Adventures getting some fitness back and a 'pre-workout' for getting the most CNS benefits from exercise?

[Alchemica]

Started a more vigorous exercise thing for my head (benefits may extend to body hopefully).

Acute Bouts of Exercising Improved Mood, Rumination and Social Interaction in Inpatients With Mental Disorders.
 

Joggin' the Noggin: Towards a Physiological Understanding of Exercise-Induced Cognitive Benefits.

I'm still unfit but fitness is improving. One of the biggest challenges for me was how depleting energetically it was becoming. I had to put all my energy reserves into exercise, and crash in between. I put a lot of time into diet but it wasn't delivering alone. Now with more vigorous exercise, I seemingly need some other repair/protective aspects it seems. I got some tic reduction with the exercise, then a massive flare up.

That said, it does seem to be improving some emotional aspects. I've had some really emotional experiences with exercise.

 

"In stark contrast to what we most often equate with exercise [runner's highs, positive emotions etc], emotional release can also free feelings of frustration, confusion, fear, anger, pain, sadness or loss that seem to come from deep inside the psyche."

 

Moderate aerobic exercise may help attenuate negative emotions for participants experiencing regulatory difficulties [ref]. In a recent study, exercise protected against negative/angry mood induction [ref]. More vigorous exercise is seemingly promising for processing stronger negative emotions [ref ref]

 

It is suggested to provide a healthy level of flexibility in the use of existing memories, and in the flexible processing of new information [ref]. It seems to have strong effects on the infralimbic cortex, part of the brain's emotional processing circuit.

 

This is an old article but intrigues me...
 

"Is it possible that exercise somehow accesses suppressed feelings that your body has warehoused for processing at a later time? It may sound somewhat radical, but the concept of “storing” emotions is commonly accepted among many bodywork practitioners like massage therapists, acupuncturists and chiropractors.

 

While resolving issues that have long weighed you down is ultimately a mind-expanding, life-enhancing experience, the initial flood of feelings can be a little unnerving, to say the least. All the more reason to look closer at what causes this emotional release, what it may be saying about your life, and how you, might embrace this experience, using it to attain insights and to work through deep-seated challenges." [ref]

 

Tamed down the "Bat out of Hell" fitness regime, which had it's benefits for breaking inertia and gathering scattered energy into a goal-drive but I've switched from "Harder, Faster = better" to "Push yourself to near maximal output, for longer". Got a nice high pace thing for quite a long time going.

 

What would be your main supplements you'd incorporate to maintain/improve health for body and mind while pushing yourself physically?

 

Trying to optimise a simple pre-workout for brain health and maintaining that, not kill my mind for a fitter body. It's not overly thermogenic but it should a healthy brain matrix while I do the work. Had most of the ingredients. Main constituents are acetyl-L-carnitine, creatine, taurine etc. Nicely neuroprotective stuff.

 

I don't want to jump on board with the getting jacked on pre-workout powders but I do want to provide, particularly my brain, with good stuff for protection and repair. Unfortunately most of the sports supplements are IMO junk and the opposite of health. They often chuck the most exotic likely neurotoxic colours and flavours in, often with too much caffeine. Or they're plain piss weak things. I used to seek the dodgy pre-workouts for their sometimes scheduled ingredients but these days, I'm actually looking for some sustainable health.

Protein Supplies Australia makes an all natural caffeine free pre-workout. It's not  overly heavy on doses but I had the things to compound up a formula a bit cheaper than what that was. I'm not totally knocking caffeine, it's neuroprotective in some conditions, just the massive doses included aren't great.

 

Happy with the concoction I whipped up as natural 'supporting energy from within non-depleting' blend. I'm trying to keep my diet healthy but need top ups of natural stuff - the blend doesn't pep you but it seems to be a nice clear headed focus and after trying it with exercise, I don't feel so drained. I was getting absolutely destroyed by exercise, this seems encouraging. Last time I got into using ALCAR I stank like fish, don't know why I seemed to break it down to trimethylaminuria levels but hopefully that can be avoided.

I've mentioned the taurine effects which include: neuromodulatory, osmoregulatory, membrane stabilisation, and antioxidant action coupled with neuroprotective (taurine is a potential therapeutic agent for neurodegenerative diseases, promoting neuronal proliferation, stem cell proliferation, and differentiation, via several mechanisms), anti-diabetic (it improved glucagon activity, promoted glycemic stability, modified glucose levels, successfully addressed hyperglycemia via advanced glycation end-product control, improved insulin secretion and had a beneficial effect on insulin resistance) and anti-depressive effects (regulation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the promotion of neurogenesis, neuronal survival and growth in the hippocampus).

In three separate studies, carnitine sources showed significantly less post-exercise stress, including less formation of free radicals, and less tissue damage and muscle soreness after exercise. Both chronic and acute supplementation with L-carnitine with or without protein during training, have been reported to enhance exercise capacity and endurance. Orer and Guzel showed that single supplementation of 3 g or 4 g of L-carnitine to footballers before increasing speed run led to increased speed at corresponding lactate plasma levels, and decreased heart rate, suggesting a prolonged exhaustion exercise. Scientific data indicates that the active population can benefit from L-carnitine intake as it attenuates the side effects of high-intensity training by reducing the magnitude of exercise-induced hypoxia and muscle injury. see: L-Carnitine Supplementation in Recovery after Exercise [ref]

I'm not dosing high on the BCAAs, not sure how I find them, never really felt them to be wonderful not exercising - they might actually be not what I need but I'll experiment, only made small batch which I'll play with. I might even add some Trp/5-HTP but mainly go for the catecholaminergic precursor aromatic aminos.

Have to be cautious with BCAAs - higher weight mass and mood disorders can be associated with elevated concentrations of branched-chain (BCAAs) and aromatic amino acids (AAAs). Too high a level of BCAA causes neurobehavioral impairment by decreasing Trp which can be negative but also beneficial, lowering potentially neurotoxic tryptophan metabolites like kynurenic acid [1]. Using the appropriate BCAAs may assist with autism: dietary interventions that reduce mTOR activity rescue autistic-like behavioral deficits [2]. Higher BCAA/AAA ratios in childhood are significantly associated with somatic complaints in adolescence [3].

ALCAR has been shown to be very effective at alleviating things like depression, neurological decline and chronic fatigue. ALCAR supplementation is also a very safe method of improving insulin sensitivity and blood vessel health. ALCAR can also protect neurons and repair certain damage. L-carnitine has beneficial effects in ASD. [Ref]

 

Current evidence suggested that acetyl-L-carnitine has beneficial effects on brain functions during aging and in conditions of neurodegenerative disease and it has antidepressant effects [4]. It exerts neuroprotective, neurotrophic, antidepressive and analgesic effects in painful neuropathies, also having antioxidant and anti-apoptotic activity. It exhibits positive effects on mitochondrial metabolism, and shows promise in the treatment of aging and neurodegenerative pathologies by slowing the progression of mental deterioration and has neuromodulatory effects on both synaptic morphology and synaptic transmission. It plays a role in mitochondrial β-oxidation and energy production. ALC has antioxidant properties. Additionally, ALC has been proposed to mediate the transfer of acetyl groups for acetylcholine synthesis, modulate nerve growth factors and gene expression, and counter glutamate-induced excitotoxicity

Data suggests acetyl-l-carnitine has therapeutic potential in memory disorders. Results provide support for a link between the antidepressant action and improved energy production within the brain.

 

It has anti-hedonic effects and improves EtOH induced deficits. Effects may be more relevant with IV administration over oral [5. 6]

"Acetyl-L-carnitine (LAC), which has a novel and epigenetic mechanism of action, was investigated in a multicentric, double-blind, randomized clinical trials (RCT) in a population of elderly patients with dysthymic disorder. The drug was evaluated in comparison with fluoxetine for an observation period of seven weeks. LAC and fluoxetine resulted equivalent in their antidepressant efficacy. Of interest, a difference in latency time of clinical response was observed between the two drugs, namely one and two weeks for LAC and fluoxetine, respectively, potentially suggesting a more rapid effect elicited by LAC in humans. Although the rapidity in the onset of LAC therapeutic effects needs to be confirmed in studies with larger sample sizes and in mood disorders other than dysthymia, it is quite interesting in view of the fact that rapid effects have also been observed in preclinical models of depressive-like behavior

A recent meta-analysis investigated the effects of LAC on depressive symptoms across published RCT. Again, LAC administration demonstrated efficacy when compared to placebo. Moreover, LAC efficacy was comparable to classical antidepressant agents, but with significantly fewer side effects. These findings are in agreement with another meta-analysis including 34 studies and 4769 patients with persistent depressive disorders. In that analysis, LAC treatment showed lower rates of adverse events and discontinuation than any other drug. In addition, a meta-analysis confirmed that LAC was more effective in older than in younger patients"

Creatine may have cognitive benefits [7]

 

Citrulline is able to stimulate locomotor activity via the dopaminergic pathway [8]. Oral L-Cit administration improves cognitive deficits

 

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23249694
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27640900
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28486439
[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27100509
[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2201652
[6] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20595193
[7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29224583

[8]  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28526389

[Xperiment]

A couple of decades ago I was a semi-professional sportsperson. Since then my fitness has fluctuated between couch potato and fitter than I was back then. 

 I find the biggest mental impediment to frequent exercise is the pain that comes a few days after you try to jump straight back into what you used to do. Nothing motivates you to stay on the couch like sore stiff muscles. Easing into it is the key. 

My sports were fairly hard on the body so I found glucosamine to be fairly helpful with the inevitable joint pains that come when you try to re-mobilize the creaky joints on a 40-something year old bag-o-bones. 

Creatine - I took that for a while but it gave me an uncomfortable sort of bloated feeling, not much else. 

 

My most recent fitness attempt was a 10 minute workout where you perform workout A on Monday,  Wednesday and Friday and workout B Tuesday,  Thursday and Saturday. In the past 5 weeks I've done 2 workout A's and one workout B. 

Small steps 

 

[Alchemica]

Nice, small steps as you say, best wishes with getting back in the swing of things @Xperiment. Have to generate that intrinsic motivation system again which I know is really hard. I went too hard, too fast. Went from walking to running up to 4 times a day, pushing through pain until you get those strange 'highs' from exercise. That said, it was trying to break that inertia and stagnation that I had to do. Now I have a daily fast pace hour of fairly vigorous stuff early every morning and cram in more throughout the day. Better than walks but still more fitness gains to go

Thanks for mentioning what you've tried.

[-RC-]

Any beginner level Brazilian Jiu jitsu class will get you huffing and puffing and sweating a good deal, particularly if there is a gi involved.

1 hour beginner's class = warm up stretch for 10, drill basic technique for 15, specific technique/scenario based session with partners 20, technique based 'games' or scenario based rolling (sparring)  for 15 (3 x 5 min rounds). Or something like that.

 

Magnesium is a huge one for me, and I would say most people are deficient to some degree anyway. For muscle relaxtion and overall wellbeing it is a must for me.

 

CBD is also of huge benefit to exercise or otherwise induced inflammation. Increased protein is also of benefit for muscle repair and energy levels. B12, withania, and a ginseng wouldn't go astray either really...

[Alchemica]

Thanks @Responsible Choice

Yeah I'm developing some feelings against BCAAs after a bit longer using them - think a good protein source is better. Agree, I keep on top of magnesium, B-vitamins and using ashwagandha.
 

BCAAs and mood dips? NO modulatory amino acids like arginine/AAKG and anhedonic reactions? If you've taken them, how do these supplements make you feel?
 

Got flattened by my exercise routine again, don't think I like BCAAs elevated too long. It feels super depressingly dull... Likewise, arginine (as AAKG) and other NO modulatory stuff can do some deleterious CNS things.

 

I like the acetyl-L-carnitine and taurine and some Mg so far, that one seems like it could be a good aid. Fairly simple and it seems clean and no real issues but I think I can feel what seems like an anti-serotonergic aspect of dosing high on BCAAs, I'm likely better just using a good protein source. The BCAAs seem to impart a heavy mood feeling.

 

Many people note mood issues with BCAAs but low levels may also be associated, through potential mTOR effects, with depression [1]

 

Over arginine I was more interested in agmatine for it's CNS effects. L-arginine increases dopamine re-uptake in the rats nucleus accumbens and there is a complicated cross talk between DA/NMDA receptors and l-arginine-NO-GMP pathways. It's got almost an anti-hedonic feel.

 

They don't seem subjectively nice, arginine and high levels of BCAAs in combination after a bit more use. I can feel the NO stuff peripherally, L-arginine-induced increases in regional cerebral blood flow which could be beneficial, this effect is seen particularly after injury

 

I mixed up some L-lysine instead of BCAAs with the NO modulatory stuff, for my afternoon exercise - that was much nicer. Most of my problem is aberrant stress responses - two studies show L-lysine combined with L-arginine reduced anxiety in study participants and reduce stress levels and cortisol. The L-lysine also is promising for psychotic disorders.

 

It modifies neuroendocrine activation during psychosocial stress in subjects with high trait anxiety [2] and combination of L-lysine and L-arginine is a potentially useful dietary intervention for people with high subjective levels of mental stress and anxiety [3].

 

There are interesting results from people trying the arginine/lysine combination for anxiety [4]. I've used L-lysine alone but this combination seems more interesting. Combinations of these amino acids may cause short term increases in growth hormone, particularly when coupled with exercise.

 

A recent study shows that people with depression have reduced arginine bioavailability but this doesn’t mean that taking an arginine supplement would protect against depression [5] The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis responses can be modulated by nitric oxide (NO). NO working either as an amplifier or as a feedback regulator of neuronal excitation or inhibition, may alter acutely or chronically, among others, the homeostasis of many systems.

 

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4973973/
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16117182
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17510493
[4] https://www.curezone.org/forums/am.asp?i=1929281
[5] http://neurosciencenews.com/arginine-depression-8541

[Thelema]

I reccommend galbulimima bark, and N-acetyl-l-cysteine, with dashings of Vitamin C.

[Alchemica]

Thanks for the input. The Galbulimima bark  is one I'm yet to try.

 

I went away from BCAAs and now for brekky have fermented soy protein. It seems good so far, most mood stabilising protein meal I've noted to get exercise done without needing to get pepped and has the satiating/whole body beneficial proteins and hypothetically the encrypted proteins with antidepressant, opioid and cognitive benefits etc with a good level of free aromatic aminos.

 

Occasionally have a bit of acetyl-L-carnitine. Found my stress responses have gone down since I upped the probiotic food and such seems just as good a stress buffer, to the point where L-lysine/arginine blends weren't needed.

Went back to taurine - why?

 

Taurine and the brain, does it help give you those wings? - I've wondered why they put it in energy drinks etc? There's some suggestion taurine enhances exercise performance, supporting healthy VO2 max, exercise time to exhaustion and maximal workload but does it have much effect on the mind without heaps of caffeine in the mix? I've tried supposedly 'more active' homotaurine derivatives which are supposedly CNS active to not much effect. How much does this often considered to be pretty inert and boring compound do in the brain at high doses, for a reasonable time? Particularly, does it have therapeutic applications?

 

Seeing it's such a cheap, safe thing that's found to have good effect in psychiatric conditions in some studies [1,2], I've been heaping taurine into my diet, not expecting really anything. There's something very 'modulatory' about it at high dose. I always dismissed it as pretty inert but they're even suggesting it as an option for ADHD. I stopped for a bit and things went a bit downhill.

 

Taurine effects include: neuromodulatory, osmoregulatory, membrane stabilisation, and antioxidant action coupled with neuroprotective (taurine is a potential therapeutic agent for neurodegenerative diseases, promoting neuronal proliferation, stem cell proliferation, and differentiation, via several mechanisms), anti-diabetic (it improved glucagon activity, promoted glycemic stability, modified glucose levels, successfully addressed hyperglycemia via advanced glycation end-product control, improved insulin secretion and had a beneficial effect on insulin resistance) and anti-depressive effects (regulation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the promotion of neurogenesis, neuronal survival and growth in the hippocampus).

 

"Dysregulation of dopamine (DA) level has been associated with various psychiatric disorders...

 

Taurine is a ubiquitous β-amine acid in mammals, which is involved in a variety of physiological and biological processes such as cell membrane stabilization, osmoregulation, detoxification, immune regulation, antioxidation, and neuromodulation. In recent decades, considerable attention has been paid to the role of taurine in the central nervous system. Notably, various evidences have shown that taurine is a neurotransmitter. Taurine has neuroprotective effects and a taurine additive has been suggested as a potential candidate for neuroprotectants. Recent results reported that high-dose taurine improves hyperactive behaviour and brain functional signals

 

Low-dose taurine favors impulsive behavior and striatal dopamine uptake whereas high-dose taurine improves spatial learning, memory and striatal dopamine uptake.

 

Supplementation of taurine could be a remedy for ADHD. Since high-dose taurine is non-toxic to humans and has been clinically used to treat various disorders, the findings in this study by using high-dose taurine (560 mg/ 100 g diet) did provide a rational suggestion for high-dose taurine on ADHD treatment.

 

Notably, much evidence indicates that taurine strengthens the effects of dopamine and has a synergistic effect with dopamine in the brain, inhibiting the reduction of sucrose consumption and improving the learning ability and spatial memory of rats that are exposed to chronic unpredictable mild stress (CUMS)" [3]

 

Taurine is a psychopharmacologically active compound with potential for "a variety of therapeutic uses including as a neuro-protective, anti-cataleptic, anti-addicting, and analgesic agent."

 

With regard to the dopamine elevating properties of alcohol, raised levels of taurine in the nucleus accumbens (nAc) is pivotal. Acute or chronic administration of psychotropic drug cocaine may increase extracellular release of endogenous taurine [4]

 

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29561067
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27835719
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29694913
[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23392920

Edited May 3, 2018 by Alchemica

[Alchemica]

The taurine is seemingly really useful for the impulsiveness and "feeling in control again" at high doses. It seems to settle the pathology. It does seem to modulate aberrant dopaminergic subcortical stuff subjectively for me, the tics etc.

 

Added a bit of creatine from today... used it before, mainly with things not so great for mental health. Stick with this, the energetics of my brain seems very disturbed.

 

Creatine and the Brain

 

Creatine as a treatment for people with SSRI-resistant MDD is suggested [1]. Effects of creatine administration on brain energy metabolism and network organization may partly underlie its efficacy [2]. It targets similar pathways to ketamine [3]. Even a single treatment of creatine or exercise has partial effects as an antidepressant in mice with chronic mild stress-induced depression [4]. Combined creatine and exercise has synergic effects and is more effective than a single treatment.

 

Dietary supplementation with creatine can improve learning, memory, and mitochondrial function and have important implications for the treatment of diseases affecting memory and energy homeostasis [5].

 

Supplementation with creatine for 6 weeks is associated with improvement in verbal fluency tests in bipolar disorder [6].

 

"Oral creatine administration may improve short-term memory and intelligence/reasoning of healthy individuals but its effect on other cognitive domains remains unclear. Findings suggest potential benefit for aging and stressed individuals. Since creatine is safe, future studies should include larger sample sizes. It is imperative that creatine should be tested on patients with dementias or cognitive impairment." [7]
'
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26907087
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26822799
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26660117
[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27757384
[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29339557
[6] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27890303
[7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29704637

Edited May 3, 2018 by Alchemica

[Thelema]

Dude, you are providing some great information on basic AA's do you have any urge to sedgeway slightly into minerals like selenium and boron? I'd love your take on these 2 delicious minerals

[Alchemica]

I had an interest in the minerals awhile ago, sorry it's not well referenced, these were just my notes: Didn't get to boron...

 

A good article from 2007, so it's a bit dated, that covers vitamins and minerals.

 

For zinc, see https://www.psychologytoday.com/…/201309/zinc-antidepressant

 

It is an effective SSRI augmentation strategy. In addition, chronic zinc treatment induced increases in both 5-HT1AR protein levels and density of 5-HT1A receptor binding sites, it also increased tissue levels of serotonin metabolite and turnover. On the other hand, DA, DOPAC, HVA tissue levels increased while DOPAC/DA and 3MT/DA decreased in the PFC of rats after chronic zinc treatment. Acute treatment induced increases only in tissue levels of DOPAC, and DOPAC/DA - the antidepressant effects of zinc are mediated in concert with the modulation of the serotonergic system including postsynaptic 5-HT1ARs and allude to a possible involvement of dopaminergic neurotransmission in this action.

 

Magnesium is a treatment option that may offer great potential for patients with MDD and treatment-resistant depression based on prior work in animals and humans. Combined magnesium and vitamin B6 supplementation reduced anxiety but had no effect when used in isolation. A very small study found benefit from a combination probiotics/magnesium orotate formulation adjuvant administered with SSRIs for treatment resistant depression. See http://evolutionarypsychiatry.blogspot.com.au/…/magnesium-a… and Magnesium and depression: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27910808

 

Selenium

 

Accumulation of reactive species generated during the normal course of metabolism is highly toxic to biological macromolecules and is a major concern in the pathogenesis of chronic diseases and a significant factor for cognitive decline.

 

The preferential retention of selenium in the brain suggests that it plays important functions. To date mood is the clearest example of an aspect of psychological functioning that is modified by selenium intake. Five studies have reported that a low selenium intake was associated with poorer mood. The underlying mechanism is unclear although a response to supplementation was found with doses greater than those needed to produce maximal activity of the selenoprotein glutathione peroxidase. Although the functions of many selenoproteins are unknown some play important roles in anti-oxidant mechanisms. Selenium likely plays a role in normal aging, schizophrenia, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease.

 

Selenomethionine enhances stress resistance, is effective in promoting neurogenesis, ameliorates aging indicators, improves the cognitive function of AD mice (rescues spatial learning and memory impairments in aged 3xTg-AD mice via decreasing the level of tau protein and tau hyperphosphorylation) and may be a promising therapeutic option for AD as it decreases the deposition of Aβ and tau hyperphosphorylation.

 

Selenium affects the cells of the nervous system, and, thus, affects mood: neurotransmitters do not turnover as quickly in Selenium deficient individuals

 

Low Selenium levels are correlated to depression, anxiety, confusion, and hostility.

 

Supplementing for 5 weeks with 100 mcg of Selenium, lessened anxiety among patients who participated in a clinical trial.

 

Hospitalized elderly, cancer, and/or HIV patients reported less anxiety after Selenium was added to their diets

• Even though every aerobic cell is at risk of oxidative damage, the brain is especially vulnerable and this condition is a significant factor for cognitive decline.
• Selenium compounds and selenoproteins exhibited a strong antioxidant role Selenium deficiency or altering the structure or deletion of selenoproteins is associated with severe brain injury.
• Maternal Se status is associated with cognitive ability of the new born. However, the relationship between maternal Se and cognitive ability is not linear (inverted “U”) suggesting both deficiency and excessive Se intake may result in adverse neurobehavioral outcomes.
• Selenium nutrition in the elderly prevents the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, cognitive decline, mood disorder, and depression. However, Se supplementation to healthy individuals with adequate baseline Se with no symptom of mood disorder has not been shown to improve mood

 

Selenium has potential antidepressant- and anxiolytic-like effects and "Se is capable of alleviating inflammatory signaling pathways. Obesity is associated with chronic low-grade inflammation. Depression is also defined as an inflammatory disorder. Inflammatory mediators such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) participate in the progression of depression. They are also obesity-associated parameters. Due to TNFα induced depressive-like behaviors and the positive association between this proinflammatory cytokine and obesity, TNFα-activated signaling pathways and those inhibiting them have recently gained importance as potential targets and therapeutic tools, respectively. More studies are necessary to develop compounds with therapeutic nature against depressive disorders and obesity. PPARγ is an important signaling pathway that occurs at the crossroads of depression and obesity. Se, aside from its anti-inflammatory, anticarcinogenic and antioxidative nature, affects also the way of PPARγ action. Se supplementation or fortification ... will be promising approaches for future hope during the treatment of these diseases."

 

Chromium

 

Chromium is antidepressive and may help regulate blood sugar. Chromium supplementation for glucose regulation has shown mixed, modest-sized effects in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Chromium has the potential to improve insulin, dopamine, and serotonin function, The antidepressant activity has been linked to a major role of the AMPA receptor and participation of NMDA glutamatergic and 5-HT1 and 5-HT2A/C serotonin receptors. Chromium treatment decreases the sensitivity of 5-HT2A receptors

 

Plasma chromium concentrations were inversely associated with T2DM and pre-DM in Chinese adults [1]. A moderate dose of Cr was associated with improved glycemic control whereas a high dose, while showing some improvement, was not better [2]. Combined chromium and magnesium decreases insulin resistance more effectively than either alone [3]. Cr supplementation showed beneficial effects on blood markers of vascular inflammation, insulin resistance, and oxidative stress compared to placebo [4].

 

What's the difference between the nicotinate and picolinate? "In a recent investigation conducted at the University of Texas at Austin, a group of healthy, sedentary, obese women was given either chromium picolinate or chromium nicotinate (200 mcg twice a day) for nine weeks, The subjects were divided into four groups: 1) chromium picolinate, 2) chromium picolinate with exercise, 3) chromium nicotinate with exercise, and 4) exercise Plus placebo. Twice-a-week exercise was extensive, involving step aerobics, cycling for 30 minutes and resistance training.

 

Supplementing with chromium picolinate resulted in statistically significant weight gain (+2.9%), caused by a gain in fat-free mass with a slight gain in fat mass.

 

Exercise plus chromium nicotinate caused a significant reduction in bodyfat (-1.6%) and a lowered insulin response to an oral glucose load. Exercise by itself or with chromium picolinate didn't significantly affect bodyweight, fat mass or fat-free-mass levels.

 

This is the first study to show that chromium nicotinate plus exercise can cause a significant decrease in bodyweight with a slight gain in muscle, but study authors didn't suggest a mechanism for this effect. Nonetheless, it would seem that giving chromium picolinate to healthy, obese women is contraindicated for weight loss. Using chromium nicotinate plus exercise, however, may increase the weight loss that normally occurs with regular exercise."

 

[1] Inverse Association of Plasma Chromium Levels with Newly Diagnosed Type 2 Diabetes: A Case-Control Study. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28304331
[2] A Double-Blind, Randomized Pilot Trial of Chromium Picolinate for Overweight Individuals with Binge-Eating Disorder: Effects on Glucose Regulation. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27835050
[3] Combined chromium and magnesium decreases insulin resistance more effectively than either alone. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27702717
[4] Impact of chromium dinicocysteinate supplementation on inflammation, oxidative stress, and insulin resistance in type 2 diabetic subjects: an exploratory analysis of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27687012

For a review, see: Selenium, Vanadium, and Chromium as Micronutrients to Improve Metabolic Syndrome.https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28197835

 

Edited May 3, 2018 by Alchemica