You must be thinking...this Dr. Antonio is off his rocker. And to that, I attest to wholeheartedly. In actuality, the above allusion is to a conversation that I've participated in countless times regarding the debate of whole foods versus supplements (i.e., the gelcap allusion).

I take the position (which mind you is the right position!) that what you consume depends on what your ultimate goal is. If your primary goal is gastrointestinal motility, then I'd suggest lots of water, fruits and vegetables. And lots of Charmin, too. But if your goal is to get bigger, faster and stronger, then a diet that emphasizes lots of protein, a modicum of unprocessed carbs, plenty of healthy fat (from fish and nuts) and effective sports supplements is in tall order. The argument I often get from clinicians is that "food is great but supplements are bad, evil, bad, evil" Did I say bad and evil? To that I say, what friggin' difference does it make if I get my omega-3 fats from a pill versus whole fish? If you can eat fish two or three times per week, great!

If you friggin' hate fish, then the only way to get omega-3 fats in any appreciable amount is a stinkin' pill! You do the strategy that works. When folks buy orange juice that's fortified with calcium, why is taking calcium better that way than just taking it in a pill? Does it really matter how you get nutrients as long as you get enough of them to satisfy whatever your specific goal is? Furthermore, if you read the science, the proper use of supplements will produce much quicker and more significant gains in performance and lean body mass than changes in diet or training. So if you want results, use supplements. If you want to have so-so results, don't use supplements.

Ugh. I can't stand dummies. And to these dummies, I reiterate the following: supplements are a training tool just like great nutrition, a great coach, etc. You take what is useful and discard what is useless. That's it. No more. No less. It isn't a "good" or "bad" thing in the moral sense. It just is. And with that, I'd like to provide you with some interesting supplement tidbits recently in the news!

CoQ10 for Muscles

I know, I know. You've heard of CoQ10 and that it's good for the heart and for those who partake in aerobic exercise with the enthusiasm of a child on Christmas Day. Well, I implore you take a look a bit closer at this amazing molecule. Because indeed, CoQ10 may be as useful for those who spend as much time pumping iron as the do putting in miles on the track. Let's face it. Hard and intense exercise causes muscular injury and increases oxidative stress (i.e., from free radicals). What effect does the antioxidant coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) have on muscular injury and oxidative stress during exercise training? Well in this particular study, 18 male students, all elite Japanese kendo athletes, were randomly assigned to either a CoQ10 group or a placebo group in a double-blind manner.

If you're not sure what kendo is and remember, don't confuse it with Nintendo, but kendo is practiced wearing traditionally styled clothing and protective armor using one or two bamboo swords as weapons. Kendo is often defined as the Japanese style of fencing. I define it as two guys hitting each other with wooden swords. Tough stuff indeed. Anyhow, subjects in the CoQ10 group took 300mg CoQ10 daily for 20 days whereas the subjects in the placebo group took the same dosage of a placebo. All subjects practiced kendo 5 to 6 hours per day for six days during the experimental period. Blood samples were taken two weeks before, during (days one, three and five) and one week after the training. Indeed, this CoQ10 stuff works!

They discovered that serum creatine kinase (at day three), myoglobin (at day three) and lipid peroxide (at day three and five) of the CoQ10 group were lower than those of the placebo group. This indicates that CoQ10 supplementation reduced exercise-induced muscular injury in kendo athletes. The effects of Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) supplementation was further examined with regard to exercise-induced injury and oxidative stress in skeletal muscle and liver of rats.

In this rodent model, they found proof that CoQ10 supplementation increased total CoQ10 concentration in the slow-twitch muscles and was good for reducing exhaustive exercise-induced muscular injury; apparently, CoQ10 helps make the muscle cell membrane more stable. And furthermore, another human study proved that the acute supplementation of CoQ10 resulted in higher muscle CoQ10 concentration and lower oxidative stress and increased exercise time to exhaustion!

PLC + CoQ1O + Vitamins

What happens when you combine a chock-full of other ergogenic aids with CoQ10? Specifically, a formulation of propionyl-L-carnitine (PLC), coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10), nicotinamide (NAM), riboflavin and pantothenic acid? This ****tail was given to rats for seven weeks and its efficacy was tested. They found that long-term supplementation significantly improved horizontal locomotor activity by about 19 percent in male and 26 percent in female rats. Meaning, these little rodent suckers could exercise longer! Maximum values of shortening velocity, work and power were significantly increased in the heart muscle of these rats; thus, supplementation with this supplement ****tail elicits positive functional changes on heart and skeletal muscle.

Creatine for Dummies

In perhaps one of the dumbest articles ever written by a journalist, entitled "Creatine Craze Not All It's 'Pumped' UpTo Be" (https://news. medill.northwestern.edu/washington/news.aspx?id=80965 by Liz Coffey Mar 06, 2008; WASHINGTON). But believe it or not, the article is all downhill from there! Here are some of the stupidest items you'll ever read in an article. And these are quotes directly from Ms. Coffey. I added my little comments under her little Einsteinian quotes.

“Creatine is legal because it is not a performance-enhancing supplement.” This is a perfect example of a sentence making no sense whatsoever.
“It does not improve athletic performance, but it does aid in training.” Really? I guess she hasn't read the hundreds of studies showing that creatine improves performance in numerous feats of muscular strength and power.
“Those who use the supplement do look bigger, but it's oftentimes because they have put on additional water weight, not muscle.” Mmm...is she illiterate?
“Too much creatine, however, is not a good thing. Problems - like kidney failure - Call arise.” Yep. That's right. Kidney failure! If she were in my graduate class in sports nutrition, she'd get an "F" for being so friggin' stupid. There is evidence for this. (see references!)
“If you want to bulk up the natural way, doctors recommend eating foods with plenty of protein and vitamin B. Sticking to a strict training regimen may also give you flex-worthy pecks.”

You gotta admit that's funny. She calls 'em pecks rather than pecs. Like a peck on the cheek. Dummy. Just so we are clear, the notion of kidney problems and creatine is just hogwash. Here is a recent study that evaluated the effects of creatine supplementation on renal function in healthy sedentary males (18-35 years old) submitted to exercise training.

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was performed. Subjects (n = 18) were randomly allocated to receive treatment with either creatine (CR) (approximately 10g daily over three months) or placebo (PL) (dextrose). All subjects undertook moderate-intensity aerobic training, in three 40-minute sessions per week, during three months. What happened? Did their kidneys fail? Heck no. In fact, they concluded that “high-dose creatine supplementation over three months does not provoke any renal dysfunction in healthy males undergoing aerobic training.”

mTor For Sure!

You're probably wondering what the heck mTor is? Yeah, me too. Well at least we know it stands for the mammalian target of rapamycin. In English, what mTor is or does is as follows. mTOR acts as a master switch for turning cells on, thus signaling them to grow, proliferate and avoid cell death. mTOR does this via two types of anabolic signals: 1) from nutrients that pass into the cell and 2) activated growth factor receptors.

For now, let's focus on the nutrients. Because this is where the cutting-edge science is being done. Scientists hypothesized that enhanced mTOR signaling might be responsible for the greater muscle protein synthesis when leucine -enriched EAA +CHOs (essential amino acids plus carbohydrates) are ingested during the post-exercise recovery period. Sixteen male subjects were randomized to one of two groups (control or EAA+CHO).The EAA+CHO group ingested the nutrient solution 60 minutes after weight training.

mTOR signaling was assessed by immunoblotting from repeated muscle biopsy samples. Post-exercise muscle protein synthesis was elevated above baseline in both groups at 1 hour, but was even further elevated in the EAA+CHO group at 2 hours post-exercise. They also found an enhanced activation of the mTOR-signaling pathway, thus showing that it plays a significant role in the higher synthesis of muscle proteins when resistance exercise is followed by EAA+CHO ingestion. So here you have a dietary supplement causing an anabolic effect via enhanced signaling of molecular switches in your body. Pretty darn cool if you ask me.

Bitter Gourd

Bitter gourd (also known as bitter melon or Momordica charantia) is a vegetable found in tropical climates that has a variety of anti-diabetic ingredients such as charantin, vicine and polypeptide-p, as well as patent antioxidant effects. Scientists examined the effect of bitter gourd extract on insulin sensitivity and proximal insulin-signaling pathways in high fat-fed rats.

Of course when you feed rats a diet high in fat for 10 weeks, they show a decrease in glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity. Bitter gourd extract supplementation for two week-(9th and 10th) of high-fat feeding improved the glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity. Thus, according to the lab rats (the humans, not the actual rats), “bitter gourd extract improves insulin sensitivity, glucose tolerance and insulin signaling” Certainly, an improvement in insulin signaling or sensitivity is a great thing if your goal is promoting optimal gains in lean body mass. Insulin is considered “the” key anabolic hormone in your body. And anything you can do to enhance its effects is critically important!