[quote]Dan.Kelley wrote:
There is a very reputable supplement company (not Biotest) out there selling two different products that I would like some feedback on as to their viability. The first is a combination dextrose, creatine, beta alanine and HMB.
I have never heard anything positive about HMB and the bulk of the product seems to be sugar. The second product is a MicroLactin (a milk product)supplement that is touted as boosting your ability to revover from intense workouts. Any technical advice or any practical experience with these two products would be greatly appreciated. [/quote]
Since EAS/Ross Labs/Abbott Labs is currently one of the few companies paying the premium for the use of HMB, it’s not a hard reach to guess what company and what product in particular you’re talking about - EAS’s Body Armour (I think that’s its name, isn’t it?).
My opinion and the research is this - Creatine + Dextrose works (however, so does creatine w/o dextrose, so why the heavy glucose load if you could garner the same response w/ an efficacious dose of BCAAs or whey protein?); Beta-Alanine works; HMB…a bit more interesting a topic. To understand HMB is something of a long story, but to make things simplified it’s never been shown to be efficacious (effective at what it claims to do) in T-Nation type users (i.e, people that aren’t previously sedentary). In fact, HMB has only been found to be effective in previously sedentary folks. Paradoxically, I’ve known of a lot of bodybuilders who’ve used HMB w/ success, albeit at doses far in excess of what is both affordable to most of us and, ironically, what’s recommended on existing product labels (labels recommend 3g/day; I’m talking about doses at least 2-3 times that amount). The caveat being that for HMB to prove effective in the experienced iron pusher audience, it appears to be necessary to be consumed while on a low- or very-low carbohydrate diet (and in high amounts, as stated above). It’s metabolic pathway would seem to support such a use. However, w/o controlled human data to support my real-life observations and experiments, I can’t say for certain (i.e., any of you HMB folks want to fund a study, give me a call; I’d love to ‘tag’ the carbons and see where they go when consumed and used during a resistance training intervention). However, the company that has the licensing rights to HMB (I won’t name names), has long put such a premium on their pricing that they’ve priced themselves out of having a truly legitimate sales platform w/in the serious fitness/bodybuilding/athletic audience. For the time being, those pushing HMB are content, I assume, w/ going after the previously sedentary and elderly populations w/ the dosing that’s currently not cost-prohibitive to market.
As for MicroLactin, it comes from the same supplier that introduced 7-keto DHEA into the market (again, won’t name names). Frankly, I like what I’ve read about Microlactin and have actually experimented w/ it myself, however, as a joint support product I think it’s up against some pretty stiff (no pun intended) competition - both in efficacy and pricing. A placebo-controlled trial comparing Microlactin to a Glucosamine-Chondroitin product would help solidify its positioning and prove its merit. Something else to consider w/ regards to it being an anti-inflammatory - I recommend you check out a study by a fellow doctoral student of mine - Mike Roberts - that supports quite clearly the requirement of an inflammatory response to elicit an anabolic response. The NSAID post-exercise studies have also shown where taking an anti-inflammatory significantly decreases protein synthesis. Thus, one should never forget that one’s anabolic response to training is directly, and positively associated w/ the catabolic response generated from training. If, however, taking Microlactin or an anti-inflammatory is truly just for acute and asymptomatic pain, then sure; taking an anti-inflammatory is sage advice.
Hope that helps answer your questions. - c