What does the aspirin in ECA do? How much white willow bark would have the same effect?

u_e_s_i

u_e_s_i

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As the vast majority of NSAIDs, including aspirin, reduce muscular inflammation from exercise which hinders muscular adaptation I’ve been taking E+C without A for ages now. I know the aspirin is advised for a reason but I couldn’t find an answer when I checked online.

What’s the role of aspirin in ECA and how important is it?

I’ve tried adding in white willow bark before but didn’t know how much to use as I couldn’t find a recommendation online so I just used 3g but didn’t notice a difference. If you replace A with WWB how much should you use?
 
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TheMrMuscle

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The effects of the ECA stack on weight loss are primarily due to the ephedrine component. Ephedrine acts both as an α and β adrenergic agonist, stimulating the release of norepinephrine.[8] Increased circulating norepinephrine in the body then acts on brown adipose tissue and skeletal muscle[9] by increasing cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) levels. This causes a thermogenic effect, raising bodily heat production and increasing energy consumption in conjunction with the rest of the stack.

However, the body's negative feedback systems quickly activate to normalize metabolism.[10][7] This takes the form of elevated phosphodiesterase enzyme activity within the cells, as well as prostaglandin release in the synaptic junctions; both of these degrade cAMP and mitigate the thermogenic effects.[10] Adenosine release in the brain additionally speeds the breakdown of cAMP.[10] Caffeine inhibits the production of phosphodiesterase inside the cell and therefore slows the degradation of cAMP.[7] It also binds with and competitively inhibits adenosine receptors in the brain, triggering the release of epinephrine and increasing cAMP levels further.[11] Aspirin inhibits prostaglandin production outside of the cells, which, in conjunction with caffeine, greatly prolongs the thermogenic effects and increased metabolism by sustaining elevated cAMP levels.[10]

Additionally, Ephedrine acts as an anorectic, or appetite-suppressing drug. However, the anorectic effect becomes less pronounced over time, as the body becomes tolerant of ephedrine to some degree. An estimated 75% of the efficacy of the ECA stack can be attributed to decreased appetite, while the remaining 25% is due to the thermogenic effects of the stack.[12]

The stimulating effects of caffeine and ephedrine are an additional contributing factor to weight loss. The stack's effect on the central nervous system results in increased aerobic exercise performance, measured as time until exhaustion relative to respiratory metrics.
[13]

 
u_e_s_i

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The effects of the ECA stack on weight loss are primarily due to the ephedrine component. Ephedrine acts both as an α and β adrenergic agonist, stimulating the release of norepinephrine.[8] Increased circulating norepinephrine in the body then acts on brown adipose tissue and skeletal muscle[9] by increasing cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) levels. This causes a thermogenic effect, raising bodily heat production and increasing energy consumption in conjunction with the rest of the stack.

However, the body's negative feedback systems quickly activate to normalize metabolism.[10][7] This takes the form of elevated phosphodiesterase enzyme activity within the cells, as well as prostaglandin release in the synaptic junctions; both of these degrade cAMP and mitigate the thermogenic effects.[10] Adenosine release in the brain additionally speeds the breakdown of cAMP.[10] Caffeine inhibits the production of phosphodiesterase inside the cell and therefore slows the degradation of cAMP.[7] It also binds with and competitively inhibits adenosine receptors in the brain, triggering the release of epinephrine and increasing cAMP levels further.[11] Aspirin inhibits prostaglandin production outside of the cells, which, in conjunction with caffeine, greatly prolongs the thermogenic effects and increased metabolism by sustaining elevated cAMP levels.[10]

Additionally, Ephedrine acts as an anorectic, or appetite-suppressing drug. However, the anorectic effect becomes less pronounced over time, as the body becomes tolerant of ephedrine to some degree. An estimated 75% of the efficacy of the ECA stack can be attributed to decreased appetite, while the remaining 25% is due to the thermogenic effects of the stack.[12]

The stimulating effects of caffeine and ephedrine are an additional contributing factor to weight loss. The stack's effect on the central nervous system results in increased aerobic exercise performance, measured as time until exhaustion relative to respiratory metrics.
[13]

Ah thank you! Didn’t think Wikipedia would have an answer haha.

Do you know how much white willow bark ppl are meant to take if they want to use that instead of aspirin?
 
rascal14

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I just do EC itself, don’t bother with the A. I don’t think many do anymore. I know some people add in Yohimbine but I dont tolerate it well. I’m starting up EC itself now.

Started with 12.5/100 EC a couple times a day for a couple days then increase your first dose to 25/200 for a day or two before going to a full dose for each time you take it.

I’ve seen some people cycle it, not sure what the best approach is but I plan to take it the next 4 weeks. You may want to taper off the caffeine dose if you aren’t used to that much.
 
P.brow17

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Yep uncommon to see people doing ECA nowadays - Aspirin only improves the EC stack’s effectiveness in the obese. Does nothing except increase risks for lean individuals.

“The effect of ephedrine and caffeine is further exaggerated when combined with aspirin (120).

Interestingly, the effect of ephedrine and caffeine is attenuated in obesity, consistent with the growing body of literature demonstrating catecholamine resistance in obese rodent models (121). This resistance was eliminated by adding aspirin, through a mechanism that is not fully understood (122). This could be explained by obesity-mediated PDE3B up-regulation (121) that causes a reduction in cAMP and reduced BAT activity in an obese animal after ephedrine stimulation (108, 109, 121, 122).

 
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exrugger

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Back in the day (10+ years ago) I did it w baby aspirin, caffeine pills, and bronkaid- cheapest way to go back then. Honestly I never tried without the 'A' so can't speak to that but will say full adult dosed aspirin is unnecessary imo you can get same benefits using low dosed aspirin
 

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