by DW St. John
In our previous installment, we introduced Chris Lockwood and Dr. Tim Ziegenfuss, two of Biotest's top researchers. This time, they share their insight about the future of the supplement world.
All right, now let's talk a bit about performance-enhancing substances, including but not limited to anabolic steroids. Would you say that the controversy surrounding them is primarily a legal issue, a moral issue, or a health issue?
I'm gonna have to go with "none of the above" here. Come on, man, this is a political issue. Politicians are simply playing the tune that the ignorant masses, which is to say their constituents, want to hear.
Oh, hey, you'll like this. Want to hear something ironic? There's a big push right now for preventative birth control pills for men. You know the method being proposed and studied? Testosterone. Just as females take supraphysiological doses of estrogen as birth control, the same mechanism works in men, with Testosterone. What will all the anti-steroid legislators and "for the children" commentators say when little Johnny's dad is taking him down to the doctor for his prescription of birth control pills?
This classic shortsightedness and utter waste of taxpayer dollars — especially when everyone's claiming we're entering a recession — is almost criminal.
It isn't that I support illegal-steroid use. I'm a real square when it comes to abiding by the law. However, I find it utterly absurd that artificially increasing Testosterone to build bigger muscles on men is unacceptable while artificially increasing estrogen to grow fake boobs on women is not only acceptable, but totally out of control.
Infant formulas and kids' foods are riddled with phytoestrogens, environmental xenoestrogens are everywhere, and nobody notices. But God forbid we increase a male hormone.
Right. Everyone's so concerned with the imagined threat of "Testosterone poisoning" that they ignore the very real dangers of estrogen poisoning. Dr. Z, what do you think? Legal, moral, health, or other?
Well, it's obviously a legal issue now. If you get caught with a vial of test, or even a bottle of andro that is listed on the new Anabolic Steroids Control Act, you're an instant felon. And yes, it's also a moral issue. Some folks think using performance-enhancing substances (PES) is "cheating."
I say if you can use PES within the confines of the rules, then do it.
As for it being a health issue, well, maybe and maybe not. Listen, as I've said many times before, the majority of PES carry less health risk than participating in many contact sports or regularly eating at fast food joints. I used to drive sport bikes and pull the front end up doing 70 MPH on the freeway. It was really stupid and I'm lucky to tell the story, but would I have been safer not riding and using PES? Probably.
So where does one draw the line between a "sports supplement" and a "performance-enhancing substance?" Or is there a line?
A supplement may have some effect, or no effect, on supporting the body, whereas an ergogenic aid directly or indirectly improves some measure of physical performance. Of course, by that definition, carbohydrates, protein, fat, and even water are all ergogenic. Thus, this debate about banning "performance-enhancing substances" is somewhat dubious if the only things on that list are hormonal in nature.
"Guys, guys, it's only vitamin C!"
Well, the FDA hasn't banned fish oil and creatine yet. But in the meantime, how have the current crop of regulations affected your work? Have they been a frustration, or a stimulus to be more creative?
Definitely a stimulus to be more creative. I like a challenge, and increasing government regulations have made the industry better in a number of ways. Rogue companies can't sell designer steroids anymore, for the most part, and scientists like me are trying to identify naturally occurring nutrients that can safely improve body composition and performance.
As long as consumers speak up to protect their rights to supplement, and the government doesn't get carried away with over-regulating the industry, the next decade will see some of the most exciting developments in the history of the sports supplement industry.
Actually, it's had no effect on me. Creativity is a big box and there are still so, so, so many active compounds derived from nature, such as amino acid compounds, herbs, and herb actives that have yet to be fully explored.
So what supplements do you actually use on a regular basis?
Whoa. Simple question, complicated answer. Depending on the time of year and what my goals are, the following list applies:
Pine-bark extract
Rhodiola rosea
BIOTEST® German Creatine Monohydrate
Flameout™ Inflammation Scavenger
BCAA
Metabolic Drive™ protein powder
BIOTEST® Superfood
Superfood. Because your diet really sucks.
I use pretty much everything I mentioned earlier (protein, antioxidants, probiotics), as well as a digestive enzyme with every meal. I cycle on and off HOT-ROX® Extreme and Carbolin™-19, and I absolutely don't train without first taking Surge Workout Fuel, along with a handful of BCAAs.
The food supplements maintain stable glucose levels for sustained energy and a metabolic advantage. The enzymes I take for gastrointestinal regularity. The probiotics I take for the same effect and to ensure proper microflora within my large intestine. HOT-ROX® Extreme I take for the mental acuity effect and thermogenic response. Carbolin™-19 is a "topper" to the other things I do to create a positive nitrogen. I also take Z-12™ Deep-Refreshing Sleep Formula when I know that I'm only going to get fewer than 5 hours of sleep but want it to feel like a full night's rest.
I also occasionally cycle between TRIBEX® Pro-Testosterone Formula and Rez-V™ Anti-Estrogen Testosterone Support Formula for Testosterone support, and creatine during heavy training cycles. There are also some herbs that I take on somewhat regular occasions: Rhodiola, ginseng, ginger, ecdysterones, and cordyceps.
Gee, I'm a little disappointed that neither of you mentioned SPIKE® Energy, which is my secret weapon of choice. But speaking of favorites, which are your, "Dude, you just gotta try this stuff" supplements?
Hands down, SURGE™ Workout Fuel!
Every single person that I've given that product to has raved about the improvement in their subsequent workout. This represents a serious, acute response that we're still trying to understand more precisely and wrap our arms around the exact mechanisms at work. Biotest formulated the product (over-formulated it, really) based upon a lot of research, which was catalyzed with our own intuition and theorizing.
I think SURGE™ Workout Fuel is a case where our collective creativity greatly exceeded our expectations. Unfortunately, the costs also exceeded our expectations, by a bunch. The raw materials, at the doses we used, are insanely expensive. It's what you get when you have someone like Tim Patterson, who asks for efficacy regardless of costs constraints. I love that mentality in formulation. He doesn't want his researchers to worry about costs. Anyhow, I'm quite proud that I was involved in Surge Workout Fuel.
SURGE™ Workout Fuel might be introduced to T-Nation in the near future.
Yeah, everyone who talks about SURGE™ Workout Fuel, who've used it, says it's the single, greatest performance-enhancing supplement they've experienced. I'm pretty excited about it, myself.
How about new stuff? Can you tell me about the new exciting new products you're working on?
There are a lot of things that I'm just not at liberty to discuss. There are, however, a few ideas we're working on that have me very excited that I cantalk about. I'm very intrigued with acetyl L-carnitine and its effects on upregulating the androgen receptor and improving recovery from weight training.
There's a new form of creatine — creatine pyruvate — that we're in the final stages of preparation, involving a complex formulation.
Finally, there are some new casein hydrolysates that are extremely interesting. They contain some di- and tripeptides that are absorbed more quickly and completely than anything else on the planet.
Fair enough. How about you, Chris?
Right now, regarding new designs, I'm interested in two different "actives" (plant extracts) for their sympathomimetic (stimulating) effects and powerful lipolytic (fat loss) effects.
Extracting actives in commercial quantities isn't a simple process, though. Thus, the time and costs spent up front can oftentimes be for naught. However, with any luck at all, we'll be introducing some mind-blowing actives to the supplement world over the next few months.
I'm also extremely interested in a few compounds that appear to affect intracellular proteolytic enzymes, which are compounds that inhibit protein degradation.
My greatest, personal interest is in compounds that may act to inhibit various players involved in the calpain system. For example, some of the leading researchers in this field, principally those looking at ways to cure muscular dystophy and the like, have theorized that it may be activation of the calpain system that causes DOMS.
If you're not familiar with calpains, the simple explanation is that as intracellular calcium reaches a threshold, these calpains are somehow activated. One of the actions of a particular calpain is to cut large swaths of contractile protein at the Z-line, thus making those large proteins available to other proteolytic enzymes that can then "chop off" the exposed amino acid residues.
To put it in really simply terms, if you can inactivate that calpain, you don't lose the protein and you grow bigger a lot faster.
Very cool stuff, and there appears to be some natural products capable of affecting this system, but there's still a large degree of trial and error to learn if the benefits are worth the costs.
Lastly, I really want to continue looking at the specific mechanisms behind the incredible benefits of SURGE™ Workout Fuel. We want to continue looking at the various combinations of its ingredients and varying doses in varying combinations with the "pro-anabolic" carbohydrate sources we have in that formula.
It's incredible, the results we're finding with Workout Fuel. For example, we send elite-level cyclists — the guys with legs like bodybuilders — out to train in the hot, high-altitude environ of Colorado, for hours, no less... and they actually come back from their rides weighing more than when they left, with energy to spare.
Even so, Biotest is never satisfied with a product, no matter how well it works. Instead, we're always looking at how to build a better mousetrap.
Okay, gentlemen, this may be kind of an unfair question, but have you encountered any studies lately that have inspired you to rethink what you thought was true?
Only one, that claimed that novice weightlifters can adapt to (and grow) on a much lower-protein intake than what is currently recommended by most sports nutritionists. How low? Try 1.4 grams per kilogram of body weight per day. That works out to only 0.6 grams per pound. It's heresy, I know, and the study didn't have a comparison group that ingested higher amounts of protein. Still, the lab that performed the study (McMaster University in Canada) is top notch, so I'm sure we'll see more from them on this topic.
There's some beautiful research in the field of protein and protein transporters that a close friend turned me on to, and which turns pretty much everything we once thought was true about protein digestion and utilization right on its head.
One of the most compelling and scary discoveries is the degree of uptake of intact protein structures that occurs in adulthood. The prevailing literature largely said that only in infancy, when our GI systems are still developing, could we intake certain proteins structures.
The scary part of that is in consuming foods with pesticides that are designed to enter a plant and alter its protein structure for "good" reasons. What happens when these things start entering our cells in massive and chronic amounts?
Also, I've seen some very cool brain research dealing with developing brains. I recommend that everyone, particularly parents, find a copy of the special issue by the journal Discovery, called "The Brain," which came out last summer. The data on addiction, stimulant-seeking, etc., during adolescence is brilliant.
Very cool. Last question. What direction do you see the sports nutrition industry heading over the next decade? Will we see more nootropics and CNS boosters? More hormonal boosters? More metabolic boosters? Or do you think we'll see something completely different?
The categories themselves will remain largely the same, with a few additions based upon more precise mechanisms, However, the "tools" with which we attack those consumer demands are changing every day. As we begin to continue unraveling the human genome, the opportunities are endless. There are so many new, creative avenues to take when one has a better roadmap upon which to plot their path.
Time will obviously tell, but I think high-end amino acid mixtures may one day make regular protein powders a thing of the past. I also think pre-workout mixtures that fine-tune CNS stimulation and allow consumers to hit PRs every week are going to be big. And as long as men are lifting weights and chasing women, there will be a place for legitimate hormone boosters. I can't wait until Bill Roberts [another one of Biotest's team of researchers] puts together a selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM) for me to pilot test!
Exciting times ahead in the supplement world. But unfortunately, our time for this interview is up. Chris, Dr. Z, thanks again for speaking with us. It's been a real pleasure.
DW St. John is a traveling writer, editor, teacher, and recovering cynic. His other interests include firearms, red meat, martial arts, lifting weights, and beautiful women, though not necessarily in that order, and usually not all at the same time. He may be contacted here.
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