Scholtz,
Phosphatidylcholine provides none of the benefits you’re looking for. It’s not bad for the body it’s just nothing special either.
Phosphatidylserine (PS) comes in two forms - PS complex (which contains PS and it’s counterpart Phosphatidylcholine). The other form being active PS supplements.
Most commonly PS is produced as mentioned in previous posts via soy.
When taking PS complex as a supplement (which is the common powder versions) you need to take in roughly 4g of this complex to get 800mg active PS which was the amount found in original PS cortisol control studies. It must be active PS or it’s a complete waste.
Active PS supplements (generally in pill form) range roughly from 50-200mg of active PS. So you’d need to take in 4-8 pills just to get the cortisol control benefits.
In the Polquin product it simply means you need to take in 5-6 caps each workout to attain the benefit.
AST Sports Science produced a PS complex product back in the day. I used it religiously for about 8 months. It was VERY expensive. 8 pills @ 30 mins preworkout was required each time. Each pill was 500mg so 4g of the stuff to get 800mg active PS.
They stopped producing it and I thought highly of the supplement at the time so I called them and asked why?
They said the cost was simply not worth the benefit to the average supplement user.
If you’ve got a boatload of cash laying around I think it’s a great idea to get this stuff.
But cost-benefit it’s just not worth it.
As far as current brands I highly trust NOW Foods who sells in various countries. I get mine from here:
I never found PS did anything for mental acuity/focus when taken pre-workout. Cortisol control (specifically, workout driven cortisol secretion control) is not something someone can really measure all that well. While I “felt” I was recovering quicker and was less sore, it’s not like I gained 10lbs on it.
And “feeling” it working could simply be a placebo effect. The stuff had to work great right! I was takin 8 pills every workout and it was costing me $5 every time. Screams big placebo effect to me even though the research is there to back it up.
In my opinion PS is one of the best brain related supplements out there. A high amount of research shows how it improves mental function (memory specifically) and helps with prevention and lessens the symptoms of those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or any age-related memory loss.
But for these greats effects you need only use 100mg daily (1 pill). Something which is actually affordable to the normal joe. Keep in mind that it does not work like gingko does (an antioxidant and oxygen increasing supplement for the brain whereas PS helps to protect the fat of the brain and its neuro-connections) and that both should be taken for extraordinary results daily.
Now, I would like to direct your attention to two seperate supplements (which hopefully you can locate in Aus) which in my opinion will take care of all your concerns and achieve what you’re looking for at least 1/3 the cost of PS.
Mental Acuity/Focus (pre-workout or anytime; great for studying) - Syntrax’s Cerebro
I’ll tell you this - This stuff in genius in a bottle. I’ve used ALC, PS, Gingko and caffiene/fat burners, etc AND NOTHING comes anywhere near as good as this stuff. There’s no spike in energy, no insulin ups and downs, nothing like that.
It’s not like caffiene.
30 mins after you pop a Cerebro you just think incredibly clear. The whole mind-muscle connection thing takes on a WHOLE new meaning. I like to take it pre-workout (I train first thing in the morning and don’t do well with stimulants) and once again around 3pm when I get a bit foggy in the brain.
Seriously! This is genius level IQ in a bottle.
Post-workout cortisol secretion control - In my opinion attacking exercise induced cortisol is a needle in a haystack approach to the whole equation.
Take the 5 mintues to read this article about lessening/stopping post-workout muscle catabolism induced from intense workouts:
http://www.ast-ss.com/articles/article.asp?AID=51
Since reading it I’ve used NAC as a supplement post-workout (and it’s only required post-workout). That’s about 4 years now; every single workout!
Again I go with NOW Foods brand bought through bb.com but any pure 500-600mg NAC supplement taken post workout will stop the muscle wasting process from exercise induced catabolism (including cortisol secretion).
Again, this isn’t the sort of supplement that you put 10lbs of lean mass on, but it is something you use and don’t ever want to train without taking post-workout because in the long run stopping that muscle wasting process dead in its tracks is very important to retaining muscle mass.
In short -
1 Syntrax’s Cerebro for mental focus @ 30 mins pre-workout
NOW Foods - 1 x 500mg N-Acetyl-Cysteine taken immediately post-workout to stop the exercise induced muscle wasting stress process
*The combination of these two supplements outlined as above will do much better than a PS supplement in the 600-800mg active PS required level AND it will be cheaper! 35 Cents per workout for both of these supps vs PS at $1.80 per workout
www.bodybuilding.com/store/now/nac.html
www.bodybuilding.com/store/syn/cer.html
(these guys do ship to Aus for decent prices especially seeings they are simply small pill bottles and 3 bottles of Cerebro and 1 bottle of NAC lasts about 60 workouts)
and if you want more brain protection and performance add in:
NOW Foods - 100mg Phosphatidylserine @ 1 time daily (takes 3-4 weeks to notice the difference)
and possibly a gingko product for reasons outlined above
Cheers!
AT