Supplement Godfather

When I look back at the history of nutrition and how it’s evolved, there are some key discoveries that have really shaped the core of sports nutrition as we know it today. Although this list could be a lot longer, here are my top five most impactful discoveries on sports nutrition:

1) Whey Protein (446–337 BC)
2) Creatine (1832)
3) Branched-Chain Amino Acids (1818–1903)
4) Vitamin C (1928)
5) Essential Fatty Acids (1929)

WHEY PROTEIN

Whey is a by-product of cheese manufacturing and has been used for over 24 centuries as a health-promoting and preventative medicine. The Greek doctor Hippocrates advised his patients to consume whey to help combat a variety of ailments as far back as 446–337 BC. After Hippocrates first introduced people to whey, doctors and scientists throughout Europe continued to study and use it for its healing properties.

Whey protein has now become a staple topic in any discussion of sports nutrition and is considered an essential supplement for optimal muscle growth, fat loss, strength, power, and performance. Whey protein generally contains a higher concentration of essential amino acids than other protein sources and typically contains 24 percent branched-chain amino acids. Whey protein is also a source of gamma-glutamylcysteine, a precursor of glutathione, which acts as one of the body’s most powerful intracellular antioxidants. There’s no question that whey protein is one of the biggest discoveries in sports nutrition history. It also happens to be one of the oldest discoveries!

CREATINE

French scientist Michel Eugène Chevreul discovered creatine in 1832 by identifying it as a component of skeletal muscle. He named the substance creatine, from kreas, the Greek word for flesh. Reports on the benefits of creatine supplementation in sports performance began to surface in the early 1990s, and soon after, a large number of human clinical trials with athletes were conducted. Creatine become readily available in 1993 when the founders of the sports nutrition company EAS, Anthony Almada and Ed Byrd, introduced it to the market. Creatine occurs naturally in the body of vertebrates, and its primary function is to supply energy to cells in the body, with its main effects on brain and muscle cells. It directly increases adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in muscles and allows for greater work capacity. If we’re talking specifically about sports nutrition and performance, I’d designate creatine as the most impactful discovery on sports nutrition!

BRANCHED-CHAIN AMINO ACIDS (BCAAs)

In 1818, leucine was first discovered in cheese by French chemist Joseph L. Proust. In 1901, valine was discovered by German chemist Hermann Emil Louis Fischer while hydrolyzing casein. The third BCAA, isoleucine, was discovered soon after, in 1903, by German chemist Felix Ehrlich. It was first isolated from fibrin, which is a protein involved in blood clotting.

BCAAs are needed for the body to function properly, and they continue to be one of the most popular sports supplements. BCAAs play a key role in protein synthesis (aka muscle growth), and they also have an impact on muscular energy production and cognitive function. Countless scientific studies have confirmed the incredibly powerful effects that BCAAs have on human health and performance. These three essential amino acids make up approximately one third of skeletal muscle in the human body and up to 35 to 40 percent of all essential amino acids in body protein. There’s no question BCAAs are one of the biggest discoveries in the field of sports nutrition!

VITAMIN C

To some people, vitamin C might not seem like a huge breakthrough in sports nutrition, but no one can question the impact the discovery of vitamin C has had on human health and nutrition. In 1928, Hungarian physiologist Albert Szent-Györgyi isolated a substance from adrenal glands that he called hexuronic acid. Four years later, American biochemist and nutrition pioneer Charles Glen King isolated vitamin C in his laboratory and concluded that it was the same thing as hexuronic acid.

Although the discovery of vitamin C was the result of research being conducted on scurvy, today it’s best known for its effects as an antioxidant and its role in maintaining proper immune function. In fact, it’s the most widely consumed water-soluble vitamin supplement in the world now. Vitamin C has a role in several physiological functions in the body. It’s involved in tyrosine metabolism and is a cofactor in the synthesis of carnitine, thyroxin, norepinephrine, dopamine, and tryptophan. Vitamin C is also involved in various metabolic processes, including cellular respiration, carbohydrate metabolism, synthesis of lipids and proteins, catabolism of cholesterol to bile acids, and iron metabolism. With the wide range of benefits that vitamin C provides, it’s definitely one of the biggest discoveries in nutrition.

ESSENTIAL FATTY ACIDS (EFAs)

In the early 1900s, dietary fat was simply viewed as a source of calories with minimal benefits aside from being a dense energy source. However, in 1929, American biochemist George Burr, with the help of his wife, Mildred, changed the way the scientific community would look at dietary fat forever. The Burrs discovered the essentiality of the long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids while working and researching at the University of Minnesota Medical School. Since that time, and still to this very day, scientists and researchers continue to study the relationship of polyunsaturated fatty acids to human health and to disease. Essential fatty acids (EFAs) have a multitude of functions in the body, and humans simply can’t function properly without them. Although this might not seem like the most exciting discovery in sports nutrition, it has certainly been a very impactful one!

To read more from Don Gauvreau click here.