(Atlanta) - See those ads on the effects of building the body of popular DHEA and Androstenione supplements? I do not buy it. Unlike some previous and very hype studies of the sector, a new study in the December issue of medicine and science in sports and exercises we discover that they are ineffective.
Among those disappointed with study discoveries - their author leadership. "I was waiting for more," M. Brian Wallace, Doctor, Research Director, Applied Physiology and Nutrition in Orlando's LGE performance systems, Fla., Says the WebMD. Which Wallace was, instead, the statistical testing proof that use DHEA or Androstenientione, commonly called "Andro", leads to increased lean body mass and the reduction of body fat.
forty middle-aged men with more than the experience of the year in weight training participated in the study. Its ages ranged from 40 to 60 - an age group that should have benefited from the use of supplements, since the natural production of these hormones falls steadily after young adult, according to the researchers.
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Men were assigned to three supplementation groups. For a period of three months, a group took a daily dose of Androstenientione, another group received a dose of DHEA, and a third group received a placebo. All men continued their usual exercise and food schemes during this time.
Wallace says that theoretically both Androstenientione and DHEA must have increased lean body mass at the expense of fat because they are transformed into the body to the male hormone testosterone. But there was little change in muscle mass or body fat content using the supplement. Also there was no significant change in muscle strength, based on how much men could stench and leg press. And his aerobic capacity also has not changed much.
in the dosage used in the study - 100 mg per day - the researchers did not find significant side effects at the end of the study.
"I think the big problem with the study is the low dose used [100 mg]," says Cathy Momous, PhD. "Typically, the weightlifters take 500-1200 mg per day. that they really do not test a realistic situation. "
Fomous, who is a science communicator with the industry's commercial group The Council for Responsible Nutrition, says the low dose may also be why researchers did not find adverse effects of supplements.
But the study The results are not surprising for Douglas King, PhD, who got up extensively Androstenientione. King, associate professor of the Department of Health and Human Performance at the Iowa State University in Des Moines, says neither DHEA nor androsteniente should be considered "anabolic" steroids (body-building) because they simply do not work. "It's very clear that Androstenientione does not raise testosterone levels, and the same is true of DHEA," says King. What is equally clear to the king, based on his own research, is that Androstenientione reduces the levels of "good" cholesterol (HDL) - discoveries published last summer in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
If they do not work and since at least one can have potentially harmful side effects, how do these products become so popular? King explains a reason is that supplement companies have promoted their use based on questionable data. "They used two sources of information," says King. "One was a role of 1962, where Androstenientione and Dhea were given to two women, and raised levels of testosterone in the blood. The other reference frequently used was a East German patent for the use of Androstenione."
King says Eastern German data claims a huge increase in blood testosterone levels after androstenientione, but does not give details about the age, condition or sex of the patients studied - factors that could tilt the results.
More studies on these products - including one sponsored by the main baseball alloy - must be leaving in the coming months. But for now, there is concern - even from the supplement industry - on the use of "Andro" and DHEA among adolescents. "If you've got a muscle magazine - it's where young athletes get their information," says Chris Rosenbloom, Rd, PhD, associate professor of nutrition at the State University of Georgia in Atlanta.
"What I always tell people is: 'You want deregulation, this is the price you pay. You have to be more vigilant as consumer'"
Vital information:
- Theoretically, androstenization and DHEA should cause an increase in lean body mass because both are transformed into testosterone into the body.
- A new study, however, shows that no supplement significantly affects muscle mass, body fat content, muscle strength or aerobic capacity.
- A critique of the study is that the dosage of supplements may have been very low.
