Muscle Talk

The newest superfruit you’ve never heard of

“Superfoods” are like new cars; when you get one, you start seeing it all over the place. There is a new fruit out there now you’ve never heard of, but just wait, soon you’ll start seeing it everywhere! Fructus schisandrae (FS) or Chinese magnolia vine fruit, is the mature fruit from an Asian climbing plant. Researchers wanted to test the anti-catabolic/anti-muscle wasting effect of the fruit, which is important if you’re an injured athlete who can’t train or someone with a muscle-wasting condition. They gave mice a corticosteroid to cause muscle wasting, then gave one group oxymetholone (aka Anadrol, a highly potent anabolic steroid), and another group this little fruit. On measures of ameliorating calf muscle damage, reducing the rise in muscle-damaging enzymes, and reducing the synthesis of catabolic muscle proteins such as myostatin, MuRF-1, and Atrogin-1, Anadrol and FS were practically the same! A typical dose is 3 to 6 grams of FS, boiled with three to four cups of water until the volume is reduced by half.

Stress proves more damaging to muscles than originally thought

Stress, be it psychological or physiological, is inherently damaging to muscles because it produces cortisol. Researchers in Colorado have found another mechanism by which stress affects muscle growth, and that’s by boosting the production of myostatin. Myostatin, as you already know, is muscle’s number one foe; it’s the protein produced by muscle cells that inhibits their growth. The scientists either housed mice in a different cage every day for a week or placed them in a small straitjacket for a short period every day. After seven days, both groups’ muscle mass had decreased! Both groups started producing more myostatin right away on day one. Psychological stress can lead to a decrease in lean body mass and weakened muscles, so to keep your gains, try to make life as stress-free as possible for yourself!

Testosterone and social behavior: a study in women

“Testosterone (T) shifts decision-making processes from the advanced, rational parts of the brain to more primitive areas. These are more tuned to defending the interests of the individual and his or her group.” Such is the conclusion that psychologists from the University of Utrecht made when they gave women 0.5 milligrams of testosterone. In past studies, it’s been shown that women who’ve been given test demonstrated reduced levels of empathy, reduced awareness of social rejection, and an increased sensitivity to faces with an angry expression. This time around, they showed 150 faces to women after giving them the T and after giving them a placebo. After the T, women who were generally trusting by nature ended up giving the photos a lower trustworthiness rating. The T actually made them trust the faces less!