Supplements Made Easy - Part 3
Posted October 26th, 2006 at 12:15 PM by Jonathan Faccone
Section: Nutrition, Supplements
This is Part 3 in my “Supplements Made Easy” Seriesfor runners and other endurance athletes. Make sure to also go back and read Part 1 and Part 2!
Shopping for supplements can be a daunting task, but remember to keep it simple and that supplementation will only help if you first help yourself by doing your best in giving your body what is needs via your food intake.
Once you have taken care of proper eating, you can move onto supplements. Keep in mind, everyone’s body is different and therefore supplementation choices that you pick should be as unique as yourself.
BCAA (Branched chain amino acids) include the leucine, isoleucine, and valine. They are essential for aerobic metabolism and may have performance enhancing qualities for endurance events lasting longer then three hours. Lack of BCAA’s during endurance events could accelerate the breakdown of muscle glycogen and cause premature muscle fatigue.
Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid found in the body and is usually used for strength training as a muscle recovery agent, but may benefit endurance athletes as well. Evidence has shown that in times of stress, like exercise, the body cannot produce enough of this amino acid. This has been shown to contribute to muscle breakdown, diminished immune function and reduced performance.
Supplementation with 6-8 grams/day of BCAA and glutamine has been shown to decrease protein degradation during ultra-distance triathlon competition, decrease exercise induced muscle damage after prolonged running, and has shown to improve performance in 40K cycling time trial performance
Calcium may be the most needed supplement in athletes. A study was performed on 10,000 male and female athletes from ages 7-50 and a little less then half of them actually consumed the recommended dietary intake of 1,000mg/day. Those athletes who do not consume enough calcium, especially those who do not dairy, are recommended to take a calcium supplement.
Iron is a trace mineral and supplementation is not recommended for the casual athlete who trains less the four hours per week. However, athletes who train more then six hours per week often have iron-deficiency anemia. This occurs more often with female athletes than with males. Iron-deficient athletes should take some form of a supplement (please check with your doctor first!). Sometimes this can be done simply through an advanced multi-vitamin like GNC’s ProPerformace Gold with Iron (This comes in a vegetarian formula as well for our herbivore readers!).
Vitamin E is an antioxidant which may interest endurance athletes because their cells undergo more oxidative damage. Research shows athletes have less cellular damage when they ingest more vitamin E. In a study of 30 top-class cyclists, five months of supplementation with natural vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) at an 800-IU daily dose significantly decreased markers of oxidative damage to muscle tissue. However, vitamin E did not benefit specific athletic performance.
***Note: We encourage EVERYONE to see a doctor before altering their diet, taking a supplement and/or performing athletic, fitness or other strenuous physical activity. It is your responsibility to evaluate the accuracy, completeness and usefulness of any information, instruction, opinion or advice contained in the content. Please also see our complete disclaimer.***
Sources: [BodyBuilding.com], [New Hope]
Picture from: [BBC]
***Note: We encourage EVERYONE to see a doctor before altering their diet, taking a supplement and/or performing athletic, fitness or other strenuous physical activity. It is your responsibility to evaluate the accuracy, completeness and usefulness of any information, instruction, opinion or advice contained in the content. Please also see our complete disclaimer.***
Tags: amino acids, athlete, BCCA, branched chain amino acids, calcium, endurance athletes, food intake, glutamine, iron, isoleucine, leucine, nutrition, performance, supplements, valine, vitamin E, vitamins
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The Final Sprint
[…] Come back tomorrow to read Part 3 of “Supplements Made Easy” and learn about the most important supplements and how to shop for them. […]
October 27th, 2006 at 9:04 pm