Synchronized Sports Nutrition

[Guest guest]

Synchronized Sports Nutrition

Recently, the medical literature has paid attention to the effect of diurnal

(daily), circadian and other cycles of bodily rhythms on the prescription of

drugs. Researchers have observed that drugs have a different effect and

effectiveness at different times of the day.

Sometimes, small doses administered at one time of the day are considerably

more effective than large doses given at other times. Side effects and drug

interactions are more pronounced at some times of the day than others. The

adverse interaction between certain drugs and certain foodstuffs is also more

marked at particular times of the day. Some pharmaceutical companies have

begun to print on their product information sheets that their drugs need to

be administered at specific times to optimise their effectiveness.

This has interesting implications for normal nutrition. If one examines

nutrition clinically, all food consists of a complex combination of chemical

substances necessary for the sustaining of life. If synthetic drugs are

utilised by the body in different ways in different combinations at different

times, then it is not unlikely that naturally occurring chemicals in food

would also be used by the body according to similar rules.

That this is the case began to emerge from Russian research reported by

Pshendin (Legkaya Atletika 1988, 6: 14). Here, the Russians point out

that the nutritional tables and regimes proliferated by dietitians and

scientists are merely averages for the 'average' person under 'average'

circumstances. These supposedly reflect what is necessary for maintenance of

'average' bodymass and health in the 'average' man, woman or child under

certain conditions of activity or inactivity.

They stress that prescription of a specific percentage of carbohydrate,

protein or fats needs to be viewed with circumspection to avoid contravention

of the principle of individualisation. Dietary regimes need to be designed

according to gender, age, activities, environmental conditions, metabolic

rate, aesthetic appeal and individual response to each food.

The Russians identify excessive caloric intake in the form of cakes, sweets,

pastries and fried foods, cooking in animal fat or heat treated vegetable

oils, and insufficient intake of fresh vegetables, fruit, herbs and tubers

as major problems with modern diets.

Pshendin makes the radical suggestion that less attention should be paid to

visiting friends with gifts of cakes and alcohol or to extolling the virtues

of gourmet cooking of intricate dishes. Instead, he considers that we should

treat friends with salad and fruit dishes, and have contests for the best

fruit and vegetable dishes. Certainly, in most up-market restaurants, more

attention is paid to the meat and fish portion of the meal than the

vegetables, which are invariably regarded as more decorative than

nutritional.

Current emphasis on take-away fried foods, stir fries and fondues involving

cooking at high temperature in reheated oil is an example of the type of cooki

ng frowned upon Russian experts on sports nutrition. The popularity of the

only Mac in Moscow is a cause for fur-ther adverse comment. It seems

as if Eastern and Western nutritional experts are in close accord in several

respects.

Where the Russians differ from many Western dietitians is on the frequency

and timing of meals. They consider that it is not only food deficiencies

which cause ill health and reduced sporting performance. It is also a

consequence of too few meals per day and irregular meals.

They have conducted research to show that the levels and efficiency of

hormones, energy-producing substances (glucose, fats and phosphagens),

amino-acids, and various enzymes, especially the digestive enzymes, fluctuate

throughout the day. Consequently, the digestion of foods and the ability of

the body to use the final products of digestion for body maintenance, growth,

repair and performance, depends on when and how frequently the food is

ingested.

The Russians emphasize that too low a frequency of meals (two or three meals

a day), even when the caloric intake is sufficient, has a negative effect on

the metabolism of proteins, carbohydrates and fats. They state that an

optimum frequency of four or five meals is more favourable for promoting

metabolic efficiency, recuperation and the ability to cope with physical and

mental stress. Thus, the nutritional regime must be matched carefully to

each stage of the periodised training process from microcycle to macrocycle

to optimally develop most of the physical conditioning factors including

strength, endurance and muscle mass. The concept of periodisation thus may

be seen to embrace far more than a simple sequence of light, medium and high

intensity cardiovascular or resistance exercise. At its most thorough level

it encompasses all possible factors which have a bearing on the acquisition

of general and specific fitness.

It appears as if properly synchronised nutrition needs to become an integral

part of the holistic periodisation process.

----------------

Dr Mel C Siff

Denver, USA

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Supertraining/

[Guest guest]

Dr Siff, I completely agree with you, actually last year's presentation

was about something called chronosupplementation. Of course i made up the

name and the meaning of it but I do agree with what you wrote in your

letter on " chrononutrition. " I use certain supplements depending on the

timing of the event, time of day, season, etc, and it really works.

Serrano

Ohio

* Kindly sign all letters with full name and city if you wish them to

be published!

[Guest guest]

If I remember correctly, Vince Gironda used to advocate a similar

way of eating. He also didn't believe in eating mixed meals and

felt that protein and carbohydrate should be eaten separately. The

idea of taking in certain foods or drugs at certain times sounds

good, but does/will it really work? I think it would need a lot of

controlled studies to find out. I also question the way the

digestive system works and I do hope someone will set me straight

here if I am incorrect.

It is my understanding that it can take several hours to digest

protein. Obviously some of it is going to be absorbed immediately,

but this process goes on for a long while. Let's say you eat a

steak at 7 a.m. and three hours later you eat a plate of steamed

broccoli. The steak is not digested by the time you dump the

vegetables in on top of it so in reality it all gets mixed together

anyway. Personally, I find a steak eaten with broccoli more

enjoyable than either eaten alone. So would I just be orthorexic by

eating one thing at a time (or maybe acting like a little kid?).

In addition, all this may be possible for a state-supported athlete

who has nothing better to do than eat, train and sleep. But what

about most people, athletes included, who live real lives. This

certainly goes for most Russians.

As far as the other recommendations, ingesting less fast food,

sweets and vodka should be well taken. Whether it will or not is

another story. I also wonder about the food supply in Russia at the

moment. It has always been problematic for many. Is it still like

that or have things changed?

Rosemary Vernon, Editor

Dolfzine On-Line Fitness, Inc.®

A Not-For-Profit Corporation

www.dolfzine.com

Marina del Rey, CA

IronRoses@...

http://www.chuckietechie.com

[Guest guest]

Poliquin answered a simliar question of protein and carb meals

being seperate in a recent Q/A column of his. Here is what he had to say:

" I don't agree with protein carb separation as the insulogenic response is

too great at the carb only meal. It was one of those zany ideas from the

Muscle Beach sub-culture of the early eighties. The carb only meal make

most people drowsy at best. Spiking the insulin with no protein increase

inflammatory response in the human body, hence increases in LDL

cholesterol, and triglycerides, pro-inflammatory messengers, decreases in

anti-oxydant reserves are just a few of the negative side effects of this

dietary approach. In other words, carb only meals will increase of anything

from lowering vision to hyperlipidemia. Furthermore spiking the insulin

will make you have an unwanted rise in cortisol a few hours later as the

body tries to restore homeostasis. Increased cortisol is linked to rapid

aging of the brain, increase fat storage on the abdominal wall, and

catabolism of the muscle mass. "

[Did he provide any references for all of the different issues involved? Mel

Siff]

Dahms

Boston, MA

[Guest guest]

> In addition, all this may be possible for a state-supported athlete

> who has nothing better to do than eat, train and sleep. But what

> about most people, athletes included, who live real lives. This

> certainly goes for most Russians.

This is something I have pondered. Okay for the bodybuilder or powerlifter

whose training usually consists of brief bursts of two phase (lift-lower)

exercises. But what of the Olympic Lifter (8-10 phase), Gymnasts, Runner,

Track and Field athlete. Try and train while trying to digest large amounts

of protein.

A good comparison is cycling and running. Cyclists can get away with eating

large amounts of protein as they train in a stable environment. As mentioned

Tour de France cyclists do eat a up to 3gr per kg of protein while

competing. A runner could not get away with this jogging along with a

undigested food in the stomache.

That being said I think all people can eat smaller meals more frequently.

All working people should get 2 teabreaks and lunch and be able to eat a

snack on the way to the gym in the evening to get their six meals a day. The

problem is making time to prepare the food and getting a balance that one

can stick to.

> As far as the other recommendations, ingesting less fast food,

> sweets and vodka should be well taken.

Agreed.

Hamish Ferguson

Christchurch, New Zealand

[Guest guest]

Serrano wrote:

>>> Dr Siff, I completely agree with you, actually last year's

presentation was about something called chronosupplementation. Of

course i made up the name and the meaning of it but I do agree with

what you wrote in your letter on " chrononutrition. " I use certain

supplements depending on the timing of the event, time of day,

season, etc, and it really works.

**** , would it be possible to give the group a few examples?

Additionally, when you say 'it really works,' how did you quantify

the effectiveness of " chrononutrition? "

Many thanks in advance

Carruthers

Wakefield UK

* Don't forget to sign all letters with full name and city if you

wish them to be published!

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 12/19/02 7:09:32 PM Eastern Standard Time,

Carruthersjam@... writes:

> Serrano wrote:

>

> >>>Dr Siff, I completely agree with you, actually last year's

> presentation was about something called chronosupplementation. Of

> course i made up the name and the meaning of it but I do agree with

> what you wrote in your letter on " chrononutrition. " I use certain

> supplements depending on the timing of the event, time of day,

> season, etc, and it really works.

>

> **** , would it be possible to give the group a few examples?

> Additionally, when you say 'it really works,' how did you quantify

> the effectiveness of " chrononutrition? "

>

> Many thanks in advance

>

> Carruthers

> Wakefield UK

>

> * Don't forget to sign all letters with full name and city if you

> wish them to be published!

>

>

>

>

Dear :

I apologize for my tardiness. I have been very busy for the past few ways.

I use a lot of chronosupplementation in my office based on research and

experience.

I am going to open a pandora box because i dont have all these papers in my

head except a few that i can remember so as i go along i will try to put them

in place.

The biggest sample that i have is protein consumption after workouts. I found

out that the best time if inmediately after the workout and it doesnt need

carbohydrates like people or research papers stated, also this is an

important time to consume free from aminos or rapid digestable proteins.

(journal of physiology, 2001, 535.1, i think). Please excuse Dr. Siff but

some of these papers i am trying tio remember from the top of my head. Also

youshould never take creatine before workouts like must supplements companies

do. Why because it can casue cramps and yes i know what the research stated,

but i did consultant work for a college and 22 players out of 24 were having

cramps after practice and they didnt know why so they called me and all i did

is ask the team not to keep drinking a creatine containing drink that they

had before practice adn the cramps stopped in all of them except one and i

also see it in my office, is it related to water intake or potassium or salt,

i dont know it might be related to all of the above, but if you take

potassium with creatine then you dont get cramps. Another is carbohydate

intake before a competition, unless you are severy depleted the best time to

comsume a high carbohydrate meals are the night before the event unless

trying to mantain a certain weight, and the best meal usually is pizza the

night before, try it.Also if you are going to consume high fat meals they are

better after workouts because the muscles will try to replensih their own

intramuscular lipids instead of subcutaneous(Am J of Regulatory In. Comp.

Physiology 281). These are just some examples of chrono supplementation and

when is best to take supplements. I have a other suggestions and

recommendations depending in the sport or the goals.

Thnak you

Serrano

Ohio

[Guest guest]

Serrano wrote:

<< I am going to open a pandora box because i dont have all these

papers in my head except a few that i can remember so as i go along i

will try to put them in place.

The biggest sample that i have is protein consumption after workouts.

I found out that the best time if inmediately after the workout and

it doesnt need carbohydrates like people or research papers stated,

also this is an important time to consume free from aminos or rapid

digestable proteins. (journal of physiology, 2001, 535.1, i think). >>

**** Here are the research articles which cited (I hope?!):

Rennie, M.J. (2001). Grandad, it ain't what you eat, it depends when

you eat it - that's how muscles grow! Journal of Physiology, 535.1,

2-2.

Taken from:

http://www.jphysiol.org/cgi/content/full/535/1/2

<<The word 'sarcopenia' was coined to identify the condition of loss

of skeletal muscle that occurs in wasting diseases and also during

ageing. This loss of muscle constitutes a major problem for patients

with a wide variety of chronic medical conditions including cancer,

cardiovascular, respiratory and renal disease, and when it affects

the respiratory muscles it prevents weaning from artificial

respiration of patients in intensive care units. In the elderly, the

maintenance of muscle strength is a major contributor to the ability

to continue to carry out daily physical tasks successfully and

safely.

Naturally, many physiologists and rehabilitation experts have

been drawn to the question of how to prevent the loss in muscle mass

and possibly how to reverse it. There have now been over 50 studies

carried out in older subjects, of ages up to 97 years! Most of these

have demonstrated that resistance exercise can produce substantial

increases in muscle strength and power and more limited, but

nevertheless significant, increases in muscle mass and muscle fibre

cross-sectional area (CSA) (Frontera et al. 1988; Skelton et al.

1995; Young, 1997).

Nevertheless, it would make sense to find ways of

increasing muscle mass in the elderly, not only because muscle

strength and functionality would probably be improved more but also

because of the attendant metabolic advantages in having a high lean

to fat weight body ratio, including increases in glucose tolerance

and the capacity to oxidize fat.

The paper published in this issue of The Journal of Physiology by

Esmarck et al. (2001) provides us with some very interesting insights

into the nutritional control of muscle mass. What Birgitte Esmarck

and her colleagues have done is to demonstrate that, for the elderly,

it matters considerably when a person eats a protein meal after

having done some exercise. Delaying the consumption of a meal for 2 h

after exercise limited the increase in muscle fibre growth after a

programme of progressive resistance exercise in elderly men - of a

mean age of 74 years. However, when the meal was taken immediately

after exercise there was much greater efficacy in stimulating muscle

growth, measured as increases in muscle fibre CSA (determined

histochemically) and whole muscle CSA (determined by magnetic

resonance imaging).

It has been known from previous work that strenuous exercise alone

stimulates human muscle protein synthesis for up to 48 h after the

bout with the maximum response occurring somewhere in the period

between the end of exercise and 12 h afterwards - and very probably

at about 3 h ( et al. 1997). This increase occurs even

without amino acids being supplied exogenously, either orally or

intravenously, but the stimulation is markedly increased when amino

acids are given concurrently with or immediately after exercise

(Tipton et al. 1999).

However, the paper by Esmarck et al. (2001) is the first to

demonstrate that the net result of stimulating the anabolic processes

in muscle by strenuous exercise and timely consumption of a protein-

containing meal causes a bigger increase in net muscle growth, i.e.

fibre size and macroscopic CSA, than when the meal is delayed to 2 h

after exercise.

There are, however, some puzzling aspects to the results. Blake

Rasmussen and colleagues from Bob Wolfe's lab in Galveston have shown

in young subjects that there is little difference in the stimulation

of muscle protein synthesis (and no difference in the inhibition of

muscle protein breakdown) when a protein- carbohydrate meal is given

either 1 or 3 h after strenuous exercise (Rasmussen et al. 2000). The

net balances of amino acids across the previously working leg were

identical, suggesting that the net accretion of protein was the same

whether the meal was given at 1 or 3 h. This obviously is at odds

with the results presented by Esmarck et al. (2001). Of course, the

major difference may be in the relative sensitivity of the muscle of

the elderly subjects to contractile activity and to exogenous amino

acids.

Work from the Galveston lab has also shown recently that

elderly subjects appear to exhibit what might be called 'nutrient

resistance' of protein synthesis, in as much as they show a

diminished response to exogenous amino acids plus carbohydrate,

compared to young subjects (Volpi et al. 2000). Maybe the elderly

muscle is stimulated by contractile activity normally but the effect

wears off faster than in the young and then 'nutrient resistance'

might stop a full response to food.

This paper by Esmarck and colleagues (2001) not only provides

important clues about the control of muscle mass by contractile

activity and nutrition, but also provides practical insights for

those wishing to help the elderly in maintaining size and functions

of their muscle by a judicious combination of exercise and adequate

and timely dietary intake.>>

<<<<<Also if you are going to consume high fat meals they are

better after workouts because the muscles will try to replensih their

own intramuscular lipids instead of subcutaneous(Am J of Regulatory

In. Comp. Physiology 281).

**** See this paper:

Décombaz, J., Schmitt, B., Ith, M., Decarli, B., Diem, P., Kreis,

R., Hoppeler, H. and Boesch, C. (2001).

Postexercise fat intake repletes intramyocellular lipids but no faster

in trained than in sedentary subjects.

Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, 281, R760-R769.

For the full article go to (and search):

http://ajpregu.physiology.org/

The hypotheses that postexercise replenishment of intramyocellular

lipids (IMCL) is enhanced by endurance training and that it depends

on fat intake were tested. Trained and untrained subjects exercised

on a treadmill for 2 h at 50% peak oxygen consumption, reducing IMCL

by 26-22%. During recovery, they were fed 55% (high fat) or 15% (low

fat) lipid energy diets. Muscle substrate stores were estimated by 1H

(IMCL)- and 13C (glycogen)-magnetic resonance spectroscopy in

tibialis anterior muscle before and after exercise.

Resting IMCL content was 71% higher in trained than untrained subjects and

correlated significantly with glycogen content. Both correlated

positively with indexes of insulin sensitivity. After 30 h on the

high-fat diet, IMCL concentration was 30-45% higher than preexercise,

whereas it remained 5-17% lower on the low-fat diet. Training status

had no significant influence on IMCL replenishment. Glycogen was

restored within a day with both diets. We conclude that fat intake

postexercise strongly promotes IMCL repletion independently of

training status. Furthermore, replenishment of IMCL can be completed

within a day when fat intake is sufficient.

---------------

Carruthers

Wakefield

UK