Taste of Carbohydrate Increases Muscle Power

Researchers at The University of Auckland have shown for the first time that the mere presence of carbohydrate solution in the mouth immediately boosts muscle strength, even before it is swallowed.

The results suggest that a previously unknown neural pathway is activated when receptors in the mouth detect carbohydrate, stimulating parts of the brain that control muscle activity and producing an increase in muscle strength.

Previous research had shown that the presence of carbohydrate in the mouth can improve physical performance during prolonged activity, but the mechanism involved was not known and it was unclear whether a person must be fatigued for the effect to be seen.

“There appears to be a pathway in the brain that tells our muscles when energy is on the way,” says lead researcher Dr Nicholas Gant from the Department of Sport and Exercise Science.

“We have shown that carbohydrate in the mouth produces an immediate increase in neural drive to both fresh and fatigued muscle and that the size of the effect is unrelated to the amount of glucose in the blood or the extent of fatigue.”

The current research has been published in the journal Brain Research and has also captured the attention of New Scientist magazine.

In the first of two experiments, 16 healthy young men who had been doing biceps exercises for 11 minutes were given a carbohydrate solution to drink or an identically flavored energy-free placebo. Their biceps strength was measured before and immediately afterward, as was the activity of the brain pathway known to supply the biceps.

Around one second after swallowing the drink, neural activity increased by 30 percent and muscle strength two percent, with the effect lasting for around three minutes. The response was not related to the amount of glucose in the bloodstream or how fatigued the participants were.

“It might not sound like much, but a two percent increase in muscle strength is enormous, especially at the elite level. It’s the difference between winning an Olympic medal or not,” says co-author Dr Cathy Stinear.

As might be expected, a second boost in muscle strength was observed after 10 minutes when carbohydrate reached the bloodstream and muscles through digestion, but no additional boost in neural activity was seen at that time.

“Two quite distinct mechanisms are involved,” says Dr Stinear. “The first is the signal from the mouth via the brain that energy is about to be available and the second is when the carbohydrate actually reaches the muscles and provides that energy,” says Dr Stinear.

“The carbohydrate and placebo solutions used in the experiment were of identical flavor and sweetness, confirming that receptors in the mouth can process other sensory information aside from the basic taste qualities of food. The results suggest that detecting energy may be a sixth taste sense in humans,” says Dr Gant.

In the second experiment, 17 participants who had not been doing exercise and were not fatigued simply held one of the solutions in their mouths without swallowing. Measurements of the muscle between the thumb and index finger were taken while the muscle was either relaxed or active.

A similar, though smaller effect was observed as in the first experiment, with a nine percent increase in neural activity produced by the carbohydrate solution compared with placebo. This showed that the response is seen in both large powerful muscles and in smaller muscles responsible for fine hand movements.

“Together the results show that carbohydrate in the mouth activates the neural pathway whether or not muscles are fatigued. We were surprised by this, because we had expected that the response would be part of the brain’s sophisticated system for monitoring energy levels during exercise,” says Dr Stinear.

“Seeing the same effect in fresh muscle suggests that it’s more of a simple reflex – part of our basic wiring – and it appears that very ancient parts of the brain such as the brainstem are involved. Reflexive movements in response to touch, vision and hearing are well known but this is the first time that a reflex linking taste and muscle activity has been described,” she says.

Further research is required to determine the precise mechanisms involved and to learn more about the size of the effect on fresh versus fatigued muscle.

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Article adapted by MD Sports from original press release.
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Contact: Pauline Curtis
The University of Auckland

Insights into how muscle adapts to endurance

Duke University Medical Center researchers have identified the skeletal muscle changes that occur in response to endurance exercise and have better defined the role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in creating new blood vessels, known as angiogenesis, in the process.

VEGF is a protein known to trigger blood vessel growth by activating numerous genes involved in angiogenesis.

The researchers’ new insights could provide a roadmap for medical investigators as they seek to use VEGF in treating human conditions characterized by lack of adequate blood flow, such as coronary artery disease or peripheral arterial disease.

Using mice as animal models, the researchers found that exercise initially stimulates the production of VEGF, which then leads to an increase in the number of capillaries within a specific muscle fiber type, ultimately leading to an anaerobic to aerobic change in the muscle fibers supplied by those vessels. The VEGF gene produces a protein that is known to trigger blood vessel growth.

The results of the Duke experiments were presented by cardiologist Richard Waters, M.D., Nov. 8, 2004, at the American Heart Association’s annual scientific sessions in New Orleans.

“It is known that exercise can improve the symptoms of peripheral arterial disease in humans and it has been assumed that angiogenesis played a role in this improvement,” Waters said. “However, the clinical angiogenesis trials to date utilizing VEGF have been marginally successful and largely disappointing, so we felt it would be better at this point to return to animal studies in an attempt to better understand the angiogenic process.”

The Duke team performed their experiments using a mouse model of voluntary exercise. This experimental approach is important, they explained, because most skeletal muscle adaptation studies utilize electrical stimulation of the muscle, which is much less physiologic and does not as closely mimic what would be expected in human exercise.

When placed in the dark with a running wheel, mice will instinctively run, the researchers said. In the Duke experiments, 41 out of 42 mice “ran” up to seven miles each night. At regular intervals over a 28-day period, the researchers then performed detailed analysis of capillary growth and the subsequent changes in muscle fiber type and compared these findings to sedentary mice.

Mammalian muscle is generally made up of two different fiber types – slow-twitch fibers requiring oxygen to function, and the fast-twitch fibers, which function in the absence of oxygen by breaking down glucose. Because of their need for oxygen, slow-twitch fibers tend to have a higher density of capillaries.

“Exercise training is probably the most widely utilized physiological stimulus for skeletal muscle, but the mechanisms underlying the adaptations muscle fibers make in response to exercise is not well understood,” Waters said. “What we have shown in our model is that increases in the capillary density occur before a significant change from fast-twitch to slow-twitch fiber type, and furthermore, that changes in levels of the VEGF protein occur before the increased capillary density.”

“Interestingly, capillary growth appears to occur preferentially among fast-twitch fibers, and it is these very fibers that likely change to slow-twitch fibers,” Waters said. “Since exercise has the potential to impact an enormous number of clinical conditions, therapeutic manipulations intended to alter the response to exercise would benefit from a more detailed understanding of what actually happens to muscle as a result of exercise.”

The exact relationship between VEGF, exercise induced angiogenesis, and muscle fiber type adaptation is still not clear and will become the focus of the group’s continuing research. The findings from the current study, however, are providing important temporal and spatial clues to the adaptability process.

“Our data suggests that angiogenesis is one of the key early steps in skeletal muscle adaptation and may be an essential step in the adaptability process,” Waters continued. “This understanding could be crucial for designing new studies that can be performed to inhibit the angiogenic response to exercise in order to directly test the links between angiogenesis and skeletal muscle plasticity.”

###

The research team was supported by grants from the American Heart Association and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Other members of the Duke team were Ping Li, Brian Annex, M.D., and Zhen Yan, Ph.D. Svein Rotevatn, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway, was also a member of the team.

Duke University Medical Center researchers have identified the skeletal muscle changes that occur in response to endurance exercise and have better defined the role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in creating new blood vessels, known as angiogenesis, in the process.

VEGF is a protein known to trigger blood vessel growth by activating numerous genes involved in angiogenesis.

The researchers’ new insights could provide a roadmap for medical investigators as they seek to use VEGF in treating human conditions characterized by lack of adequate blood flow, such as coronary artery disease or peripheral arterial disease.

Using mice as animal models, the researchers found that exercise initially stimulates the production of VEGF, which then leads to an increase in the number of capillaries within a specific muscle fiber type, ultimately leading to an anaerobic to aerobic change in the muscle fibers supplied by those vessels. The VEGF gene produces a protein that is known to trigger blood vessel growth.

The results of the Duke experiments were presented by cardiologist Richard Waters, M.D., Nov. 8, 2004, at the American Heart Association’s annual scientific sessions in New Orleans.

“It is known that exercise can improve the symptoms of peripheral arterial disease in humans and it has been assumed that angiogenesis played a role in this improvement,” Waters said. “However, the clinical angiogenesis trials to date utilizing VEGF have been marginally successful and largely disappointing, so we felt it would be better at this point to return to animal studies in an attempt to better understand the angiogenic process.”

The Duke team performed their experiments using a mouse model of voluntary exercise. This experimental approach is important, they explained, because most skeletal muscle adaptation studies utilize electrical stimulation of the muscle, which is much less physiologic and does not as closely mimic what would be expected in human exercise.

When placed in the dark with a running wheel, mice will instinctively run, the researchers said. In the Duke experiments, 41 out of 42 mice “ran” up to seven miles each night. At regular intervals over a 28-day period, the researchers then performed detailed analysis of capillary growth and the subsequent changes in muscle fiber type and compared these findings to sedentary mice.

Mammalian muscle is generally made up of two different fiber types – slow-twitch fibers requiring oxygen to function, and the fast-twitch fibers, which function in the absence of oxygen by breaking down glucose. Because of their need for oxygen, slow-twitch fibers tend to have a higher density of capillaries.

“Exercise training is probably the most widely utilized physiological stimulus for skeletal muscle, but the mechanisms underlying the adaptations muscle fibers make in response to exercise is not well understood,” Waters said. “What we have shown in our model is that increases in the capillary density occur before a significant change from fast-twitch to slow-twitch fiber type, and furthermore, that changes in levels of the VEGF protein occur before the increased capillary density.”

“Interestingly, capillary growth appears to occur preferentially among fast-twitch fibers, and it is these very fibers that likely change to slow-twitch fibers,” Waters said. “Since exercise has the potential to impact an enormous number of clinical conditions, therapeutic manipulations intended to alter the response to exercise would benefit from a more detailed understanding of what actually happens to muscle as a result of exercise.”

The exact relationship between VEGF, exercise induced angiogenesis, and muscle fiber type adaptation is still not clear and will become the focus of the group’s continuing research. The findings from the current study, however, are providing important temporal and spatial clues to the adaptability process.

“Our data suggests that angiogenesis is one of the key early steps in skeletal muscle adaptation and may be an essential step in the adaptability process,” Waters continued. “This understanding could be crucial for designing new studies that can be performed to inhibit the angiogenic response to exercise in order to directly test the links between angiogenesis and skeletal muscle plasticity.”

 

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Article adapted by MD Sports from original press release.
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Contact: Richard Merritt
Duke University Medical Center 

The research team was supported by grants from the American Heart Association and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Rebuilding of skeletal muscle accelerated by Gene therapy

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers have successfully used gene therapy to accelerate muscle regeneration in experimental animals with muscle damage, suggesting this technique may be a novel and effective approach for improving skeletal muscle healing, particularly for serious sports-related injuries. These findings are being presented at the American Society of Gene Therapy annual meeting in Baltimore, May 31 to June 4.

Skeletal muscle injuries are the most common injuries encountered in sports medicine. Although such injuries can heal spontaneously, scar tissue formation, or fibrosis, can significantly impede this process, resulting in incomplete functional recovery. Of particular concern are top athletes, who, when injured, need to recover fully as quickly as possible.

In this study, the Pitt researchers injected mice with a gene therapy vector containing myostatin propeptide–a protein that blocks the activity of the muscle-growth inhibitor myostatin–three weeks prior to experimentally damaging the mice’s skeletal muscles. Four weeks after skeletal muscle injury, the investigators observed an enhancement of muscle regeneration in the gene-therapy treated mice compared to the non-gene-therapy treated control mice. There also was significantly less fibrous scar tissue in the skeletal muscle of the gene-therapy treated mice compared to the control mice.

According to corresponding author Johnny Huard, Ph.D., the Henry J. Mankin Endowed Chair and Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Director of the Stem Cell Research Center of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, this approach offers a significant, long-lasting method for treating serious, sports-related muscle injuries.

“Based on our previous studies, we expect that gene-therapy treated cells will continue to overproduce myostatin propeptide for at least two years. Since the remodeling phase of skeletal muscle healing is a long-term process, we believe that prolonged expression of myostatin propeptide will continue to contribute to recovery of injured skeletal muscle by inducing an increase in muscle mass and minimizing fibrosis. This could significantly reduce the amount of time an athlete needs to recover and result in a more complete recovery,” he explained.

###

Others involved in this study include, Jinhong Zhu, M.D., Yong Li, M.D., Ph.D., of the Growth and Development Laboratory, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh; and Chunping Qiao, M.D., and Xiao Xiao, M.D., Ph.D., of the Molecular Therapies Laboratory, department of orthopaedic surgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers have successfully used gene therapy to accelerate muscle regeneration in experimental animals with muscle damage, suggesting this technique may be a novel and effective approach for improving skeletal muscle healing, particularly for serious sports-related injuries.

Skeletal muscle injuries are the most common injuries encountered in sports medicine. Although such injuries can heal spontaneously, scar tissue formation, or fibrosis, can significantly impede this process, resulting in incomplete functional recovery. Of particular concern are top athletes, who, when injured, need to recover fully as quickly as possible.

In this study, the Pitt researchers injected mice with a gene therapy vector containing myostatin propeptide–a protein that blocks the activity of the muscle-growth inhibitor myostatin–three weeks prior to experimentally damaging the mice’s skeletal muscles. Four weeks after skeletal muscle injury, the investigators observed an enhancement of muscle regeneration in the gene-therapy treated mice compared to the non-gene-therapy treated control mice. There also was significantly less fibrous scar tissue in the skeletal muscle of the gene-therapy treated mice compared to the control mice.

According to corresponding author Johnny Huard, Ph.D., the Henry J. Mankin Endowed Chair and Professor in Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Director of the Stem Cell Research Center of Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, this approach offers a significant, long-lasting method for treating serious, sports-related muscle injuries.

“Based on our previous studies, we expect that gene-therapy treated cells will continue to overproduce myostatin propeptide for at least two years. Since the remodeling phase of skeletal muscle healing is a long-term process, we believe that prolonged expression of myostatin propeptide will continue to contribute to recovery of injured skeletal muscle by inducing an increase in muscle mass and minimizing fibrosis. This could significantly reduce the amount of time an athlete needs to recover and result in a more complete recovery,” he explained.

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Article adapted by MD Sports from original press release.
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Contact: Jim Swyers

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center 

Others involved in this study include, Jinhong Zhu, M.D., Yong Li, M.D., Ph.D., of the Growth and Development Laboratory, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh; and Chunping Qiao, M.D., and Xiao Xiao, M.D., Ph.D., of the Molecular Therapies Laboratory, department of orthopaedic surgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Cereal and Milk Good for Exercise Muscle Recovery

Cereal and non-fat milk is as good as a commercially-available sports drink in initiating post-exercise muscle recovery.

Background

This study compared the effects of ingesting cereal and nonfat milk (Cereal) and a carbohydrate-electrolyte sports drink (Drink) immediately following endurance exercise on muscle glycogen synthesis and the phosphorylation state of proteins controlling protein synthesis: Akt, mTOR, rpS6 and eIF4E.

Methods

Trained cyclists or triathletes (8 male: 28.0+/-1.6 yrs, 1.8+/-0.0 m, 75.4+/-3.2 kg, 61.0+/-1.6 ml O2 * kg-1 * min-1; 4 female: 25.3+/-1.7 yrs, 1.7+/-0.0 m, 66.9+/-4.6 kg, 46.4+/-1.2 mlO2 * kg-1 * min-1) completed two randomly-ordered trials serving as their own controls. After 2 hours of cycling at 60-65% VO2MAX, a biopsy from the vastus lateralis was obtained (Post0), then subjects consumed either Drink (78.5 g carbohydrate) or Cereal (77 g carbohydrate, 19.5 g protein and 2.7 g fat). Blood was drawn before and at the end of exercise, and at 15, 30 and 60 minutes after treatment. A second biopsy was taken 60 minutes after supplementation (Post60). Differences within and between treatments were tested using repeated measures ANOVA.

Results

At Post60, blood glucose was similar between treatments (Drink 6.1+/-0.3, Cereal 5.6+/-0.2 mmol/L, p<.05), but after Cereal, plasma insulin was significantly higher (Drink 123.1+/-11.8, Cereal 191.0+/-12.3 pmol/L, p<.05), and plasma lactate significantly lower (Drink 1.4+/-0.1, Cereal 1.00+/-0.1 mmol/L, p<.05). Except for higher phosphorylation of mTOR after Cereal, glycogen and muscle proteins were not statistically different between treatments. Significant Post0 to Post60 changes occurred in glycogen (Drink 52.4+/-7.0 to 58.6+/-6.9, Cereal 58.7+/-9.6 to 66.0+/-10.0 mumol/g, p<.05) and rpS6 (Drink 17.9+/-2.5 to 35.2+/-4.9, Cereal 18.6+/-2.2 to 35.4+/-4.4 %Std, p<.05) for each treatment, but only Cereal significantly affected glycogen synthase (Drink 66.6+/-6.9 to 64.9+/-6.9, Cereal 61.1+/-8.0 to 54.2+/-7.2%Std, p<.05), Akt (Drink 57.9+/-3.2 to 55.7+/-3.1, Cereal 53.2+/-4.1 to 60.5+/-3.7 %Std, p<.05) and mTOR (Drink 28.7+/-4.4 to 35.4+/-4.5, Cereal 23.0+/-3.1 to 42.2+/-2.5 %Std, p<.05). eIF4E was unchanged after both treatments.

Conclusion

These results suggest that Cereal is as good as a commercially-available sports drink in initiating post-exercise muscle recovery.

Author: Lynne Kammer, Zhenping Ding, Bei Wang, Daiske Hara, Yi-Hung Liao and John L. Ivy

Credits/Source: Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 2009, 6:11

Carbohydrate Intake Improves Net Muscle Protein Synthesis

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Research News
How to Build Muscle and Increase Strenght With FHL1 Amino Acids that Tell Muscle Cells to Build Protien Decrease Fat and Over Muscle with Growth Factor

Bethesda, MD – A visit to the meat counter at any supermarket is proof positive that a good number of Americans are avoiding carbohydrates and consuming high levels of protein and fat, in accordance with the Atkins diet. This carbohydrate-free, fat- and protein- rich diet is for those seeking immediate weight loss, which means most of us.But what do others, such as weight lifters and callisthenic enthusiasts, do about carbohydrates? Their goal is muscle preservation and strengthening, but for years, different theories have been offered about the effectiveness of carbohydrates in maintaining an appropriate muscle protein balance. A new study may lead to a truce in the debate at the nation’s gymnasiums, and those dedicated to resistance training may finally have an answer as to whether carbohydrates have a positive role in muscle development.

Background

Resistance exercise — also called strength training — increases muscle strength and mass, bone strength, and the body’s metabolism. The different methods for resistance training include free weights, weight machines, calisthenics and resistance tubing. When using free weights, dumbbells, and bars stacked with weight plates, you are responsible for both lifting the weight and determining and controlling your body position through the range of motion.

The body’s net muscle protein balance (i.e., the difference between muscle protein synthesis and protein breakdown) generally remains negative in the recovery period after resistance exercise in the absence of nutrient intake, i.e., the muscle’s protein is breaking down complex chemical compounds to simpler ones. However, it has been demonstrated that infusion or ingestion of amino acids after resistance exercise stimulates muscle protein synthesis. Furthermore, as little as six grams of essential amino acids (EAA) alone effectively stimulates net protein synthesis after a strenuous resistance exercise session.

The body’s response to the six grams of EAA does not appear to differ when 35 grams of carbohydrates are added. This reflects the uncertainty of the independent effects of carbohydrates on muscle protein metabolism after resistance exercise. Additionally, it is unclear how carbohydrate intake causes changes of net protein balance between synthesis and breakdown and how it relates to changes in plasma insulin concentration.

Interpretation of the response of muscle protein to insulin is complicated by the fact that a systemic increase in insulin concentration causes a fall in plasma amino acid concentrations, and this reduced amino acid availability could potentially counteract a direct effect of insulin on synthesis. A past study found that the normal postexercise increase in muscle protein breakdown was slowed by insulin, thus improving net muscle protein balance. However, whereas local infusion of insulin may effectively isolate the effect of insulin per se, the response may differ from when insulin release is stimulated by ingestion of carbohydrates.

A New Study

Accordingly, a new study set out to investigate the independent effect of carbohydrate intake on muscle protein net balance during recovery from resistance exercise. The authors of “Effect Of Carbohydrate Intake on Net Muscle Protein Synthesis During Recovery from Resistance Exercise,” are Elisabet Børsheim, Melanie G. Cree, Kevin D. Tipton, Tabatha A. Elliott, Asle Aarsland, and Robert R. Wolfe, all from the Department of Surgery, Metabolism Unit, Shriners Hospitals for Children-Galveston, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX. Their findings appeared in the February 2004 edition of the Journal of Applied Physiology. The journal is one of 14 peer-reviewed scientific journals published each month by the American Physiological Society (www.APS.org).

Methodology

Sixteen recreationally active and healthy subjects took part in the study. At least one week before an experiment, subjects were familiarized with the exercise protocol, and their one repetition maximum, a maximum weight possible with a leg extension, was determined. The subjects were assigned to one of two groups: carbohydrate group (CHO; n = 8) or placebo group (n = 8). Subjects were instructed not to exercise for at least 48 hours before an experiment, not to use tobacco or alcohol during the 24 h before an experiment, and not to make any changes in their dietary habits.

The two groups of eight subjects performed a resistance exercise bout (10 sets of eight repetitions of leg presses at 80 percent of one repetition maximum) before they rested in bed for four hours. One group (CHO) received a drink consisting of 100 grams of carbohydrates one hour after exercise; the placebo group received a noncaloric placebo drink. Leg amino acid metabolism was determined by infusion of 2H5- or 13C6-labeled phenylalanine, sampling from femoral artery and vein, and muscle biopsies from vastus lateralis, the lateral head of quadriceps muscle of anterior (extensor) compartment of thigh.

Results

Key findings of the study included: 

• Plasma glucose concentration was significantly increased in the carbohydrate group until 210 min after intake of drink. 
• Plasma concentration of insulin reflected the changes in glucose concentration. The drink intake did not affect arterial insulin concentration in the placebo group, whereas arterial insulin increased by several times after the drink in the CHO group. 
• Arterial phenylalanine (a common amino acid in proteins) concentration did not change after intake of drink in the placebo group but decreased and stabilized in the CHO group. 
• Net muscle protein balance between synthesis and breakdown did not change in the placebo group but improved in the CHO group during the second and third hour after the drink. The improved net balance in the CHO group was due primarily to a progressive decrease in muscle protein breakdown.

Conclusions

This study is the first to compare net muscle protein balance (protein synthesis minus breakdown) after carbohydrate ingestion with control after exercise. The principal finding was that intake of 100 grams of carbohydrates after resistance exercise improved muscle net protein balance.

The findings from this research demonstrate that carbohydrates intake alone can improve net protein balance between synthesis and breakdown. In this work, the gradual improvement in net muscle protein balance after carbohydrate intake was due principally to a progressive reduction in breakdown. However, the improvement was small compared with previous findings after intake of amino acids or amino acids and carbohydrates.

The researchers conclude that intake of carbohydrates alone after resistance exercise will modestly improve the anabolic effect of exercise. However, amino acid intake is necessary for a maximal response, one desired by most participating in resistance exercise programs.

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Article adapted by Sports Performance Research from original press release.

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Contact: Donna Krupa

American Physiological Society 

Source: Journal of Applied Physiology. The journal is one of 14 peer-reviewed scientific journals published each month by the American Physiological Society (www.APS.org).

The American Physiological Society (APS) was founded in 1887 to foster basic and applied science, much of it relating to human health. The Bethesda, MD-based Society has more than 10,000 members and publishes 3,800 articles in its 14 peer-reviewed journals every year.

Negative Energy Balance Causes Female Menstrual Disturbance

University Park, Pa. – Female athletes often lose their menstrual cycle when training strenuously, but researchers have long speculated on whether this infertility was due to low body fat, low weight or exercise itself. Now, researchers have shown that the cause of athletic amenorrhea is more likely a negative energy balance caused by increasing exercise without increasing food intake.

“A growing proportion of women are susceptible to losing their menstrual cycle when exercising strenuously,” says Dr. Nancy I. Williams, assistant professor of kineseology and physiology at Penn State. “If women go six to 12 months without having a menstrual cycle, they could show bone loss. Bone densities in some long distance runners who have gone for a prolonged time period without having normal menstrual cycles can be very low.”

In studies done with monkeys, which show menstrual cyclicity much like women, researchers showed that low energy availability associated with strenuous exercise training plays an important role in causing exercise-induced amenorrhea. These researchers, working at the University of Pittsburgh, published findings in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism showing that exercise-induced amenorrhea was reversible in the monkeys by increasing food intake while the monkeys still exercised.

Williams worked with Judy L. Cameron, associate professor of psychiatry and cell biology and physiology at the University of Pittsburgh. Dana L. Helmreich and David B. Parfitt, then graduate students, and Anne Caston-Balderrama, at that time a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Pittsburgh, were also part of the research team. The researchers decided to look at an animal model to understand the causes of exercise-induced amenorrhea because it is difficult to closely control factors, such as eating habits and exercise, when studying humans. They chose cynomolgus monkeys because, like humans, they have a menstrual cycle of 28 days, ovulate in mid-cycle and show monthly periods of menses.

“It is difficult to obtain rigorous control in human studies, short of locking people up,” says Williams.

Previous cross-sectional studies and short-term studies in humans had shown a correlation between changes in energy availability and changes in the menstrual cycle, but those studies were not definitive.

There was also some indication that metabolic states experienced by strenuously exercising women were similar to those in chronically calorie restricted people. However, whether the increased energy utilization which occurs with exercise or some other effect of exercise caused exercise-induced reproductive dysfunction was unknown.

“The idea that exercise or something about exercise is harmful to females was not definitively ruled out,” says Williams. “That exercise itself is harmful would be a dangerous message to put out there. We needed to look at what it was about exercise that caused amenorrhea, what it was that suppresses ovulation. To do that, we needed a carefully controlled study.”

After the researchers monitored normal menstrual cycles in eight monkeys for a few months, they trained the monkeys to run on treadmills, slowly increasing their daily training schedule to about six miles per day. Throughout the training period the amount of food provided remained the standard amount for a normal 4.5 to 7.5 pound monkey, although the researchers note that some monkeys did not finish all of their food all of the time.

The researchers found that during the study “there were no significant changes in body weight or caloric intake over the course of training and the development of amenorrhea.” While body weight did not change, there were indications of an adaptation in energy expenditure. That is, the monkeys’ metabolic hormones also changed, with a 20 percent drop in circulating thyroid hormone, suggesting that the suppression of ovulation is more closely related to negative energy balance than to a decrease in body weight.

To seal the conclusion that a negative energy balance was the key to exercise-induced amenorrhea, the researchers took four of the previous eight monkeys and, while keeping them on the same exercise program, provided them with more food than they were used to. All the monkeys eventually resumed normal menstrual cycles. However, those monkeys who increased their food consumption most rapidly and consumed the most additional food, resumed ovulation within as little as 12 to 16 days while those who increased their caloric intake more slowly, took almost two months to resume ovulation.

Williams is now conducting studies on women who agree to exercise and eat according to a prescribed regimen for four to six months. She is concerned because recreational exercisers have the first signs of ovulatory suppression and may easily be thrust into amenorrhea if energy availability declines. Many women that exercise also restrict their calories, consciously or unconsciously.

“Our goal is to test whether practical guidelines can be developed regarding the optimal balance between calories of food taken in and calories expended through exercise in order to maintain ovulation and regular menstrual cycles,” says Williams. “This would then ensure that estrogen levels were also maintained at healthy levels. This is important because estrogen is a key hormone in the body for many physiological systems, influencing bone strength and cardiovascular health, not just reproduction.”

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Article adapted by MD Sports from original press release.
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Contact: A’ndrea Elyse Messer
Penn State

New Sports Drug Test Detects Athlete Cheating Faster

Research news from Journal of Mass Spectrometry

A new mass spectrometry test can help sports anti-drug doping officials to detect whether an athlete has used drugs that boost naturally occurring steroid levels. The test is more sensitive compared to previous alternatives, more capable of revealing specific suspicious chemical in the body, faster to perform, and could be run on standard drug-screening laboratory equipment. The new test is announced in a special issue of the Journal of Mass Spectrometry that concentrates on detecting drugs in sports.

One of the roles of the masculinising hormone testosterone is to increase muscle size and strength. Taking extra testosterone, or taking a chemical that the body can use to create extra testosterone, could therefore enhance an athlete’s performance. For this reason taking it is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

The exact level of testosterone varies considerably between different people, so simply measuring total testosterone in an athlete’s urine can not show whether he or she has deliberately taken extra. There is, however, a second chemical in the body, epitestosterone, which is normally present in approximately equal proportions to testosterone. Comparing the ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone can then indicate whether testosterone or a precursor has been taken.

The problem is that it is not always easy to measure these two substances, particularly as they are only present in urine at very low concentrations.

A team of scientists the Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory at the University of Utah have developed a test that makes use of liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. This method has incredibly high sensitivity (down to 1 ng/ml) and increases the power with which officials can search for both testosterone and epitestosterone within a sample.

“Our system means that we can determine the testosterone/epitestosterone ratio in a sample with greater confidence, and therefore be in a better position to spot doping violations without falsely accusing innocent athletes,” says lead investigator Dr Jonathan Danaceau.

“Not only is the test more sensitive, it is also faster to perform,” says colleague Scott Morrison.

“Having this sort of test available makes cheating harder and lets us take one more step towards enabling free and fair competition,” says Laboratory Director Dr Matthew Slawson.

This paper is part of a special issue for the Olympic Games from the Journal of Mass Spectrometry which focuses of drug use in sport. The issue is available free of charge online for one month at http://www.interscience.wiley.com/journal/jms. The other articles publishing in this issue are:

 

• History of Mass Spectrometry at Olympic Games (DOI: 10.1002/jms.1445)

• Nutritional supplements cross-contaminated and faked with doping substances (DOI: 10.1002/jms.1452)

• Hair analysis of anabolic steroids in connection with doping control results from horse samples (DOI: 10.1002/jms.1446)

• Mass spectrometric determination of Gonadotrophin releasing hormone (GnRH) in human urine for doping control purposes by means of LC-ESI-MS/MS (DOI: 10.1002/jms.1438)

• Liquid chromatographic-mass spectrometric analysis of glucuronide-conjugated anabolic steroid metabolites: method validation and inter-laboratory comparison (DOI: 10.1002/jms.1434)

• Mass Spectrometry of Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators (DOI: 10.1002/jms.1438)

• Can glycans unveil the origin of glycoprotein hormones? – human chorionic gonadotropin as an example (DOI: 10.1002/jms.1448)

• A High-Throughput Multicomponent Screening Method for Diuretics, Masking Agents, Central Nervous System Stimulants and Opiates in Human Urine by UPLC-MS/MS (DOI: 10.1002/jms.1436)

• The application of carbon isotope ratio mass spectrometry to doping control (DOI: 10.1002/jms.1437)

• Identification of zinc-alpha-2-glycoprotein binding to clone ae7a5 anti-human epo antibody by means of nano-hplc and high-resolution highmass accuracy esi-ms/ms (DOI: 10.1002/jms.1444)

• Low LC-MS/MS Detection of Glycopeptides Released from pmol Levels of Recombinant Erythropoietin using Nanoflow HPLC-Chip Electrospray Ionization (DOI: 10.1002/jms.1439)

• Introduction of HPLC/Orbitrap mass spectrometry as screening method for doping control (DOI: 10.1002/jms.1447)

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Article adapted by MD Sports from original press release.
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Contact: Jennifer Beal
Wiley-Blackwell

Boys and Girls misuse Anabolic Steroids to Achieve Muscular Body Image

University Park, Pa. — Girls and boys are now equally caught up in the social pressure for a muscular body image currently lauded in popular culture. A Penn State researcher contends those pressures are leading girls and boys down unhealthy avenues such as the misuse of anabolic steroids.

“Young girls have always had to struggle against the media stereotypes of stick-thin models or voluptuous sexuality, but with the rising popularity of women sports, girls are bombarded with buffed body images,” says Dr. Charles Yesalis, professor of health policy and administration, and exercise and sports science at Penn State, and editor of the newest edition of the book “Anabolic Steroids in Sports and Exercise.” “Now, young boys face pop culture musclemen like The Rock and Steve Austin, given the influence of professional wrestling shows.”

“The current film ‘Charlie’s Angels’ sports karate-kicking women in cool clothes,” he added. “Today’s children look with envy at the physiques of actors Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Wesley Snipes, and Linda Hamilton, whose roles call for a muscular build. Hollywood stars are openly taking Human Growth Hormone (HGH) injections to combat aging.”

In addition, children are entering competitive sports at younger ages and many working families have children signed up in two or three sports. Parents, coaches and young athletes are facing growing violence in amateur athletics. The pressure to win at all costs continues to weigh heavily on children, Yesalis notes.

The concern is that many youths will take shortcuts to achieving a muscular build by using anabolic steroids. Female athletes also are pressured to achieve low body fat to excel in their sport. The Penn State researcher has seen evidence that the pressures are reaching down to young children. For example, the book cites figures from the Monitoring The Future Study, a national-level epidemiological survey conducted annually since 1975. Approximately 50,000 8th, 10th and 12 graders are surveyed each year.

The MTF data shows that during the 1990s, anabolic steroid use among 12 graders –both boys and girls – rose to an all-time high with more than 500,000 adolescents having cycled – an episode of use of 6 to 12 weeks – during their lifetime. And the percentage of girls alone doubled in the same period.

A 1998 study of 965 youngsters at four Massachusetts middle schools found that 2.7 percent admitted to taking illegal steroids for better sports performance. That included some boys and girls as young as 10 years old. “This year’s Olympic doping scandals and the epidemic of anabolic steroids in professional baseball just glorify and justify steroids to impressionable youths,” Yesalis notes. “The use of anabolic steroids has cascaded down from the Olympic, professional and college levels to high schools and junior high schools and now middle schools for athletes and non-athletes alike. ”

“Anabolic steroids are made to order for a female wanting to attain a lean athletic body. While most drug abuse has outcomes that tend to discourage use, females who use anabolic steroids may experience a decrease in body fat, increased muscle size and strength, and enhanced sports performance,” he says.

Girls and boys misusing anabolic steroids may win approval and rewards from parents, coaches and peers, but don’t realize there are long-term negative effects on their health, particularly girls, according to Yesalis. Young girls face potential permanent side effects of male hair growth or baldness, deepening of the voice, the enlargement of the clitoris as well as the known risks of heart and liver diseases.

Published by Human Kinetics, the book incorporates the latest research, experience and insights of 15 experts on the scientific, clinical, historical, legal and other aspects of steroid abuse and drug testing. New information looks at the effects of steroids on health, particularly that of women.

This year, trials of East German doctors, coaches and officials reveal records of systematic doping of young athletes without their own or parents’ knowledge. In 1974, officials’ plan to turn the tiny Communist nation into a superpower in sports included giving performance-enhancing drugs to all competing athletes including children as young as 10 years old. The indictments included 142 former East German athletes who now complain of health problems. In media reports, several female athletes report incidents of miscarriages, liver tumor, gynecological problems and enlarged heart, all showing up decades after the steroid misuse.

“Our society’s current strategy for dealing with the abuse of anabolic steroids in sport primarily involves testing, law enforcement and education,” Yesalis says. “But our efforts to deal with this problem have not been very successful. Unless we deal with the social environment that rewards winning at all costs and an unrealistic physical appearance, we won’t even begin to address the problem.”

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Article adapted by MD Sports Weblog from original press release.
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Contact: Vicki Fong
Penn State

Genetic Research To Identify And Improve Future Champions Performance

Genetic research into athletic ability should be encouraged for its potential benefits in both sport and public health, a leading group of scientists meeting at the University of Bath said today.

Genetic research into athletic ability should be encouraged for its potential benefits in both sport and public health, a leading group of scientists meeting at the University of Bath said today.

However, ethical concerns, such as whether seeking information about differences between ethnic groups could be perceived as racist research, need to be properly addressed, they warn.

Their recommendations are published in a ‘position stand’ on genetic research and testing launched at the British Association of Sport & Exercise Sciences annual meeting today.

They call for more genetic research in the sport and exercise sciences because of the anticipated benefits for public health, but want researchers to take a more active role in debating the implications of their work with the public.

“If a powerful muscle growth gene was identified, on the one hand this could help develop training programmes that increase muscle size and strength in athletes, but even more importantly the knowledge could be used to develop exercise programmes or drugs to combat muscle wasting in old age,” said Dr Alun Williams from Manchester Metropolitan University, one of the report’s authors.

“We, as scientists investigating genetics, acknowledge a public concern about some genetic research and we believe scientists need to engage in public in debates about the potential benefits of their research.

“Research into the athletic success of East African distance runners or sprinters of West African ancestry might be perceived as unethical.

“But understanding the limits of human exercise capacity in sport could lead to the development of treatments for a range of diseases like cancer and cardiovascular disease.”

The potential applications of genetic testing in sport and exercise also raise some ethical concerns, for example in identifying potential athletic ability before birth.

An Australian company already offers the first genetic performance test (for the ACTN3 gene) which has been linked to sprint and power performance.

The report authors are sceptical about whether this test is useful but anticipate that more advanced versions of these tests will be available in future.

“We are not yet at a point where we can identify a potential future Olympic champion from genetic tests but we may not be very far away,” said Dr Williams, who wrote the report with Drs Henning Wackerhage (Aberdeen University), Andy Miah (University of Paisley), Roger Harris (University of Chichester) and Hugh Montgomery (University College London).

They highlight two dangers of genetic performance tests. Firstly, genetic performance tests might later be linked to disease. For example, a muscle growth gene may later be linked to cancer growth.

“Not all people may want to know, while young that they are at increased risk of cancer by early middle age, but they might inadvertently become aware of that just because they had a ‘sport gene’ test,” said Dr Williams.

Secondly, genetic performance tests can be performed even before birth and this may lead to the selection of foetuses or to abortions based on athletic potential.

The report recommends genetic counselling and that the testing should be confined to mature individuals who fully understand the relevant issues.

Genetic tests might also be used to screen for health risks during sport such as genes that are linked to sudden cardiac death.

Genetic tests for sudden cardiac death are already available but the report recommends that such testing should not be enforced on athletes.

Problems with mandatory testing are highlighted by the case of the basketball player Eddy Curry, who had an irregular heart beat.

Curry was asked by his club, the Chicago Bulls, to perform a predictive genetic test for a heart condition. The athlete refused and was traded to the New York Knicks who did not make such a demand.

In future, genetic tests might be used to identify those that respond with the biggest drop in cholesterol, blood pressure or glucose to exercise.

In a personalised medicine approach, such tests could be used to select subjects for therapeutic exercise programmes but scientists are concerned that this might undermine the ‘exercise for all’ message that already seems difficult to get across to the public.

The authors say that genetic testing might also be used to detect gene doping, which may be a real threat by the time of the London Olympics in 2012, or to show that positive doping tests are the result of a genetic mutation in an athlete.

The report recommends that genetic testing should be used for anti-doping testing as long as the genetic samples are destroyed after testing.

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Article adapted by MD Sports from original press release.
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Contact: Andrew McLaughlin
University of Bath

How To Build Muscle While You Age

Experts at The University of Nottingham are to investigate the effect of nutrients on muscle maintenance in the hope of determining better ways of keeping up our strength as we get old.

The researchers, based at the School of Graduate Entry Medicine and Health in Derby, want to know what sort of exercise we can take and what food we should eat to slow down the natural loss of skeletal muscle with ageing.

The team from the Department of Clinical Physiology, which has over 20 years experience in carrying out this type of metabolic study, need to recruit 16 healthy male volunteers in two specific age groups to help in it’s research.

Skeletal muscles make up about half of our body weight and are responsible for controlling movement and maintaining posture. However, at around 50 years of age our muscles begin to waste at approximately 0.5 per cent to one per cent a year. It means that an 80 year old may only have 70 per cent of the muscle of a 50 year old.

Since the strength of skeletal muscle is proportional to muscle size, such wasting makes it harder to carry out daily activities requiring strength, such as climbing stairs and leads to a loss of independence and an increased risk of falls and fractures.

In order for skeletal muscles to maintain their size, the large reservoirs of muscle protein require constant replenishment in the way of amino acids from protein contained within the food we eat. In fact, amino acids from our food act not only as the building blocks of muscle proteins but also actually ‘tell’ our muscle cells to build proteins.

Recent research from the clinical physiology team has shown that the cause of muscle wasting with ageing appears to be an attenuation of muscle building in response to protein feeding. In other words, as we age we lose the ability to covert the protein in the food we eat in to muscle tissue. The proposed research will investigate the mechanisms responsible for this deficit.

Dr Philip Atherton, who is currently recruiting volunteers, said: “I am really excited to be involved in this project because if we can determine ways to better maintain muscle mass as we age it will greatly benefit us all.”

The researchers are looking for 16 healthy, non-smoking, male volunteers aged 18 to 25 and 65 to 75.

Initially, the volunteers will undergo a health screening and then on a different day, under the supervision of a doctor, will be infused with an amino acid mixture to simulate feeding along with a ‘tagged’ amino acid that allows them to assess muscle building. To make these measures, blood samples will be taken from the arm and muscle biopsies from the thigh muscle under local anaesthesia. Volunteers will receive an honorarium to cover their expenses.

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Article adapted by MD Sports from original press release.
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Contact: Lindsay Brooke
University of Nottingham

 

The study will take place at The University of Nottingham’s Medical School which based at the City Hospital in Derby.