Introduction
Hello everyone, I'm Burz. Welcome back to my channel. Supplements are a topic that you all keep asking me to update on. We've discussed a lot of "IQ tax" supplements before. Today, we'll change the direction and introduce you to four of the strongest yet most underestimated supplements, and see which level they can be classified into. There definitely won't be common ones like protein powder and creatine. Also, note that all the supplements mentioned in this issue are legal and compliant products with a large amount of human data, not banned drugs like BPC-157 and TB-500. I will not only tell you how they work, but also talk about usage, dosage, and precautions. So it is recommended to collect it first and be sure to watch it to the end. If you are a new audience, welcome to follow my channel to watch professional biological, physiological, sports science, and strength training content. Let's get started.
L-α-GPC (L-alpha-Glycerylphosphorylcholine)
Since it is an underestimated supplement, we have to start with the least well-known one, which is L-α-GPC, also known as glycerophosphocholine in Chinese. To know what it does specifically, we first need to review how nerve signals are transmitted. This picture may remind you of the fear of high school biology. If so, please type 1. In short, when information is transmitted between two neurons, the connected place is called a synapse. On the synapse, various neurotransmitters are transmitted to ensure the normal function of the human body. For example, dopamine and endorphins that you are familiar with are neurotransmitters, and acetylcholine is also one of them, which is specifically responsible for muscle contraction and brain learning and memory. The problem is that you cannot directly ingest acetylcholine because it will be completely hydrolyzed in the stomach and intestines. So the best way is to convert it from choline, and the best precursor of choline is L-α-GPC, because it can pass through the blood-brain barrier most efficiently.
Since L-α-GPC can be converted into the important neurotransmitter acetylcholine, it should theoretically be able to improve muscle contraction. A 2015 study compared the exercise performance and cognitive ability after taking 200 mg of GPC, 400 mg of GPC, and 200 mg of caffeine. The results showed that 200 mg of L-α-GPC was far better than caffeine in terms of vertical jump peak explosive power, and even a little better than 400 mg. In terms of reaction ability, 200 mg was also the best. Of course, this study was just a poster at a communication summit. Let's see what the officially published articles say. In this 2017 literature, the subjects took 250 mg of GPC, 500 mg of GPC, and 200 mg of caffeine continuously for 7 days. The results showed that caffeine performed best in upper limb isometric push-ups, while 250 mg of GPC contributed the most to the improvement of strength in lower limb mid - row. Similar results were also presented in a 2015 study.
In addition to exercise performance, GPC can also promote brain function. However, all the current evidence is presented in patients with Alzheimer's disease, who take a daily dose of up to 1200 mg. That is to say, if your goal is just to improve exercise performance, then a low-dose of 200 - 300 mg of L-α-GPC seems to be the best choice. And if you feel that you often have symptoms such as inattention and decreased energy, then you can try a dose of more than 1000 mg. The only disadvantage of L-α-GPC is that it will increase the concentration of trimethylamine N - oxide (TMAO) in the body, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease. But eating garlic can offset this side effect. So, overall, I will put L-α-GPC between B and A, but it is more偏向 A. The only shortcoming is that the data on improving cognitive ability in healthy people is still a bit limited.
Coenzyme Q10
The second most underestimated and strongest supplement is coenzyme Q10. When many people hear coenzyme Q10, they think it is just for the elderly to protect the heart, but it is far more than that. First of all, we all know that adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is the energy source for human life activities. The three major nutrients we usually eat, protein, carbohydrates, and fats, provide ATP. However, it is the existence of coenzyme Q10, a catalyst, that nutrients can pass through the cell membrane and produce ATP in the mitochondria. So if creatine, which can provide ATP and is stored in the form of phosphocreatine in the body, belongs to backup fuel, then coenzyme Q10 is like a fuel pump that can continuously provide energy.
From this picture, we can see that the coenzyme Q10 level in the human body is not in a very stable state every year. It reaches its peak at the age of 20 and then decreases year by year. This is why you feel energetic when you are in college, but after graduation and going to work, you often feel tired without any warning. No matter how long you sleep, you are very tired and it is difficult to have the motivation to socialize and exercise. Is this you in front of the screen? This situation is likely to be the lack of coenzyme Q10 in the body. This has an astonishingly similar curve to the change of testosterone level with age. Since many people will pay attention to their testosterone at the age of 25 - 30, the improvement of coenzyme Q10 cannot be ignored either.
As a powerful antioxidant, coenzyme Q10 has several often underestimated effects in addition to the well-known role of protecting the heart of night owls. The first is to help relieve headaches. In this literature, which has been cited an astonishing 559 times, researchers recruited a group of people who were severely troubled by headaches from the International Headache Society. Half of them used 300 mg of coenzyme Q10 per day, and the other half took a placebo. We can clearly see that both the number of headache attacks per month and the intensity were greatly reduced in the coenzyme Q10 group. This result has also been successively confirmed in the following 5 high-quality literatures, mainly due to the protective and antioxidant effects of coenzyme Q10 on mitochondria in the brain.
This mechanism will also be transformed into an improvement in exercise performance in muscle cells. We all know that wrestling is a sport that combines explosive power, speed, and endurance. Studies have shown that 200 mg of coenzyme Q10 per day significantly improves the pull-up ability and sprint speed of wrestlers. This 2023 review literature also shows that the intake of coenzyme Q10 of no more than 300 mg per day can improve the anaerobic performance of various athletes over 17 years old. The author especially pointed out in the article that coenzyme Q10 can improve the ability to do sets. In other words, it allows you to use a larger training volume, which will be reflected in muscle mass over time. Because athletes usually consume more coenzyme Q10 due to a large amount of training, fitness people actually need to supplement coenzyme Q10 more.
Coenzyme Q10 is difficult to obtain in food. The food with the highest content is animal offal. For example, every 100 grams of beef heart contains only 10 mg of coenzyme Q10. It is impossible to eat enough 100 - 200 mg per day only by offal, unless you are going to line up to become a "liver king" on the steroid planet. So it is best to use additional supplements. Overall, coenzyme Q10 plays a crucial role in human energy production, and its effects cover various physical skills. So I will put it in the "God - level".
Curcumin
The third underestimated supplement is curcumin. I first came into contact with curcumin five years ago when I was 26 years old, at the peak of my strength and training very crazy. One cool morning, I chose to challenge 320 kg deadlift, and I almost succeeded. At this time, a normal person would pack up and go home, but I had to try again. This time, not only did I not lift it up, but I also拉伤 my hamstring tendon. In despair, I turned to a very good online friend who happened to be the king of squats, Alhasov. He had undergone bilateral knee replacement surgery in 2008, and his cartilage had long been worn out. But after 10 years of lurking, he squatted a world record of 525 kg in 2018 and has maintained this record ever since. I asked him how he recovered so well at that time. He was very honest and told me that he used Anadrol, Dianabol, Deca - Durabolin, Winstrol, Testosterone, Masteron, and 15 IU of growth hormone every day. Then I said that I was pure natural and asked him if he could give me some natural supplements. As a result, he recommended curcumin. Later, I found that curcumin really helped me a lot in injury recovery.
So what is the principle? The most obvious effect of curcumin is to reduce inflammation and relieve pain. This 2021 review literature, which included 1258 patients with knee osteoarthritis, showed that both high-dose and low-dose curcumin had a stronger pain - relieving effect than non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen, and put less pressure on the intestines. One of the main mechanisms is that curcumin can down-regulate the gene expression of a pain receptor, and the down-regulation intensity is as high as 5.9 times.
In tendinitis, healthy tendons are arranged very orderly. After injury, the first to participate in the reorganization of the tendon is type III collagen, which is arranged in a disorderly manner, and finally type I collagen, which is neatly arranged. Curcumin can effectively increase the ratio of type I and type III collagen, making the tendon recover faster and more durable at the same time.
Curcumin usually has two names, one is turmeric and the other is curcumin. Which one do you think is better? In fact, turmeric refers to ginger turmeric, and curcumin refers to the important active compound curcumin in it. So when you buy curcumin in the future, don't care how many milligrams of turmeric are written on the bottle, but be sure to pay attention to the content of curcuminoids in it. The general recommended dose is 500 - 2000 mg per day. For example, the one I am currently taking has 500 mg per serving, and twice a day is enough. However, most products on the market have only 150 mg of curcumin per serving, which is a bit like an "IQ tax".
In addition, one thing to note when using curcumin is that one of the main driving forces for muscle growth after our training is actually the inflammatory response. Studies have shown that inflammatory cells interleukin - 6 (IL - 6) can promote the proliferation of muscle satellite cells. But studies have also shown that IL - 6 will reduce testosterone. So is IL - 6 good or bad? In fact, it depends on the duration. If it is a short-term inflammatory response after training, it is exactly what we need. But if it remains high for a long time, it will have the opposite effect. So it is best to avoid taking curcumin, which has a strong anti-inflammatory effect, just after training. It is recommended to wait for more than two hours after training before taking it. In short, as one of the best natural supplements for combating injuries, I will undoubtedly put curcumin in the A - level.
Capsaicin
The last underestimated supplement is capsaicin. Capsaicin has two main functions, one is to help with fat loss, and the other is to possibly improve exercise performance. In this randomized controlled double-blind experiment, which has been cited nearly 400 times, researchers randomly divided a group of overweight or obese people with a BMI between 25 - 35 into a control group and a capsaicin group that took 6 mg per day, and tested their body data at the fourth, eighth, and twelfth weeks. The results showed that at each test node, the capsaicin group lost more weight than the control group. And after 12 weeks, both the fat oxidation rate and the reduction of abdominal fat rate in the capsaicin group were significantly stronger than those in the control group, reaching an astonishing 5 times or so.
This is due to the unique receptor TRPV1 of capsaicin in the body. TRPV1 can reduce fat through three different mechanisms. The first is that it can increase the GLP-1 in the body, and GLP-1 can cause a decrease in appetite. The second mechanism is that after TRPV1 is received by the brain, it can secrete norepinephrine, causing the body to have a stress - fighting reaction and increasing the basal metabolism. The last point is that it can activate brown fat in the body to consume more energy.
In terms of muscle building, TRPV1 is also inferred to be able to increase the production of ATP. In 2017, when a group of fitness people were required to do a 70% weight limit squat and do four drop - set groups, the capsaicin group surpassed the control group in both the weight taken and the number of each group. The only drawback is that the number of participants in the experiment is relatively small.
The general dosage of capsaicin is 6 - 24 mg per day, but it has an obvious disadvantage that it may cause short-term but very strong gastrointestinal discomfort for some people. So you have to weigh the pros and cons yourself. In summary, capsaicin seems to have more research on its fat - loss effect, so I will put it in the B - level. After all, fat loss is much easier than muscle building or improving exercise performance. But capsaicin is really one of the few useful fat - burning supplements.
Conclusion
This is the end of this video. I don't know if you have enjoyed it. Speaking of supplements, recently, some netizens have been slandering regular supplements without distinction. It seems that it is a bit necessary to open a special session for supplements to popularize science. If you want to see it, please type 1. If you like this video and think it is valuable to you, I hope you can give it a like, share, and subscribe. I'm Bruce, a North American Ph.D. student. See you next time.