PH balanced diet for muscle growth?(How acid affects muscle)

[Oggy]

Does your blood PH have an impact on muscle growth and nitrogen retention? I've noticed that a lot of creatine supplements have magnesium and bicarb for better absorption but these are alkalizing minerals.

 

Found this study.

 

How Acid in Your Body Affects Muscle Growth

 

An Increased Need for Buffers

 

Bicarbonate is a major extracellular blood buffer. It neutralizes acid, therefore balancing blood pH. Unfortunately, bodybuilders tend to suffer from a shortage of bicarbonate for the following reasons:

 

1) Their diet is lacking in carbohydrate-rich bicarbonate precursors such as sweet potatoes.

2) The generation of lactic acid during heavy training increases the need for buffer molecules such as bicarbonate.

3) For several hours after an intense workout, the urinary losses of bicarbonate are accelerated up to fivefold.

 

That's why they have greater need for buffers, especially bicarbonate, than the average person.

 

Cheap Science

 

Despite their benefits, buffering agents aren't all that popular as supplements because the research is somewhat equivocal. Some studies show body composition and performance improvements, and others do not.

Typically, research subjects get huge doses (200 to 500 milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight) of buffers such as bicarbonate all at once. Their athletic performance is compared before and after the so-called \"bicarbonate loading." Trouble is, the buffering action after bicarb loading starts in the stomach and digestive tract. When a huge amount of bicarbonate is poured in the very acidic environment of the stomach, carbonic gas is released. As a result, the stomach expands rapidly, which is not the most pleasant feeling (it's nof like a pumped muscle). The rest of your digestive tract also tends to be acid. The arrival of bicarbonate will alter the intestine pH. Local bacteria don't appreciate the change. Result: side effects from bloating to diarrhea. There is no way a trainee whose digestive tract is tortured by bicarb loading can do a strong workout.

Bicarbonate loading is bad research methodology and a bad training idea. It makes more sense to use smaller dosages for a longer period of time so you optimize the supplementation zing the side effects.

 

Bicarbonate to Improve Performance

 

Two studies have demonstrated effects of bicarbonate supplementation. In one trained athletes received 300 milligrams of sodium bicarbonate per kilogram of body-weight 90 minutes before a leg workout.1 Blood pH rose from 7.33 to 7.39—that is, it became more alkaline—after supplementation. Bicarbonate improved performance by more than 5 percent.

In a more practical study, men received 500 milligrams of sodium bicarbonate per kilo daily for five days. After 24 hours of supplementation, blood pH increased from 7.40 to 7.43. No additional increase in pH was noted during the next four days, but bicarbonate accumulated in the body. The storage of extra bicarbonate counteracted the depleting effects of training and diet. Leg force increased 10 percent after five days of supplementation.2

 

Bicarbonate for Fat Loss

 

When blood is rendered more alkaline, the release of fat-burning hormones is triggered. In men and women, 160 milligrams of sodium bicarbonate per kilogram of body-weight increased calorie expenditure by 10 percent and fat oxidation by 18 percent for three hours. In women oral intake of 2.5 grams of bicarbonate three times a day increased growth hormone secretion by 15 percent over 24 hours.

In a three-week study, obese men and women followed a very low-calorie diet (400 calories per day).3 During the first week subjects received either four grams of potassium bicarbonate daily or a placebo. In the second and the third weeks bicarbonate doses were increased to six grams. With the placebo, blood pH acidified, falling from 7.42 to 7.38, and the blood level of bicarbonate fell by almost 10 percent. Those changes didn't occur with the supplement. Bicarbonate spared about 100 grams of muscle mass per week. When, during the fourth week, the placebo group received bicarbonate, their rate of muscle loss was cut in half.

 

The Use of Dianabol as a Supplement http://www.muscletalk.co.uk/article-dianabol.aspx

Benefits of Dianabol Use

Dianabol has been shown to increase anaerobic glycolysis (3), which increases lactic acid build up in the body. This is beneficial because lactic acid is used by the muscles to form glycogen, which in turn provides energy in anaerobic metabolism. Lactic acid is also a key chemical in the disposal of dietary carbohydrates, which means you are less likely to get fat while using dianabol.

A study on osteoporosis (4) showed that at a dosage of just 2.5mg per day for 9 months dianabol was more effective than calcium supplementation in reducing osteoporotic activity, it was also shown to increase muscle mass more effectively. Another study on osteoporosis (5) which lasted 24 months, showed just how dianabol works on osteoporosis; dianabol increased total body calcium, and also total body potassium. This may not mean much to you as a bodybuilder, but the actions of calcium are very important to bodybuilders, as it transports large numbers of amino acids and also creatine and these two things are vital in muscle growth. Potassium is also very important, as it assists in muscle contractions, transmitting nerve signals, and insulin release; so it is also a very anabolic substance.

One very interesting study (6), although not significant in bodybuilding terms, showed that dianabol increases the sensitivity of laryngeal tumour cells to radiotherapy, and concluded 'recommending this hormone to be used during radiotherapy of patients with the laryngeal cancer'.

 

 

Calcium and potassium are also alkalizing minerals. It seems that blood PH has a great effect on muscle growth. High protein diets are very acidifying!

[Oggy]

Anyone know anything about this subject?

[Marcina]

I was under the impression that the body regulates its own PH balance to maintain homeostasis. If the body's blood PH is off, then you die.

 

So I don't think the article you posted has much merit.. If eating alkaline foods was better for muscle growth, then vegans would be bigger than meat-eating bodybuilders amirite?

 

However, I will agree that more alkaline foods are easier to digest and be utilized by the body resulting in quicker recovery for people.

[Oggy]

Well I think the high meat/saturated fat diet is proven to increase testosterone and aggression, so this maybe why they put on more muscle than vegans.

 

I'm a lot more chilled out on a 80% raw vegan diet and my arthritis feet pain has completely gone, it comes back for a few days if I drink alcohol and last time I got drunk when I was hungover I craved meat and had a meat eating day, I felt like crap and my feet pain was quite bad and it goes away when I start to alkalize my body when I'm back on the raw vegan life style.

[Marcina]

It's most likely the creatine, which is an important amino acid that is mostly found in meats.

 

Plant protein doesn't contain creatine, and I think the body synthesizes its own. I could be wrong.

 

There's just something magical about vegetables. Especially raw ones. Even though I can't find any real scientific evidence behind why, I just feel better eating raw plant foods. I just had some fresh juice I made last night. More energizing than coffee!

[Oggy]

Well not only that, meat increases the synthesis of dopamine and blocks the synth of serotonin as only one of these 2 neurotransmitters can be synthesized at any one time. Dopamine is also responsible for adrenaline and other "strength" hormones such as testosterone.

 

I find that eating meat brings the aggressive animal self out in me, its more noticable now that I'm "trying" to be vegan but its hard going being a meat eater all my 26 years of life! I had a meat eating day quite some time back now and my mother shouted at me for almost going through a red light when it was too late to stop and I slammed on the breaks and locked all 4 wheels up and I completely flipped out in a fit of rage I felt like I could have killed someone with my bare hands, dangerous! I've been so chilled out being vegan. I'm not sure if its yin-yang, serotonin-dopamine or acid-alkaline balancing but its definitely about balancing something. But yeah, I feel a big difference now physically and in mood when I do eat meat but its its a very male aggressive yang type effect. I've always been a bit of a hot headed aggressor but I don't like it, vegan is the way to go for world peace.