Data Compilation: 4 Natural Anabolics in human studies (pubmed article)

Comeuppance

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So, I happened across this PubMed article that compiles in vitro, animal, and human studies on a few natural anabolic compounds.

Link to whole study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4804074/#B58
Link to the table within the study that contains anything you're actually interested in: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4804074/table/tab7/

So, if we ignore the animal and in vitro studies, some interesting compounds are shown to have positive effects, a few of which I've picked:

- Proanthocyanidin of grape seeds (@ 100 or 200 mg/d proanthocyanidin) : Changes in lean mass and muscle mass from baseline to 8 weeks significantly higher in treated groups. (Study used 91 women)
- Epicatechin (from green tea leaves, @25 mg of pure Epi (~1 mg/kg/day) using 6 subjects): Increase in bilateral hand strength of ~7%. Significant increase (49.2 ± 16.6%) in the ratio of plasma follistatin/myostatin levels.
- Alkaloids and steroidal lactones from Withania somnifera (ashwagandha @500 mg of the whole root extract twice daily; 750 mg twice daily): Improvement of the strength and functioning of the muscle.

(The only one I left out of these samples was the mixed catechin from green tea leaves, which only measured speed improvements in the tested subjects.)

Thoughts:
(-)-epicatechin in a very very very small sample size showed some myostatin inhibition, which is much in line with the spiels we have been fed - but that is such a small sample that the results are extremely questionable.

Proanthocyanidin is a surprise to me - I've always used grape seed extract (standardized for polyphenols) as a volumizing agent / vasodilator, but it's interesting to see that a specific kind of polyphenol has shown anabolic activity - though it is worth noting the study only used women.

Ashwagandha is another surprise, as my understanding was that it was generally just a cortisol / stress modulator. Interesting to see that it may have an effect on muscle strength, but I wonder if that is just a peripheral effect from the reduced stress levels.

Anyway, just thought I'd share this article with you guys. I've gone ahead and ordered some Proanthocyanidin 95% caps for the heck of it to see if that confers any benefit.
 
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Also look at Anthocyanins and their positive effect on hypertrophy (via AKT and PI3-k). My Glycomyx product uses a rich source of Anthyocyanins in the Purple Sweet Potato powder that you will be seeing soon in a preworkout.
 

EricMM

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So, I happened across this PubMed article that compiles in vitro, animal, and human studies on a few natural anabolic compounds.

Link to whole study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4804074/#B58
Link to the table within the study that contains anything you're actually interested in: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4804074/table/tab7/

So, if we ignore the animal and in vitro studies, some interesting compounds are shown to have positive effects, a few of which I've picked:

- Proanthocyanidin of grape seeds (@ 100 or 200 mg/d proanthocyanidin) : Changes in lean mass and muscle mass from baseline to 8 weeks significantly higher in treated groups. (Study used 91 women)
- Epicatechin (from green tea leaves, @25 mg of pure Epi (~1 mg/kg/day) using 6 subjects): Increase in bilateral hand strength of ~7%. Significant increase (49.2 ± 16.6%) in the ratio of plasma follistatin/myostatin levels.
- Alkaloids and steroidal lactones from Withania somnifera (ashwagandha @500 mg of the whole root extract twice daily; 750 mg twice daily): Improvement of the strength and functioning of the muscle.

(The only one I left out of these samples was the mixed catechin from green tea leaves, which only measured speed improvements in the tested subjects.)

Thoughts:
(-)-epicatechin in a very very very small sample size showed some myostatin inhibition, which is much in line with the spiels we have been fed - but that is such a small sample that the results are extremely questionable.

Proanthocyanidin is a surprise to me - I've always used grape seed extract (standardized for polyphenols) as a volumizing agent / vasodilator, but it's interesting to see that a specific kind of polyphenol has shown anabolic activity - though it is worth noting the study only used women.

Ashwagandha is another surprise, as my understanding was that it was generally just a cortisol / stress modulator. Interesting to see that it may have an effect on muscle strength, but I wonder if that is just a peripheral effect from the reduced stress levels.

Anyway, just thought I'd share this article with you guys. I've gone ahead and ordered some Proanthocyanidin 95% caps for the heck of it to see if that confers any benefit.
That's a good round up but you have to realize that what people expect from natural extracts are "steroid like effects" and that's just not going to happen. Increases in strength and even Hyperplasia effects take a very long time to accumulate actual gains. I think there is way too much emphasis based in Hyperplasia (making new muscle) when what guys really want is hypertrophy (increased protein and water in the muscle)
 
muscleupcrohn

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That's a good round up but you have to realize that what people expect from natural extracts are "steroid like effects" and that's just not going to happen. Increases in strength and even Hyperplasia effects take a very long time to accumulate actual gains. I think there is way too much emphasis based in Hyperplasia (making new muscle) when what guys really want is hypertrophy (increased protein and water in the muscle)
I feel like most people here on AM have realistic expectations regarding natural supplements, or are at least informed of this by other forum members if their expectations are way too high. Yes, a lot of the general supplement using population expects too much, but that doesn't mean that these natural extracts do nothing, and they can actually be quite useful and helpful.
 

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So, I happened across this PubMed article that compiles in vitro, animal, and human studies on a few natural anabolic compounds.

Link to whole study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4804074/#B58
Link to the table within the study that contains anything you're actually interested in: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4804074/table/tab7/

So, if we ignore the animal and in vitro studies, some interesting compounds are shown to have positive effects, a few of which I've picked:

- Proanthocyanidin of grape seeds (@ 100 or 200 mg/d proanthocyanidin) : Changes in lean mass and muscle mass from baseline to 8 weeks significantly higher in treated groups. (Study used 91 women)
- Epicatechin (from green tea leaves, @25 mg of pure Epi (~1 mg/kg/day) using 6 subjects): Increase in bilateral hand strength of ~7%. Significant increase (49.2 ± 16.6%) in the ratio of plasma follistatin/myostatin levels.
- Alkaloids and steroidal lactones from Withania somnifera (ashwagandha @500 mg of the whole root extract twice daily; 750 mg twice daily): Improvement of the strength and functioning of the muscle.

(The only one I left out of these samples was the mixed catechin from green tea leaves, which only measured speed improvements in the tested subjects.)

Thoughts:
(-)-epicatechin in a very very very small sample size showed some myostatin inhibition, which is much in line with the spiels we have been fed - but that is such a small sample that the results are extremely questionable.

Proanthocyanidin is a surprise to me - I've always used grape seed extract (standardized for polyphenols) as a volumizing agent / vasodilator, but it's interesting to see that a specific kind of polyphenol has shown anabolic activity - though it is worth noting the study only used women.

Ashwagandha is another surprise, as my understanding was that it was generally just a cortisol / stress modulator. Interesting to see that it may have an effect on muscle strength, but I wonder if that is just a peripheral effect from the reduced stress levels.

Anyway, just thought I'd share this article with you guys. I've gone ahead and ordered some Proanthocyanidin 95% caps for the heck of it to see if that confers any benefit.
if we are taking Epicatechin data at face value it also has the propensity to change muscle fiber type for fast twitch to slow twitch which can explain the grip strength increase...
 

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