It seems that any time anyone develops a supplement or drug that actually helps with performance or anti ageing its immediately banned by the various sports authorities�?�(usually without consultation or review from the public) So if this study posted here has merit, what next? ban Tylenol from the Olympics? ban all over the counter pain medications?
ScienceDaily (Apr. 7, 2008) �?? Taking daily recommended dosages of
ibuprofen and acetaminophen caused a substantially greater increase
over placebo in the amount of quadriceps muscle mass and muscle
strength gained during three months of regular weight lifting, in a
study by physiologists at the Human Performance Laboratory, Ball
State University.
Dr. Chad Carroll, a postdoctoral fellow working with Dr. Todd Trappe,
reported study results at Experimental Biology 2008 in San Diego on
April 6.*
Thirty-six men and women, between 60 and 78 years of age (average age
65), were randomly assigned to daily dosages of either ibuprofen
(such as that in Advil), acetaminophen (such as that in Tylenol), or
a placebo. The dosages were identical to those recommended by the
manufacturers and were selected to most closely mimic what chronic
users of these medicines were likely to be taking. Neither the
volunteers nor the scientists knew who was receiving which treatment
until the end of the study.
All subjects participated in three months of weight training, 15-20
minute sessions conducted in the Human Performance Laboratory three
times per week. The researchers knew from their own and other studies
that training at this intensity and for this time period would
significantly increase muscle mass and strength. They expected the
placebo group to show such increases, as its members did, but they
were surprised to find that the groups using either ibuprofen or
acetaminophen did even better.
An earlier study from the laboratory, measuring muscle metabolism (or
more precisely, muscle protein synthesis, the mechanism through which
new protein is added to muscle), had looked at changes over a 24 hour
period. This “acute” study found that both ibuprofen and
acetaminophen had a negative impact, by blocking a specific enzyme
cyclooxygenase, commonly referred to as COX.
But that study looked at only one day. Over three months, says Dr.
Trappe, the chronic consumption of ibuprofen or acetaminophen during
resistance training appears to have induced intramuscular changes
that enhance the metabolic response to resistance exercise, allowing
the body to add substantially more new protein to muscle.
The amount of change was measured in quadricep muscles using Magnetic
Resonance Imaging (MRI), the gold standard for determining muscle
mass. The researchers now are conducting assays of muscle biopsies
taken before and after the three-month period of resistance training,
in order to understand the metabolic mechanism of the positive
effects of ibuprofen and acetaminophen.
One of the foci of Ball State’s Human Performance Laboratory is the
adaptation of the elderly to exercise. Another is the loss of muscle
mass that takes place when astronauts are exposed to long-term
weightlessness. This work has implications for both groups, says Dr.
Trappe.
*This presentation was part of the scientific program of the American
Physiological Society (APS). In addition to Dr. Carroll and Dr.
Trappe, co-authors of the Experimental Biology presentation are Jared
Dickinson, Jennifer Lemoine, Jacob Haus, and Eileen Weinheimer,
graduate students working with Dr. Trappe, and study physician Dr.
Christopher Hollon.
Funding for the research came from the National Institutes of Health
and a postdoctoral initiative award from APS.