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SUPPLEMENTAL SAVVY

Brian Rowley, MS

Looking for your magic bullet? M&F Hers examines the top nine supplements for fat-burning, performance and health.

Vitamin-mineral paks.Muscle-builders.Herbal tonics. Energy pills. So many choices, so little time. What's a healthy, fit woman to do? Most likely, the right supplements can help you feel better, look better and perform better. Take stock of what you want and need, then do your research to find the right supplement for that specific job. Are you trying to lose fat? Build muscle? Maintain optimum health? Think better? Cheer up? Specialized supplements may be able to help.

Here we discuss nine of the top supplements for active women. When deciding what's best for you, consider your lifestyle and your diet, and check out "Pantry Raid" on page 58 for tips on what certain women do and don't need. Then remember: Eat right. Even the best supplements can't make up for a poor diet.

For Fat Loss

Ephedrine-Caffeine (EC)
The combination of ephedrine and caffeine, two well-researched over-the-counter drugs, has been shown in numerous studies to cause about an extra pound per week of fat loss in overweight women. Furthermore, this celebrated thermogenic cocktail helps dieters preserve muscle while losing fat. Consider the results of one group of 50 obese women who lost less lean mass (0.8 pound of muscle mass per week) as a result of taking EC. That's 6 pounds of muscle saved over an eight-week period that would otherwise have been lost to dieting. This is good news for women trying to lose fat, especially since EC has been found to boost metabolism in lean women, too. In addition to its thermogenic effects, EC curbs appetite, which explains as much as 75% of its fat-loss benefit.

The usual dose is 20 mg of ephedrine (or ephedrine equivalents like ephedra or mahuang extract) together with 200 mg of caffeine (from guarana extract, Vivarin, No-Doz, cola, coffee, etc.) three times per day. Unfortunately, these doses initially cause side effects, so you should start out taking one-third or less of the usual dose as a test before jumping into the full-strength regimen. If you have high blood pressure or other health conditions, check with your physician before taking ephedrine. Exceeding the recommended dose of ephedrine can be dangerous, even deadly. You shouldn't take EC in an on-again/off-again way, nor take the combo with drugs used to treat mood disorders like depression. Initially, too much ephedrine-caffeine raises your blood pressure and causes nausea, insomnia and/or the jitters.

Only after obese people are on these agents for many months do they experience benefits including fat loss, a rise in HDL ("good") cholesterol and a gradual lowering of blood pressure, most of which are effects of cutting back on calories. Unfortunately, that's a long time to be taking pills three times a day, especially when you consider that withdrawal causes headaches and grogginess. Yet EC is definitely effective for fat loss in overweight individuals when used as directed for many months.

Green Tea Extract
As well as being relaxing (due to its content of l-theanine) and full of beneficial antioxidants, a cup of green tea before bed also keeps your metabolism humming. For example, an extract of green tea standardized to 90 mg of the active ingredient epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) was found to stimulate metabolism and increase energy expenditure by about 4%. The effect was probably due to EGCG's ability to block the enzyme catechol-O-methyl transferase and keep levels of the thermogenic hormone norepinephrine high. As a whole, research on green tea suggests it has a fat-loss effect without the "buzz" of EC, and is likely to reduce your chance of getting many different types of cancer.

For Sports Performance

Creatine
One old standby that has been repeatedly found to have performance-enhancing effects is creatine monohydrate. For example, the supplement improves your ability to perform high-intensity exercise over a number of intermittent sets, probably by boosting stores of high-energy phosphate in your muscles. So it should help you squeeze out that extra rep in the gym, which should improve the intensity and therefore benefit of your workouts. It has no effect on aerobic performance.

Although you aren't looking to build monster mass like a Mr. Olympia, you probably want the optimum amount of muscle fullness for an athletic, fit woman. Creatine monohydrate can cause about 2-3 pounds of lean muscle gain in as little as a week due to its muscle cell volumizing effect. When creatine is moved into muscle, water follows and you get a better pump. Luckily, this isn't the same thing as getting a bloat, which is unattractive water retention under the skin or elsewhere. Weight gained from taking creatine is simply the result of better muscle cell hydration.

Work done at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, suggests that creatine supplementation in conjunction with a heavy resistance-training program nearly doubles the rate of size gains in muscle fibers compared to training plus a placebo - a 30%-35% gain in muscle fiber cross-sectional area vs. just a 15% gain with placebo. Creatine may also have a genuine muscle-building effect, although this is still being explored.

About 3 grams per day of creatine for 28 days has been found to be enough to saturate muscle, after which only 2 grams per day maintains creatine stores at optimal levels. Many top experts have gone on record to report that creatine is safe when used as directed, but you should drink plenty of water when taking it.

Mark Tarnopolsky, MD, PhD, professor in the department of kinesiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, has presented evidence to suggest that taking creatine has no effect on either blood pressure or kidney function in healthy men or women.

Glutamine
When the body is under great stress, vital organs seemingly eat glutamine for breakfast just to stay alive - and muscle is often the body's only source for this amino acid. Doctors have used glutamine for years to help burn patients hang onto muscle and stay healthy. Athletes' bodies aren't under the same kind of stress, but their need for glutamine still increases as their physical and psychological stress levels go up.

Studies suggest that 8-20 grams per day of supplemental glutamine can fill the need, letting muscle off the hook and bolstering exercise recovery. "During recovery from trauma and infection, muscle glutamine stores are depleted, leading to muscle wasting," says John A. Rathmacher, PhD, collaborating assistant professor at Iowa State University in Ames. "Glutamine supplementation can be used to maintain muscle levels during these situations, which helps keep protein synthesis moving along."

Similarly, glutamine's ability to keep blood acid levels in check may offer some protection for muscle and bone as you age. If your body retains more acid than it excretes (metabolic acidosis), you lose muscle and bone. Glutamine - along with a healthy supply of fruits and vegetables - seems to counteract this problem by increasing blood bicarbonate and urinary nitrogen levels.8 Glutamine powder dissolves easily in beverages and is nearly tasteless, so you can get the active dose of about 10 grams without swallowing multiple capsules or tablets. Interestingly, some of the benefit may be achieved with lower doses. As little as 2 grams of glutamine has been found to cause the release of growth hormone, which supports repair and maintenance of muscle connective tissue, tendons and ligaments.

Protein
Getting enough lean protein can be tricky. After all, so many protein foods are high in fat, and you don't want to eat super-lean choices like tuna and chicken breast all the time.

How much protein do you need? A 120-pound woman needs almost 100 grams of protein a day to get her muscle-building level of 0.8 gram per pound of bodyweight. Even aerobic athletes need 0.6 gram per pound, notes renowned protein researcher Peter Lemon, PhD, FACSM, professor of health sciences at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada. Your exact protein needs depend on how much overall food you're eating, your training status and other variables.

Protein is more important when you're on a diet because a greater amount of protein is burned for energy instead of being used to support muscle, and because you need a certain amount of protein to hold onto your body's shape. That's why taking 50 or so extra grams of a protein supplement once a day is probably a good idea for women who are on a low-calorie (but otherwise healthy) diet. Believe it or not, the protein source (egg, milk or soy) is less important than the amount, as all commonly sold varieties have a full complement of essential amino acids. The best time to take protein is after weight training. You should eat regular, small meals and include a quality protein source in at least three such meals.

Hydroxy-Methylbutyrate (HMB)
Looking to build muscle faster and boost muscle recovery? HMB might be an answer. Steve Nissen, PhD, professor in the department of animal science at Iowa State University, believes HMB is the substance behind the effectiveness of whey protein and the amino acid leucine in speeding protein synthesis.

Eating whey is one way to double the rate of protein synthesis, although only for about two hours (casein protein lasts longer). "It probably happens because whey is rich in leucine," states Nissen. "Blood leucine levels go way up after you eat whey, and it has been shown that large doses of this amino acid (20-50 grams) can improve muscle repair and recovery."

So why not just take leucine? Nissen explains: "Eating 20-50 grams of leucine is a lot of powder, and only 5% of it gets converted to HMB - which is what we believe to be the real active ingredient. The remaining leucine is burned for energy or used as a regular building block in protein synthesis."

Nissen - who holds the patent for HMB along with Rathmacher - feels HMB is a better way to bolster muscle recovery than taking leucine. Rathmacher details HMB's effects on muscles: "In 1996, we tested 41 healthy young men doing resistance exercise and found that 3 grams per day of HMB reduced muscle damage. Strength also improved, and subjects gained about 1.8 pounds more muscle in three weeks than those taking a placebo.

"Very recently, a reduction in muscle damage and an increase in muscle mass were confirmed by researchers at Ball State University and by further work in my own lab," he continues. "Taking more than 3 grams per day of HMB wasn't useful. HMB also seems to decrease muscle damage due to endurance running."

A timed-release form of HMB may be next to hit the market.

For Mood

When you're feeling anxious or a little down, certain over-the-counter supplements can help perk you up - as can exercise on many occasions. We discuss three such supplements here, but if you're really down for a prolonged period, you may be suffering from clinical depression and should seek medical or mental-health treatment rather than self-treating with supplements. (When you're clinically depressed, you can't just "snap out of it." Contact the National Institute of Mental Health at 301-443-4513 or www.nimh.nih.gov for more information.)

5-HTP
If you've read the book Potatoes Not Prozac by Kathleen DesMaisons, PhD (Simon & Schuster), you're aware that a good brain chemical for mood (and one that many women are low in) is serotonin, also called 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT). In fact, you can buy the direct precursor to 5-HT in supplement stores, a product called 5-HTP or 5-hydroxytryptophan. Because it's only one step away from the amino acid tryptophan and is made naturally in the body, many women like this nutritional alternative as a way to improve their mood, control obsessions (which may include food cravings) and help them relax. Only one or two 50-mg pills of 5-HTP can boost brain serotonin levels, so use moderation. Most people find 5-HTP relaxing and take it at bedtime. Side effects are rare but at high doses may include nausea, vomiting and mood changes. Avoid taking 5-HTP if you're already on antidepressant drugs.

St. John's Wort
One herb that mainstream psychiatrists have used in Germany for years is St. John's wort, sometimes called Nature's Prozac. Evidence is good that using this product for at least five weeks can relieve mild depression in some women. (A study published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that St. John's wort wasn't effective for treatment of major or clinical depression.)

The active ingredient is probably hypericin, so read the label to make sure you're getting a quality extract. According to a recent study, an extract standardized to 50% St. John's wort (hypericum) flavonoids and containing 0.3% hypericin can boost levels of brain serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine, all three of which are believed to be involved in supporting a healthy mood.11,12 Preliminary research also suggests that St. John's wort might relieve symptoms of PMS. In a study of 19 women suffering from PMS, half found some relief of symptoms when they took 300 mg of hypericum extract (standardized to 0.9 mg of hypericin) once a day for two complete menstrual cycles.

Watch out for skin rashes or sensitivity to sunlight when taking St. John's wort, and tell your doctor you're taking it.

Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA)
Not to be confused with the prohormone DHEA, DHA (an omega-3 fatty acid from fish oil) may be why fish is considered brain food. In fact, one reason some people become depressed on very low-fat diets may be that they're getting too little DHA. (A drop in cholesterol levels was previously blamed.) Thus DHA is believed to stabilize mood.

The effectiveness of DHA highlights the importance of getting enough omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, of which DHA is one; most women get too many omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids instead. To shift the balance toward omega-3s and improve mood, try taking 6,000 mg (6 grams) of salmon or fish oil extract daily, which will give you about 720 mg DHA and about 1,080 mg of another beneficial omega-3 fatty acid called EPA. Both of these omega-3s are safe for most people and have also been found to reduce joint pain due to rheumatoid arthritis. Check with your doctor beforehand if you're taking anti-inflammatory drugs or blood-thinning agents.

Continue on to our Hers forums to share your weight-loss strategies!

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