How far will you go for muscle growth? If a substance is safe and legal, does that mean it’s fair game? If so, you might want to crack open a bottle of cockroach milk. Scientists at India’s Institute For Stem Cell Biology And Regenerative Medicine looked into whether milk protein found in the gut of the Pacific beetle cockroach—a bug that gives birth to live babies instead of laying eggs—resembles milk from a human or cow. They found that cockroach milk had more calories and the same amount of complete protein as buffalo milk, considered to be the most nutrient-dense milk. It also has a mechanism for controlled nutrient release. While harvesting this milk would be a nearly impossible task, scientists are looking into synthesizing it as a sustainable superfood with a low carbon footprint. Get ready to pour yourself a big glass of Bug Gainz.
I’m In Trouble? Urine Trouble.
Proper hydration is vital for optimum health, strength, performance, and a fast metabolism. Hydration needs are highly individual, though. Size, activity level, and climate all play a role. A brand-new study from the European Journal Of Nutrition has found an easy way to assess your own hydration status: by looking at the color of your urine. The first study of its kind, scientists utilized an eight-shade scale to measure the relationship between fluid intake and urine color. They found that a two-shade difference indicated a significant reduction in total fluid intake. The lighter the color the greater the amount of fluid has been consumed. Ideally, you want to see a consistent color that is almost clear. Tracking the color throughout the day is an easy way to gauge if your hydration habits are helping or hindering our fitness goals.
24-Carrot Prostate
Over the years, meat and dairy consumption have been linked to an increase risk of prostate cancer risk. Since those protein-heavy foods make up a large portion of a bodybuilding-style diet, it might be smart to add some carrots to your eating plan as well. Chinese scientists at the University of Zhejiang performed a meta-study (collating the result of several other reputable studies) and determined that eating just 10 grams of carrots a day (the equivalent of a few baby carrots) can reduce the risk of prostate cancer by five percent. Consuming one large carrot every day cuts the risk in half. Researchers believe that the antioxidant carotenoids found in the vegetable (namely, alpha-carotene and beta-carotene) inhibit the growth of prostate-cancer cells.
Enjoy Your Own Brand
Food prep is an odd habit. In one way, we tend to dread those Sunday afternoons of chopping, cooking, weighing, and partitioning, but in another we couldn’t imagine life without it. We even enjoy it. The fact is, we seem to be genetically predisposed to enjoying food we make ourselves. The journal Health Psychology examined attitudes toward meals that were self-prepared and those that were purchased ready-to-eat. Subjects overwhelmingly experienced greater enjoyment when eating self-prepared foods, especially when they were perceived as being healthy. (Self-prepared unhealthy foods were not enjoyed nearly as much.) It seems that feelings of pride in being industrious, thrifty, and healthy actually improve the perception of the food. This must be the reason why people who have never experienced food prep can’t imagine preferring it to the take-out slop they usually eat.
Brain Oil
The public has gone coconut crazy lately. Coconut water, coconut flour, and coconut sugar are everywhere. Coconut oil, it turns out, might be the one product that is more than a fad. With a light flavor and a higher smoke point than olive oil, coconut oil is tasty, versatile, and contributes some brain benefits as well. Studies have already shown that coconut oil is effective in combating and delaying the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, but new research from the Journal Of Oleo Science has found additional benefits. More than 50 percent of the fatty acids in coconut oil are made up of lauric acid. It turns out that lauric acid promotes the production of ketones within brain cells called astrocytes, providing fuel to neurons and improving overall brain health.
Produce Happiness
Fresh fruits and vegetables are great for your abs, but they are also pretty darn good for your head. Info published in the American Journal Of Public Health claims that people who go from eating no fruits and vegetables to consuming eight servings a day experienced an increase in life satisfaction that was equal to moving from being unemployed to fully employed. Additionally, the boost of happiness that comes from eating more produce (eight servings seems to be the threshold for incremental improvement) happens much more quickly than the proven health benefits that are bestowed by the fresh fare. The scientists, who were collaborators between the University of Warwick, England and the University of Queensland, Australia, feel that a link could be found between mood and the level of antioxidants in the fruits and vegetables, but more research is necessary.
The Eating Window
Time-restricted feeding, also known as a version of intermittent fasting, is when the practitioner only allows themselves to eat for a certain period during the day, usually between four and eight hours. It’s been found to be very effective for people who are overweight or insulin resistant. A new study seems to prove that it’s not a smart choice for those looking to add muscle. Published in the European Journal Of Sport Science, the study examined two groups of young men who were both put on a weight-training program. The first group ate whatever they wanted, and the second group was restricted to a four-hour eating window four days a week, although no restrictions were placed on what they could eat. After eight weeks, the group with the eating window experienced no positive body composition changes, despite eating approximately 650 fewer calories a day. The study concluded that intermittent fasting “is likely suboptimal for muscular hypertrophy during weight training and lean mass retention during weight-loss diets.”
Post-Exercise Fat
The post-workout meal is the best feeding of the day. You can chow down on a big plate of protein and simple carbs, knowing those nutrients will be partitioned into your muscles. Some recent clinical information seems to show that for best results, you should keep that meal low in fat. An experiment detailed in the journal Medicine & Science In Sports & Exercise put two groups of athletes through two-a-day workouts. One group ate high-carb meals between workouts while the other group consumed high-fat meals. By monitoring gene activity, researchers were able to determine that the group who ate a lot of fat between workouts experienced a reduction in the enzyme p70S6K1, which promotes protein synthesis, thus impairing hypertrophy. In other words, save your healthy fat intake for meals that do not surround your workouts.