pretty profound anti-androgenic effect (-44% total testosterone within 2 days!) resulting from the negative feedback of the phytoestrogenic components from Glycyrrhiza glabra. The levels of androstenedione and 17-hydroxy-progesterone on the other hand did not change.

Image 2: Licorice could help with menopause symptoms such as hot flashes, but it has potential corticosteroid-like side effects you should keep an eye on.

Update: Evelyn from CarbSane asked in the comment section whether licorice would not make a good addition to any natural menopause treatment. In fact, she is right that the very estrogenicity of the licorice extracts that is detrimental to men could be of great use for women going through menopause. A cursory search of the databases (how else could it be in view of the fact that you cannot patent licorice) does yet reveal that no one appears to be willing to invest serious money into studies on the effects of licorice / licorice extracts in menopausal women. Nevertheless, there is evidence for estrogen-like bone-building effects (Somjen. 2004) and a -2.4% reduction in the dreaded hot flashes over placebo (Nahidi. 2011).

Moreover, licorice appears to act as an SSRI (selective serotonine reuptake inhibitor) and may thus also help with moodswings and neurotransmitter-imbalances (Ofir. 2003), which can also cause sugar cravings and thusly induce weight gain. If you add to that the growth-inhibitory action the glabridins in licorice exhibit on breast-cancer cells (Tamir. 2000), it may be well worth to try to alleviate menopause symptoms with licorice. In that, it is yet important to know that the glycyrrhetinic acid in licorice has mineralocorticoid-like side effect (i.e. it works like cortisol), which can become problematic especially if licorice is taken as part of one of the typical pharmacological protocols conventional doctors tend to prescribe to their patients (e.g. Inada. 2007). My advice would thus be to carefully monitor your reaction, Ladies ;-)

Against the background of the results of both the initially mentioned rodent study by Zamansoltani et al. (Zamansoltani. 2009), as well as the certainly more relevant data from the 1999 study by Armanini et al. (Armanini. 1999) the 'test-tube' findings by Simons et al. gain a degree of practical significance many of the likewise bio-essay based studies, the manufacturers of purported (!) testosterone boosters like to cite to underline the scientific validity of their products, are lacking... you may want to keep that in mind before you try to counter the unwanted side-effects of a licorice-based "adrenal optimizer" by popping a few servings of the latest and greatest "scientifically proven testosterone booster" ;-)

Pomegranate for Statin Users, Magnesium for Cancer-Free Colons, Cialis for Diabetic & Healthy Women and Protein Supplementation for 0.81kg More Muscle & 13.5kg More Strength Gains Than Placebo (Data From Meta-Analysis)

As the data in the graphs at the bottom shows, only vigorous physical activity (right), yet not moderate (middle), let alone light physical activity (left) will help kids to stave off the bad visceral body fat, which increases their waist line from year to year. The photo in the background was by the way taken in 1989 on Orchard Beach, in the Bronx. If I remember correctly that's 6 years before the release of Nintendo's first "Game Boy". And yeah, I got one and it really doubled if not tripled my sedentary time!

7 minutes! That's the SuppVersity figure of the week and a number that should actually ring a bell with everyone of you who is following my advice and pays a daily visit to the SuppVersity Facebook Wall. "Seven minutes" that's what scientists from the University of Alberta and their Canadian colleagues believe would be the amount of "vigorous physical activities" our kids should get (Hay. 2012). I am not sure, if those scientists are still youths, but assuming they are not, I wonder if they cannot remember the amount of "vigorous activity" (which was back in the day simply called "play") they themselves or at least their parents or grand parents got, in the days when you still had to physically kick a ball, if you wanted to play soccer with your friends.

I mean, it's already bad enough that today's kids spend 70% of their time with sedentary activity, only 23% with light activity (like walking from the sofa to freezer ;-), 7% with modest and only 0.6% with vigorous physical activity, wouldn't it be wise then, to rather shoot for the stars and work towards a much higher amount of vigorous activity? After all, even Hay's own study shows that only vigorous activity was associated with a reduced waist circumference and lower markers of metabolic disease (see illustration on the right).

Even if the kids don't make it to the moon, but over to the neighbor's basketball hoop or a public playground that would be a major improvement over the 'exhausting' walks from the Playstation to the fridge and back, wouldn't it?

• Pomegranate the better statin? Adding pomegranate phytosterol (β-sitosterol) and polyphenolic antioxidant (punicalagin) to a statin and reduce adipose tissue ROS production by a whopping 73%!  In their most recent paper Mira Rosenblat, Nina Volkova, Michael Aviram report that the administration of Simvastatin (15 μg/ml) to macrophages in the petri dish did only only "modestly decreased macrophage reactive oxygen species (ROS)" (Rosenblat. 2012), the presence of punicalagin (15 or 30 μM) almost 'extinguished the fire' cutting back inflammation dose-dependently by another 61% or 79%.
  
  

  

  As a regular here at the SuppVersity yo will still be aware that Pomegranate does also contain a potent plant version of CLA, called CLnA, no? Well then go back and read the full article!

  Intriguingly, β-sitosterol alone showed had minor pro-oxidant activity, when it was administered to the J774A.1 macrophages cell line the researchers from The Lipid Research Laboratory in Haifa (Israel) were analyzing,
  

  "the combination of simvastatin, β-sitosterol and punicalagin, clearly demonstrated a remarkable 73% reduction in ROS production."

  So what's the use of the statin, then? After all the scientists also found (but rather not mention in their abstract) that the combination of β-sitosterol and punicalagin actually suppressed macrophage cholesterol synthesis as effectively as low dose Simvastin or high dose Pravastatin (Click here to read about pomegranate in the SuppVersity news)
• Organo-Magnesium stops colon cancer in its tracks by inhibiting inflammation, and the findings a group of researchers from the Gifu University Graduate School report in a soon-to-be published paper are not surprising. After all many epidemiological studies studies like Folsom & Hong (2006), for example, have already shown that there is a -23% reduced risk of developing colon cancer for 55-65 year-old Swedish women in the highest vs. lowers quantile of magnesium intake. Earlier this year Wark et al. conducted a randomized trial and meta-analysis of the hitherto published studies and found:
  

  "Our findings support the hypothesis that higher intakes of dietary magnesium are associated with lower risk of colorectal tumors. The consumption of magnesium-rich foods may be a new avenue to explore further in the search for cancer-prevention strategies." (Wark. 2012)

  Tabs or capsules? A 2010 study has the answer to the question which form of supplemental minerals is the best for you. Roswitha Siener and her colleagues from the University of Bonn in Germany found that magnesium oxide from effervescent tablets is better absorbed than from capsules and you can be pretty sure that similar results will be found for other forms of magnesium. My advice would yet be: Save the money and just go for plain magnesium citrate powder.
  The meta analysis yielded 13% lower risk of colorectal adenomas and 12% lower risk of colorectal cancer for every additional 100mg of magnesium per day. This does yet not mean that by eating pounds of magnesium you could render yourself 'cancer proof', but it is good evidence to make sure to get at least the into the 380-500mg range. And if you want to supplement, you really won't need the organ-magnesium Kuno et al. produced by mixing magnesium oxide (0.22 g), citric acid (0.55 g), malic acid (0.55 g), and glycine (0.22 g) - unless you can't tolerate it, cheap magnesium citrate will do just as well.
  
• Taldalafil for insulin resistant and healthy post-menopausal women?! (Murdolo. 2012) A group of European scientists have found that the administration of 10mg of Taldalfil (the notorious PDE-5 inhibitor in Cialis) to both diabetic and healthy controls led to
  
  • an increase in permeability surface area product for glucose , and
  • skeletal muscle interstitial lactate levels r
  The forearm glucose uptake, as well as the arterial lactate levels showed differential responses, while there was a trend for increased glucose uptake in the healthy controls, the latter was absent in the diabetic group. The profound decrease in arterial lactate levels in the diabetic patients, on the other hand, was not present in the healthy controls, whose lactate levels had already been in the normal range (see figure 1).
  
  

  

  Figure 1: Effects of 10mg of Taldalafil on arterial and intramuscular lactate concentration (Murdolo. 2012). The increase in intramuscular glucose oxidation (evidenced by the lactate that is generated during this process) could even be of interest to healthy women (and men?).

  Based on these findings, Guiseppe Murdolo and his colleagues argue that the results would suggest that acute Tadalafil administration can increase the capillary recruitment and nonoxidative glucose metabolism, without having consistent effects on forearm blood flow and regional lipolytic rate. However...
  

  "[...] notwithstanding the lack of measurable changes on forearm glucose uptake, the microvascular response to tadalafil emerged as an independent predictor of muscle glucose disposal in both T2D patients and insulin-sensitive controls."

  Well, and if those effects don't reach statistical significance, maybe 'others' will. After all a 2003 study by Caruso et al. suggests that Taldalafil can also increase "the frequency of sexual fantasies and of sexual intercourse, and enjoyment" (Caruso. 2003) in a group of  53 pre-menopausal women (age 22–28) years affected by arousal disorders. Maybe we should simply put Taldalfil into the drinking... ah, I am just kidding ;-)
• Finally! Scientists determine 'exactly'*rofl* how much more muscle you can gain with supplemental protein (Cermak. 2012). I hope I do not have to point you towards the irony in the headline of this On Short Notice item. If this ain't your first visit to the SuppVersity you should by now be aware that calculations like add 1g of protein per day and gain x-amounts of lean muscle mass per month, year or whatever timespan are nonsensical and will provide, if anything, a very general orientation.
  
  That said, it is still interesting to see the actual results Naomi M Cermak et al.'s quantitative meta-analysis of 22 studies, of which 77% were conducted with untrained individuals (64% with young trainees) produced. Most studies, which had a duration of 6-24 weeks (median: 12 weeks), used 3-5 x whole body workouts / splits coupled with milk (mostly whey) protein supplementation in amounts that ranged from 10g to 106g - keep that in mind when you think about how 'exact' the following figures can actually be:
  

  • 

    Size-wise and even more so strength-wise Arnold could still benefit from a protein shake after a workout. When it comes to the increases in type I and type II fiber CSA, his age could however put a spoke in his wheel.

    Fat free and fat mass - Compared with the placebo, protein supplementation significantly augmented the gain in FFM during prolonged resistance-type exercise training (weighted mean difference: 0.69 kg). A subgroup analysis for age showed that protein supplementation was beneficial for both the young and the old trainees, but that the total effect size in terms of fat free mass gains were ~1.7x higher in the young subject (+0.81 kg) than in the older ones (+0.48 kg;) subjects.
    
    What I find particularly surprising is that the subgroup analysis also revealed that training status had no significant and what's more, if anything a beneficial effect on the effect sizes in the young untrained (+0.75 kg) and trained subjects (+0.98 kg), respectively.
    
    As far as fat loss is concerned the scientists did not record any statistical significant differences compared to placebo and that despite the fact that the placebo in most of the 22 studies was a sugary carbohydrate drink.
  • Muscle fiber cross sectional area - As the gains in lean mass already suggest, the cross sectional area (CSA) of the muscle fibers increased: By ~ 212µm² in the type I fibers and 291µm² in type II fibers. Unfortunately, both the increases in type I and type II fibers were statistically significant only in the young trainees.
  • 1-RM Strength - The performance for the one-rep maximum (1RM) on the leg press improved across the board (+13.5kg more than in placebo) and that did work almost equally well for younger (+14.4kg) and older trainees (+13.1kg).
  I will leave it up do you what you want to do with this data and whether you think that studies like this are actually useful for the individual practitioner who does not - contrary to way too many dietitians - have to be convinced of the benefits of protein supplementation on top of the low 0.8g per body weight the dietary guidelines recommend.

That's it another saturdaily installment of On Short Notice and in case you feel that you could use some more educative news, tomorrow is another day ;-)

References:

• Caruso S, Intelisano G, Lupo L, Agnello C. Premenopausal women affected by sexual arousal disorder treated with sildenafil: a double-blind, cross-over, placebo-controlled study. BJOG. 2001 Jun;108(6):623-8.
• Cermak NM, Res PT, de Groot LC, Saris WH, van Loon LJ. Protein supplementation augments the adaptive response of skeletal muscle to resistance-type exercise training: a meta-analysis. Am J Clin Nutr. 2012 Nov 7.
• Folsom AR, Hong CP. Magnesium intake and reduced risk of colon cancer in a prospective study of women. Am J Epidemiol. 2006 Feb 1;163(3):232-5.
• Hay J, Maximova K, Durksen A, Carson V, Rinaldi RL, Torrance B, Ball GD, Majumdar SR, Plotnikoff RC, Veugelers P, Boulé NG, Wozny P, McCargar L, Downs S, Lewanczuk R, McGavock J. Physical Activity Intensity and Cardiometabolic Risk in Youth. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2012 Sep 10:1-8. doi: 10.1001/archpediatrics.2012.1028.
• Kuno T, Hatano Y, Tomita H, Hara A, Hirose Y, Hirata A, Mori H, Terasaki M, Masuda S, Tanaka T. Organo-Magnesium Suppresses Inflammation-Associated Colon Carcinogenesis in Male Crj: CD-1 Mice. Carcinogenesis. 2012 Nov 3.
• Murdolo G, Sjöstrand M, Strindberg L, Lönnroth P, Jansson PA. The Selective Phosphodiesterase-5 Inhibitor Tadalafil Induces Microvascular and Metabolic Effects in Type 2 Diabetic Postmenopausal Females. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2012 Nov 1.
• Rosenblat M, Volkova N, Aviram M. Pomegranate phytosterol (β-sitosterol) and polyphenolic antioxidant (punicalagin) addition to statin, significantly protected against macrophage foam cells formation. Atherosclerosis. Available online 31 October 2012.
• Siener R, Jahnen A, Hesse A. Bioavailability of magnesium from different pharmaceutical formulations. Urol Res. 2011 Apr;39(2):123-7.
• Wark PA, Lau R, Norat T, Kampman E. Magnesium intake and colorectal tumor risk: a case-control study and meta-analysis. Am J Clin Nutr. 2012 Sep;96(3):622-31. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.111.030924. Epub 2012 Aug 1.