New Arachidonic Acid Study/Info

[jjohn]

This is the full article for the corresponding NEWS headline.

New Paper on Arachidonic Acid Supplementation

A paper on the supplementation of arachidonic acid (AA) was recently published in the British Journal of Nutrition (British Journal of Nutrition (2007), 98, 451–453). This article is of interest to the athletic community supplementing arachidonic acid for a number of reasons, most notably its focus on safety, its close examination of the buildup and depletion of arachidonic acid in the body, and its use of AA combined with a high intake of Omega-3 fatty acids. Key to this review was a study published in the same journal in April of 2007 by Kusumoto et al. (Br J Nutr. 2007 Sep;98(3):626-35. Epub 2007 Apr 20), which involved the supplementation of arachidonic acid (840mg/d) in a group of 24 healthy Japanese men that consumed high amounts of fish in their diet. This is the first paper of its kind, as most previous investigations of arachidonic acid supplementation safety involved Westerners with low daily intakes of Omega-3 fatty acids. Habitual daily intakes of DHA and EPA in this study ranged from 42 to 691mg and 98 to 991mg, respectively. The average intakes were about 310mg and 550 mg per day. Among the findings were the following.

2-Week Buildup Window:

It took 2 weeks for maximum arachidonic acid levels to be achieved in serum phospholipids. This was the first study to closely examine the time it took to reach peak levels with AA supplementations, and reinforces anecdotal observations of a 2-3 week “loading” window before significant results are noted with supplementation in bodybuilders/athletes.

4-Week Washout:

Arachidonic acid levels remained elevated for a few weeks after supplementation was discontinued. They reached their pretreated levels after 4 weeks. This may also explain why some continue to notice progress in the immediate weeks following AA discontinuation.

Omega-3’s Had No Effect:

Peak arachidonic acid levels were similar in this study to other studies where AA was given to subjects with low dietary levels of Omega-3 fatty acids. At these levels there did not appear to be any significant Omega-3 antagonism of arachidonic acid. This study reinforces the anecdotal observations that low doses of fish oil or regular fish consumption do not appear to appreciably diminish the results of arachidonic acid supplementation.

Arachidonic Acid Supplementation is Safe:

This paper one again takes a review of the safety of arachidonic acid supplementation, with interest in its effects on many areas of health including inflammation, immune functioning, lipids, blood pressure, platelet aggregation, glucose concentrations, liver function, and bleeding time, and notes that arachidonic acid supplementation appears to be perfectly safe in healthy subjects. When noting the inclusion of the most recent AA study (Kusumoto), the British Journal of Nutrition review states:

“Taken together with earlier studies, this study suggests that, rather than being harmful, moderately increased arachidonic acid intake is probably harmless in healthy adults, although the effect of intakes above 1.5g/d are not known and the effect of increased intake in diseased individuals is not known.”

 

[ReaperX]

My only concern is the cardiovascular risks. The side effects to me can be negligible, however my only thing is the effects on specfically the heart/cardiac muscle.

I've looked into AA for awhile and I ordered 3 bottles which I will run at either 4 or 5 gels/ED putting me around 75 days on AA. AA seems to be pointing in the direction of the next thing since creatine, due to its lack of hormonal interaction, yet effectiveness. We'll see once I run the bottles.

 

[ReaperX]

Looks like you already covered this in that article too, but I was speculating that supplementing with omega-3s would not have a very significant impact on the AA. At best may be the inflammation would have been slightly decrease resulting in a slight decrease of DOMS, however, the AA itself still would not be 'negated' as there are still other benefits vs. just the inflammation (i.e. nitric oxide increase, conversion of ATP into cyclic AMP, etc, etc).



I'm still hung on the fence about AA to be 100% certain.

Baby formulas, from what I've seen, run AA blends with Omega-3. The AA in these formulas is ~ 96mg.

 

[jjohn]

For my 4000th post, I will try to answer your question

From my experience, a small dose of fish oil is fine, like 1 cap-2 a day max. But 14 would definetly negate the effects of AA IMO. There is a lot to come on this compound, and a lot of research is being done on it as we speak, so I would stick to 1 cap a day max.

 

[ReaperX]

A study done with 2g of AA for 200 days with bloodwork would be pretty awesome.

With the 3 bottles I'm getting I'm looking @ putting on ~9-10lbs.

 

[Steveoph]

if XFactor were a person, he would be all over the authors of that paper giving them love. Perfect study to support its use.

 

[ralph4u2c]

so are we ever going to see some new and innovative products from Molecular in the future or was this the cream of the crop after the pro-hormone ban....u can let us in on the secrets jjohn :numbered:

 

[AE14]

Does anyone here have any personal experience with AA? I have thought about using Animal Test, but most AA seems very expensive

 

[ReaperX]

so are we ever going to see some new and innovative products from Molecular in the future or was this the cream of the crop after the pro-hormone ban....u can let us in on the secrets jjohn :numbered:

There is a cell volumizer that is still on the table. I'm curious too as to what Molecular Nutrition plans on doing next b/c I know that they won't piggyback something already out there with fancy marketing.

 

[jjohn]

so are we ever going to see some new and innovative products from Molecular in the future or was this the cream of the crop after the pro-hormone ban....u can let us in on the secrets jjohn :numbered:

Yes we have something in our secret bag It will be called *********************** :run:

 

[jjohn]

Does anyone here have any personal experience with AA? I have thought about using Animal Test, but most AA seems very expensive

A lot of us do, just take a look around, and lemme know if you have any questions

 

[Dancebot 2000]

Nice post. It just makes X-factor look even better.

 

[ralph4u2c]

i loved my X-factor cycle, a little expensive but you get what you pay for. i got a quality product, non-hormonal, and gained about 4-5lb lean pounds while strength went through the roof. only downside was my joints/recovery sucked but momma didnt raise a pudding child so i had to deal with it, but it was worth it.

 

[jjohn]

Bump

 

[ctrivedi]

only downside was my joints/recovery sucked ...

That's true -- something that I've found that helps me is 2 warmup sets per exercise... yeah it takes longer, but it really lubes up the joints.

...but momma didnt raise a pudding child so i had to deal with it, but it was worth it.

:rofl:

 

[ReaperX]

http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~rdb/opa-g041.html

This is an FDA link that shows a GRAS (Generall Recommended As Safe) limit for ARA (Arch. Acid). If you scroll down and take a look at the chart below which states 30mg/kg bw/day.

Meaning if I weigh 180lbs (I weight around 187lb actually) according to the FDA chart ~2g of AA would be safe for me which is beyond the amount in X-Factor. This was submitted in 2001 so while outdated demonstrates added safety of X-Factor.

 

[AnonyMoose]

My only concern is the cardiovascular risks. The side effects to me can be negligible, however my only thing is the effects on specfically the heart/cardiac muscle.

I've looked into AA for awhile and I ordered 3 bottles which I will run at either 4 or 5 gels/ED putting me around 75 days on AA. AA seems to be pointing in the direction of the next thing since creatine, due to its lack of hormonal interaction, yet effectiveness. We'll see once I run the bottles.

im confused - what cardiovascular risks. in the article it says "with interest in its effects on many areas of health including inflammation, immune functioning, lipids, blood pressure, platelet aggregation, glucose concentrations, liver function, and bleeding time"

moose

 

[ReaperX]

cardiovascular, in respect to the heart, its arterial walls, and the cardiac muscle.....not necessarly the LDL/HDL.

 

[ReaperX]

The actual heart and the effects itself were the only things that were not specifically examined (that I know of). The blood lipids, liver enzymes, etc, etc were all tested.

 

[ReaperX]

Just a side note too since I see that Bill is here, would going higher than 1g of AA a day to 1.25g-1.5g have a more cumulative benefit, and if so what risks would that carry ?


I know this is a 'more is better' mentality, but I'm just curious none the less.

 

[AnonyMoose]

i think that inflammation, lipids (ultimately), blood pressure, platelet aggregation are with respect to the arterieals and arterial walls and hence the cardiac muscle.

do you know of anything specific where it there's actual damage reported to these directly?

 

[ReaperX]

smeton posted an article about AA having a negative impact on the aterial walls.

http://anabolicminds.com/forum/supplements/80044-excess-arachidonic-acid.html

 

[AnonyMoose]

smeton posted an article about AA having a negative impact on the aterial walls.

http://anabolicminds.com/forum/supplements/80044-excess-arachidonic-acid.html

thank you sir!

 

[DeerDeer]

Interesting to be able to pick and choose from this "commentary".

Forget to mention this IMPORTANT PART? :

"However, without seeing the data on platelet fatty acid composition in this study it is not possible to assess this further. Furthermore, no arachidonic acid-derived eicosanoids such as prostaglandin- I2 and thromboxane-A2 are reported here and so it is not possible to properly assess the functional impact of the supplement."

"Furthermore, there is no information on the impact of increased arachidonic acid supply in disease. It is possible that inflammatory processes that already exist within an individual could be exacerbated by providing exogenous arachidonic acid."

"However, the discovery of novel anti-inflammatory mediators produced from arachidonic acid25 and the identification of hitherto unknown anti-inflammatory
actions of mediators previously considered to be proinflammatory in nature26 indicate first, the complexity of this system and, second, that predicting the effect that increased arachidonic acid supply might have is difficult."


"...it is important to keep in mind that, just because there is little biological impact of an increase in arachidonic acid intake or status11 – 20, there may still be significant benefit from a decrease in its intake or status."

I pulled the other studies and was unimpressed with the small sample size, lack of global markers of inflammation, platelet aggregation. I am still quite wary.

 

[ImJ2x]

I have a related question (which, admittedly, has been discussed before):
Now that it appears to be OK to take reasonable amounts of EFAs with AA, what about cissus? That's really the main thing keeping me from trying the AA I already have. I'm 46, and whenever my joints act up (which will certainly happen with AA), I use wonder-cissus to cure all. But this may still be contra-indicated with AA. Anyone?