Anabolic Failure: Phosphatidic Acid by Jerry Brainum

 

The pantheon of discarded and failed anabolic food supplements continues to grow. Although drugs such as anabolic steroids, without question, provide potent anabolic effects in muscle in anyone, many people who are concerned about the side effects of such drugs prefer to choose more natural means of boosting muscle mass and strength. Since this area of muscle gains is a big profit maker for food supplement companies, the companies are always on a quest to find the next great natural anabolic supplement. The initial information presented about such supplements always looks promising, with often extravagant claims made about how the supplement will allow anyone to produce unprecedented muscle and strength gains. Indeed, some of the advertising for such supplements implies that ingesting it will allow you to bypass genetic limitations in a manner similar to how anabolic steroid drugs work. To underscore this claim, the ads often feature sponsored athletes, such as elite professional bodybuilders who cheerfully hold up the product in advertisements and even in video presentations about the products. Of course, it hardly needs to be said that while such champion athletes may indeed use the products, the products are not responsible for their appearance. That can be more attributed to a combination of good bodybuilding genetics, consistent training, and extensive use of various anabolic pharmaceuticals. 

Over the years many such touted anabolic drugs have been introduced to the bodybuilding and athletic marketplace. All it takes is one or more favorable science studies to launch a product. However, the science on which such products are based is often preliminary or not entirely applicable to human physiology. One example of this is products based entirely on animal research. Animal research is considered preliminary scientific evidence at best. What works in such lab animals as rats and mice don't always translate to human physiology. Indeed, 92% of drugs that worked well in preliminary animal testing failed to produce the same effects when tested in humans. While humans share many of the genes found in animals, along with other body processes, you cannot escape the fact that substances that affect animals, either good or bad, don't always have the same effects in humans. When I want a good laugh, I often visit various "science blogs" and websites that tout new studies in bold headings. But a reading of the text that accompanies such headings often reveals that the discussed studies were done only with animal models, with zero human confirmation of the results. Yet, somehow such blogs and websites inevitably draw premature conclusions that what happened with the animals in the study will also occur in humans. That is not only wrong but very poor science. 

A good example of such animal extrapolation to humans was the case of so-called prohormone supplements. These supplements, which began to be introduced into the commercial supplement market in the late 90s, commencing with one called androstenedione, were said to be natural and safe . . .