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SU Professors Release Supplement Information
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Catalog
Not
all dietary supplements will provide positive increases in strength or
lean body mass, including the product taken by former St. Louis Cardinal
Mark McGwire, according to a recent study by two Iowa State University
researchers.
A review of scientific research
on six dietary supplements found that two have a positive effect on lean
mass and strength gain in humans, said a study published by Rick Sharp,
a professor of health and human performance, and Steve Nissen, a
professor of animal science.
Creatine and HMB were found to have positive effects on lean
body mass and strength gain and
can even be taken together to improve results, Sharp said.
Supplements
that did
not
have positive results included,
the supplement used by McGwire."I think everybody's looking
for the magic bullet that's going to make them bigger, stronger or
faster," said Mark Coberley, the head ISU men's athletic trainer.
Athletes use dietary supplements to
boost training regimens, Sharp said. But they're also used by older
people looking to ward off the loss of strength that accompanies aging.
Creatine
and HMB
are on the list of legal supplements, according to the NCAA.Schools, however, are prohibited
from distributing the supplements, Coberley said. ISU does its best to
monitor their use, but beyond that, it has little control.Coberley said there are ISU athletes
who use dietary supplements to improve performance.
Athletic officials
ask athletes to bring the supplements in for review to ensure they are
safe and will pass NCAA drug tests. "Athletes are athletes,"
he said. "If there's an edge that they can take, they'll try to
find it." Creatine is a protein found in
human muscles. Additional creatine has been found to increase muscle
mass. HMB is a product of an amino acid that is known to either increase
or maintain muscle mass.
HMB was discovered at ISU by Nissen, who now
operates a company in the ISU Research Park, Metabolic Technologies
Inc., that sells the supplement.
Previous research has indicated that
monitored doses of creatine are safe, Sharp said. HMB had no major
health side effects but did result in a decrease of total cholesterol
and systolic blood pressure.
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