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Rauwolscine

AKA: Alpha Yohimbine, Isoyohimbine, Corynanthidine

The Mythology: Yohimbine‘s shiny new cousin. All the fat burning magic of Yohimbine without the jitters.

The Truth: Woefully under-researched. No human obesity trials to date. Big industry spin from in vitro research and animal studies. Go for it if self-experimentation is your thing.

Research: In the late 80′s and 90′s with obesity and lifestyle research really taking off, scientists were interested in new treatment strategies for taking off pounds. Drugs acting on adrenoceptors were a natural and easy target. They were well studied and with a relatively good side effect profile. The lipid mobilising effects of alpha-receptor antagonists have been known for some time now 1 Drugs like Yohimbine, Alpha-Yohimbine and Idoxazan appeared to show promising results with rats and dogs.

Alpha Yohimbine is a stereoisomer of Yohimbine – an alpha receptor blocking drug.The rationale for Alpha Yohimbine use over Yohimbine is that it is far more specific for blocking Alpha 2 receptors than Alpha 1 receptors. 50 times more specific to be exact. (Bradley 2007) Alpha 2 receptor blockade is what results in lipid (read fat) mobilisation, as they block the reuptake of adrenalin and therefore increase ‘sympathetic’ tone ie: crudely put, more adrenaline or flight/fight chemical in your blood. Alpha 1 blockade also comes with side effects such as reduced blood pressure, jitters etc.

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Lecithin

AKA: Choline, Phospholipids, Phosphatidyl Serine

The Mythology: Make you pump long-time!

The Truth: Use lecithin instead of expensive branded choline salts. Yes improves endurance, well being and a host of other things.

Research: There is evidence that Choline in the form of lecithin could be useful for endurance activities and long training sessions if ingested. The market appears to be flooded with a number of Choline salts, some more exotic sounding than others. However its critical to remember that plain old lecithin touted by Schwarzenegger back in the olden days of steroid enhanced bodybuilding, fares better in studies than its new fangled cousins. Studies show lecithin is 12 times more effective than inorganic choline salts at raising human blood choline levels after 24 hours. 1 The oral ingestion of inorganic choline salts (e.g. choline chloride, choline citrate, choline bitartrate) leads to losses of approximately 60% of the available choline, through conversion to trimethylamine by intestinal bacteria. Also, athletes taking doses in the range of 1.0 – 8.0 g in the form of Choline Citrate do not seem to benefit from Choline ingestion. It appears that the studies in which phospholipids have been found to have no effect on sports performance were the studies in which choline salts rather than lecithin was used. Furthermore lecithin contains both the phospholipids implicated as having ergogenic potential – Phosphatidylcholine and Phosphatidylserine. Bodybuilders would do well to use inexpensive Lecithin rather than other expensive choline salts.

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Placebo

The Mythology: Something you think works but actually doesn’t

The Truth: Something you think works and therefore works in a mind over matter fashion.

Research: Placebo effects are extremely powerful in sports and probably account for a large portion of the benefit that people get from supplements. Studies show that they can be powerful ergogenic agents, improving a subjects muscle mass, strength, endurance, pain thresholds and even endurance. In one study untrained students who were given a placebo but told that they were ingesting potent amino acids, improved their bench press performance by nearly 20% (Kalasountas 2007). In another, amateur weightlifters improved their press performance in a number of exercises by nearly 10% when they were given inert sugar pills but informed they were getting anabolic steroids (Ariel and Saville 2007). Their gains vanished after they were told what they were getting – along with some of their pride I would imagine.

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Boron

The Mythology: Testosterone booster of epic proportions.

The Truth: Only good for killing cockroaches.

Research: Its hard to believe that there actually was a time when Boron was hailed as breakthrough supplement who’s time had come. Then new supplements came along and lacklustre research showed Boron the door. It keeps a low but persistent profile these days. The evidence base is awful. I wouldn’t touch it if I was you. The entire hype about Boron was orchestrated around results extrapolated from one 1987 study by Nielsen who demonstrated increased testosterone levels in post-menopausal women! Further research has demonstrated no changes in body mass, testosterone or strength when taken by bodybuilders.

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Synerpine

AKA: Citrus Aurantium, Bitter Orange, N-Methyltyramine

The Mythology: Organic Ephedra, that burns fat without all those nasty ephedra side-effects like anxiety and death.

The Truth: Shows promise but early days yet in terms of good trials. Give us one good study.

Research: With the increasing media concern and eventual FDA ban on Ephedra as an OTC weight loss supplement, the industry has been scrambling around looking for replacements. Several of them have repackaged old favorites, swapping Ephedra for Citrus Aurantium, claiming it has equal or better weight reduction properties than Ephedra, but does it?

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Yohimbine

The Mythology: Fat burner with a capital Y

The Truth: Needs more research in athletes. Evidence comes from a single study that needs replicating.

Research: For a long time there was very little evidence for the efficacy of Yohimbine as a fat loss drug. Then in 2007 a Serbian study showed modest reductions in body fat in elite soccer players. No gains were found in muscle mass or performance. Previous studies were conducted on normal or obese people versus athletes. The results are intriguing but definitely not convincing. I’ll up its rating when I see further evidence from sports focused studies.

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Arginine

AKA: Nitric Oxide

The Mythology: Pre-workout jet fuel. Tunes you up like a muscle car on nitrous.

The Truth: Delays fatigue and improves strength. Not quite the same robust evidence base as Creatine though. Getting there?

Research: Arginine supplementation is believed to enhance levels of Nitric Oxide in the blood, causing dilation of blood vessels in the muscle, much the same way Sildenafil (Viagra) does in the penis (eep!)

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HMB

AKA: Beta-Hydroxy-Beta-Methylbutyrate

The Mythology: Anticatabolic supercompound, increases strength and muscle mass. Decreases fat.

The Truth: Noobs may benefit with minor strength gains in the lower body. Body comp changes mostly a pipe dream.

Research: HMB or beta-hydroxy beta-methylbutyrate is a by-product of the essential amino acid leucine, proposed to influence muscle protein metabolism and cell membrane integrity.

HMB is claimed to influence strength and lean body mass1.2. by acting as an anticatabolic agent, minimizing protein breakdown and damage to cells that may occur with intense exercise. Research shows that previously untrained men may benefit from HMB supplementation, in terms of minor gains in strength.5.6. Evidence for gains in lean mass or fat loss are less awesome both in trained and untrained individuals with more nays that yeas.

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Green Tea

AKA: Oolong Tea, Tea, Camelia Sinensis

The Mythology: Speeds up metabolism and burns fat

The Truth: Speeds up metabolism and burns fat!

Research: Green Tea is rich in tannin like substances called Catechins. In Black Tea, Catechins are oxidized during the fermenting process leading to their conversion into Theaflavins and Thearubins. Apparently these are less potent antioxidants than ones found in green tea. Green tea, oolong tea and white tea are consumed primarily in China, Japan and a few countries in North Africa and the Middle East. Tea is made from the leaves of Camellia Sinensis L. species of the Theaceae family, Green Tea being the non-oxidized, non-fermented product, Oolong Tea the semioxidized, semifermented product; White Tea is made from the youngest buds of the plant that undergo even less processing than green tea.

As a consequence of this, all teas contain high quantities of several polyphenolic components such as epicatechin, epicatechin gallate, epigallocatechin and, the most abundant and probably the most pharmacologically active, epigallocatechin gallate. Tea leaves that have been processed the least contain the most catechins. From caffeine, that is also present in green tea, it has been reported that it has thermogenic effects and can stimulate fat oxidation in vitro, in part through sympathetic activation of the central nervous system.

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Capsaicin

The Mythology: Spicy food up your metabolism and make you burn fat faster. Spicing foods up means you eat less of it.

The Truth: Thermogenesis yes. No proven effect on weight as yet – more research needed.

Research: There are two chief claims with Capsaicin and spicy food in general. The first is that it promotes satiety by its irritant properties. Secondly that it is thermogenic – or causes the body to produce heat and therefore increases BMI, ‘burning fat’.

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