Nestle Versus Cytosport Muscle Milk

The greed out there is overwhelming.

You know Nestle; who doesn't right? They are hyuuuuuuge. And they are really into milk. I know I just loves me some Carnation evaporated milk in my coffee. They have a whole bunch of milk-based products marketed under the brands Nesquik and Carnation.

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What Are Herbs Really Good For? Catnip and Fennel

I recently published some very informative articles on ergogenic dietary supplements by Melvin Williams. Or at least "supposedly" ergogenic dietary supplements. Obviously, while many supplements may have health benefits, some are more ergogenic than others.

As you may recall, an ergogenic is anything that can help us do work or increase our capacity to do work. In other words improve our performance.

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Colloidal Silver And Other Silver Products

Colloidal silver¹is just one of many names given to silver supplements, such as ionic silver and silver protein, all of which are marketed with similar claims as dietary supplements and have been claimed to be effective for a variety of health conditions and for general health support. Among these claims are:

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Phospholipids and Sports Performance

Phospholipids are essential components of all biological membranes. Phosphatidylcholine (PC) and Phosphatidylserine (PS) are Phosphatidyl-phospholipids that are required for normal cellular structure and function. The participation in physical activity often challenges a variety of physiological systems; consequently, the ability to maintain normal cellular function during activity can determine sporting performance. The participation in prolonged intense exercise has been shown to reduce circulatory choline concentrations in some individuals. As choline is a pre-cursor to the neurotransmitter Acetylcholine, this finding has encouraged researchers to investigate the hypothesis that supplementation with PC (or choline salts) could enhance sporting performance.

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Metabolites, Constituents And Extracts

This is the fifth in a series of six articles to discuss the major classes of dietary supplements (vitamins; minerals; amino acids; herbs or botanicals; and metabolites/constituents/extracts). The major focus is on efficacy of such dietary supplements to enhance exercise or sports performance.

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Herbs and Sports Performance

This is the fourth in a series of six articles to discuss the major classes of dietary supplements (vitamins; minerals; amino acids; herbs or botanicals; metabolites, constituents/extracts, or combinations). The major focus is on efficacy of such dietary supplements to enhance exercise or sport performance.

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Amino Acids and Sports Performance

This is the third in a series of six articles to discuss the major classes of dietary supplements (vitamins; minerals; amino acids; herbs or botanicals; metabolites, constituents/extracts, or combinations). The major focus is on efficacy of such dietary supplements to enhance exercise or sport performance.

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Minerals and Sports Performance

Minerals are essential for a wide variety of metabolic and physiologic processes in the human body. Some of the physiologic roles of minerals important to athletes are their involvement in: muscle contraction, normal hearth rhythm, nerve impulse conduction, oxygen transport, oxidative phosphorylation, enzyme activation, immune functions, antioxidant activity, bone health, and acid-base balance of the blood. The two major classes of minerals are the macrominerals and the trace elements. The scope of this article will focus on the ergogenic theory and the efficacy of such mineral supplementation.

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Vitamins and Sports Performance

Sports success is dependent primarily on genetic endowment in athletes with morphologic, psychologic, physiologic and metabolic traits specific to performance characteristics vital to their sport. Such genetically-endowed athletes must also receive optimal training to increase physical power, enhance mental strength, and provide a mechanical advantage. However, athletes often attempt to go beyond training and use substances and techniques, often referred to as ergogenics¹, in attempts to gain a competitive advantage. Pharmacological agents, such as anabolic steroids and amphetamines, have been used in the past, but such practices by athletes have led to the establishment of anti-doping legislation and effective testing protocols to help deter their use. Thus, many athletes have turned to various dietary strategies, including the use of various dietary supplements (sports supplements), which they presume to be effective, safe and legal.

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Creatine And Exercise

The use of creatine as a sport supplement has been surrounded by both controversy and fallacy since it gained widespread popularity in the early 1990's. Anecdotal and media reports have often claimed that creatine usage is a dangerous and unnecessary practice; often linking creatine use to anabolic steroid abuse [1]. Many athletes and experts in the field have reported that creatine supplementation is not only beneficial for athletic performance and various medical conditions but is also clinically safe [2-5]. Although creatine has recently been accepted as a safe and useful ergogenic aid, several myths have been purported about creatine supplementation.

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Anaconda Meets Alan Aragon

As a follow up to this post in regards to T-Nations latest over the top supplement article: Alan Aragon in his typical thorough fashion, has gone a bit further than my simple moral outrage and posted a great article: Supplement Marketing on Steroids by Alan Aragon

Look, it's about time we all say enough is enough. I said it before and I'll keep saying it…I will not link there. I don't care who you are…your article appears there it ain't linked here. And I got news for you..it's people like me who helped put you on the map. Trust me, we all stand up and it WILL make a difference.

I do not find it necessary to applaud con artists for their superior marketing abilities. The fact is they've been doing this kind of thing for a long, long time. For every older person they lose there is a younger beginner ready to take his place, blissfully unaware of their blatant disregard for anything resembling "truth". These guys will do anything to sell you a supplement and the fact that some of the most popular strength coaches around not only hang their hats there but participate in their shenanigans by shilling the crap in their articles is shameful.

Edit.

Oh, how naive I am sometimes. The only person, it seems, who will ever make a true stand against crap like this, as far as the people I know or know of, in the industry, is myself and my close friends. People will continue to contribute to this crap because it is high profile and will help their internet career, probably thinking they will be the "light" in the darkness that will make it all right. Integrity does NOT exist, to any large extent, in this industry. If you entered into the fitness world, a service profession, to get famous, then by all means, go to the dogs. It's the expedient thing to do.

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I, Bodybuilder

I am sometimes late to things like this because, frankly, I don't have time to keep up with the newest bodybuilding crap on the web. But this takes the cake. I thought it was a joke at first.

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Cissus Quadrangularis & Irvingia Gabonensis Combination

Aim: To evaluate the effects of two formulations, Cissus quadrangularis-only and a Cissus
quadrangularis/Irvingia gabonensis combination, on weight loss in overweight and obese human
subjects.

Methods: The study was a 10 week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled design involving 72 obese or overweight participants (45.8% male; 54.2% female; ages 21–44; mean age = 29.3). The participants were randomly divided into three equal (n = 24) groups: placebo, Cissus quadrangularisonly, and Cissus quadrangularis/Irvingia gabonensis combination. Capsules containing the placebo or active formulations were administered twice daily before meals; no major dietary changes nor exercises were suggested during the study. A total of six anthropomorphic and serological measurements (body weight, body fat, waist size; total plasma cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, fasting blood glucose level) were taken at baseline and at 4, 8 and 10 weeks.

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Hmb Effect On Exercise Performance And Body Composition

The leucine metabolite beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) has been extensively used as an ergogenic aid; particularly among bodybuilders and strength/power athletes, who use it to promote exercise performance and skeletal muscle hypertrophy. While numerous studies have supported the efficacy of HMB in exercise and clinical conditions, there have been a number of conflicting results. Therefore, the first purpose of this paper will be to provide an in depth and objective analysis of HMB research. Special care is taken to present critical details of each study in an attempt to both examine the effectiveness of HMB as well as explain possible reasons for conflicting results seen in the literature. Within this analysis, moderator variables such as age, training experience, various states of muscle catabolism, and optimal dosages of HMB are discussed.

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Fish Oil May Help You Burn Fat...

But Not THAT Much Fat!

What the latest research says about omega-3 fatty acids and weight loss

By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
www.BurnTheFat.com

Unless you’ve been living under a rock somewhere for the last several years, you’ve probably heard about the health benefits of eating fatty fish or taking fish oil supplements. Well, it looks like you might be able to add fat loss alongside the other benefits like heart, blood (cholesterol/triglycerides), brain, skin and joint health (and the rest of the list, which is too long to print here).

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