Archive for August, 2009

Glutathione – Athletes Competitive Edge ?

performance, Recovery - Repair | Posted by admin August 26th, 2009

What is Glutathione?

Glutathione simply put is the “Master Antioxidant” in your body. Increasing glutathione levels will naturally increase your energy, detoxify your body and strengthen your immune system.

Research has shown that individuals that have low glutathione levels are susceptible to chronic illness including heart conditions, cancers, diabetes, seizures disorders, Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease to name a few. Our glutathione levels begin to decline at the age of 20 and do so at a rate of 8%-12% per decade.

Anti-Aging

Aging is the accumulation of changes in an organism overtime. Oxidation damage is now recognized as being the key feature of much of the aging processes that our bodies endure. The key to living better is to resist age related deterioration due to oxidation. Recent studies have shown that glutathione play a key role in reducing the oxidation process (antioxidant) and protecting our bodies against free radicals. Supplements that increase glutathione, may be a way for us to protect our bodies against the aging process.

Sports Enhancement

Many world-class athletes are discovering the importance of glutathione, which when maintained, gives them the edge over the competition. Increased glutathione levels provides athletes with increased strength and endurance, decreased recovery time from injury, less pain and fatigue and possibly an increase in muscle-promoting activities.

Athletes use glutathione for sports performance and recovery from their strenuous workouts. Up until very recently there was not a efficient way to get glutathione into our bodies other than intravenous (IV).

During workouts, athletes generate free radicals which in turn lead to muscle fatigue and poorer performance. Glutathione neutralizes these radicals and allows our bodies to recover faster.

Sports

Should Glutathione be a part of our exercise routine?

Free radicals are produced during normal cellular metabolism and increase when we exercise. These free radicals react within the cells by a process called oxidation and can result in inflammation to accumulate with our bodies. Overtime this inflammation accumulates within the cell and decreases the function of the cell and eventually leads to cellular death unless we have a way of reversing the process. To fight this cellular destruction our body uses an antioxidant, and the “Master Antioxidant” in the body is Glutathione.

Several studies have confirmed the beneficial effects of glutathione in protecting our bodies tissues from free radicals and exercise induced stress. Increasing Glutathione can increase energy, decrease recovery time and provide our cells with the tools so that they can function at an optimal level.

Ref: asktheRN.com

Bioavailable glutathione supplement option link here:

Probiotics Combat Fatigue Problems in Athletes

Fitness, performance, Recovery - Repair | Posted by admin August 19th, 2009

Many athletes suffering from fatigue have an immune defect that can be reversed by taking probiotic supplements (which are believed to help fight illness by improving the balance of bacteria in the gut).

That’s the implication of a new study from Australia, which examined 27 well-trained recreational athletes, nine of whom had referred themselves to a medical sports clinic omplaining of fatigue, recurrent sore throats and impaired performance. The remaining 18 athletes served as a healthy ‘control’ group.

The fatigued athletes showed signs of reactivated infection with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) – a very common virus that doesn’t normally cause symptoms. They also showed significant impairment in the function of their blood T-cells, which play an important role in the body’s immune decencies.

Review of the illness records of the fatigued athletes showed
features consistent with a syndrome of re-activated EBV infection compared with the healthy control athletes. The fatigued athletes had more frequent and protracted episodes of upper respiratory tract symptoms, usually linked to periods of intense training.

All the athletes took a four-week course of the probiotic supplement L acidophilus. At the end of the month the T-cell function of the fatigued athletes had climbed back up to the levels found in the healthy athletes. They also showed significantly reduced evidence of EBV infection. Encouragingly, the healthy athletes also showed signs of improved immune function after taking the probiotic supplement for a month.

The researchers have called for larger, more protracted studies to support their findings. But meanwhile they point out: ‘This is the first evidence of a T-cell defect in fatigued athletes, and of its reversal following probiotic therapy.’

Br J Sports Med 2006;40:351-354

Resveratrol: A Key for High Performance: Health & Endurance . . .

Fitness, performance, Recovery - Repair | Posted by admin August 10th, 2009

A drug based on resveratrol, a phytonutrient found in red wine, may double exercise endurance, fight obesity and prolong life, according to a new study by French researchers.

Dr. Johan Auwerx and colleagues from the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology in Illkirch, France, recently conducted an animal study to test the effects of high doses of resveratrol on exercise endurance in mice.

A typical laboratory mouse can run roughly one kilometer on a treadmill before it collapses from exhaustion. Auwerx supplemented a group of mice with up to 400 mg of resveratrol per kilo of body weight, and found that the mice were then able to run twice as far as the mice that were not supplemented. The resveratrol mice were also found to have energy-charged muscles and a lower heart rate, much like trained athletes.

Resveratrol makes you look like a trained athlete without the training, Auwerx said.

Auwerx believes that the results of his animal study published online in the journal Cell could be replicated in humans, based on the results of a Finnish study that analyzed the gene that is influenced by the resveratrol drug. Previous studies of mice have indicated that moderate-to-high doses of resveratrol can activate a genetic mechanism that protects against the degenerative diseases of aging, as well as prolong life span by up to 30 percent.

Auwerx believes resveratrol can help offset the negative health effects of high-fat diets which can lead to the onset of metabolic disorder and diabetes by increasing the number of mitochondria in the body’s muscle cells. Extra mitochondria, organelles that generate energy, were found to help mice burn more fat and remodel muscle fibers to more closely resemble those of trained athletes.

Though resveratrol is present in red wine and some other foods, the concentrations used in Auwerx’ study were much higher than could ever be obtained through red wine consumption.

More research on resveratrol is needed before possible drug therapies to combat obesity and diabetes-related disorders can be developed.

Ref: (NaturalNews)