Participate in a Study? You? Hell, Yeah!

             Day in and day out, getting to the gym, striding away at warm-up cardio and hitting the cold, hard steel with unforeseen and unmistakable ferocity, you deserve to be rewarded, and not by just a brewski, but how about the awe of others who quake in your presence? Yup, having "abs of steel" and an etched body from your own hard work is to be respected. Furthermore, believe it or not, your hard work motivates and inspires the gym newbies to train hard, eat smart, read MD and get to where you are. Next time you catch someone staring at you, take it as a compliment to your dedication to the iron club. With that said, let's concentrate of growing muscles, having a ripped six-pack (and not of Bud Light®) and outshining those around us!

            Free Testosterone and GH in Philadelphia?

            The City of Brotherly Love wants to share the hormone that makes men want to share... the love. Sorry to be so crass; bad attempt at a joke. However, what is no joke is that Dr. Peter J. Snyder of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia is looking for 40 men age 18 or higher to participate in a study. If you get in the study, Dr. Snyder and his colleagues will supply you with testosterone and growth hormone. They will teach you how to inject the growth hormone (daily injection) and how to use the testosterone cream. The purpose of Dr. Snyder's work is to make men out of the half-men who reside in the mean streets of Philly (I mean, they did lose the Super Bowl). Seriously, the study aims to determine if the judicious use of testoterone and GH can improve bone structure, specifically, if "T" plus "GH" is better than "T" alone.

            The two-year study will supply the free anabolic hormones to men who have low testosterone levels. Study participants will also receive body composition assessments (DEXA) and bone density analysis while the doctors monitor the effects of the anabolic hormones. If you're interested in receiving free Testosterone, growth hormone or both, contact Dr. Peter Snyder via his nurse Helen Peachey at 215-898-5664. Be sure to indicate you're interested in seeing if you are eligible for the "NIAMS-118" study.

            For those of you who do not get into the study, there is a company in Great Britain that promises to deliver "the goods" without question or problem. Look into IAS (International Antiaging Systems) to view their menu-o-plenties.

            Japan, Next Destination for Needle-less GH?

            My sources in Japan have informed me that Antares Pharma, Inc., has successfully tested a new needle-free delivery system for human growth hormone. More specifically, Medi-Jector VISION® was found to be safe, effective and well-received by the study participants. JCR Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., is the company marketing this needle-free device for HgH administration and it already has approval in Japan. Look for it to make the leap to the USA before you know it.

            A Low-Carb Pioneer Runs Out of Energy

            I'm sure that by now you must have heard of the Keto-Foods Company. Even if you were not into, or on, a low-carb diet, their pastas, bars, shakes and products were ubiquitous on such Internet websites such as http://www.netrition.com/ or http://www.vitacost.com/. Well, it seems either mismanagement, a bad sales staff, the exuberant interest of large companies such as Unilever, or just the way of the wind blows, has caused this once glorious company to be out of business. According to The (New Jersey) Star Ledger, Keto Foods was slated to bring in about $40 million dollars in 2004, but for some reason the company has faltered on debt, left bills unpaid, lost lawsuits and is now up for sale (at auction prices!). Seriously, while Keto Foods maintains its patents on intellectual property (i.e., their recipes) and is looking to relaunch under a different name, their plasma TV, executive gym equipment, espresso machine and much more are being auctioned off by Michael Fox International. If you're looking to get into the health food business, the assets up for sale can make your life that much easier. However, if you were using Keto Foods products for your lifestyle or pre-contest dieting, it's time to find a new brand.

            Plant Fungus for Weight Loss?

            Plants contain various agents that protect them from environmental concerns. While we have our own inborn defense mechanisms, plants also have armament. A common protein in plants that protects against fungal infections has been found to mimic a human hormone that's linked to weight loss. According to Purdue University (Dr. Ray Bressan), the plant protein osmotin (which belongs to a large family of plant proteins) activates the receptors in humans (mammals) in the same manner adiponectin does. Adiponectin, when bound to its receptor, regulates blood sugar uptake and prevents development of diabetes and heart disease. People with diabetes tend to have low levels of adiponectin. Worse yet, is that obese people also have low levels of adiponectin. Thus, it's conceivable that osmotin supplementation may help raise adiponectin levels in mammals resulting in weight loss and the reduction in risk of diabetes or heart disease. The theories and lab work still need more animal studies and human trials, but the bench work for the theory is there. (Mollecular Cell, Jan 2005)

            Can Leptin Help with Weight Loss?

            This has been the $20 million question that Amgen Pharmaceuticals has been asking. (It has actually spent more than $20 million in research to date). Could you imagine spending more than $20 million and still not be sure if your "wonder drug" worked? Heck, I don't even like spending $10 bucks on a bad movie!

            One of the discoverers of leptin and the obesity gene is Dr. Michael Rosenbaum, a fine physician who now works at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. Dr. Rosenbaum has found that while injecting leptin in overweight people by itself does not appear to correct for the obesity (meaning does the product works only in a handful of people), he and others have noticed that once people have lost weight, leptin administration appears to help keep the weight off.

            With the above in mind, Dr. Rosenbaum is looking to further establish leptin as a weight loss maintenance agent in people who were formerly obese. If you once were fat, or know someone who has lost weight, and you think an interest exists to see if a product could help with maintaining weight loss, feel free to contact Dr. Rosenbaum at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

            By Any Means Necessary?

            We all know, or have heard, that some athletes will do anything they or their influential coach has deemed necessary in order to win. Perhaps you too even know someone with this type of mental outlook. Is it bad? Is it dangerous? I don't know, but I do know that when looking at the champion of any sport, there is one common thread: They have no issue with going that extra yard in order to achieve the result they wish. Whether that extra yard is one more session of cardio for the competitive bodybuilder or one more set of sprints for the Olympic sprinter, the means is the practice, the end is the championship. For dieters, or those looking to cut fat, we also know that some will utilize some unhealthy practices (eating too little, using laxatives, and so on). Well, now it seems the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) of the NIH wants people who are interested in losing fat (or weight) to try qigong or acupuncture.

            It's thought that traditional Chinese medicine, or an anti-anxiety approach via controlling chi (energy), may help reduce the emotional pitfalls and negative energies that may surround the ability to lose weight. If this sounds interesting to you, give it a try. In fact, if you live in the Portland, Oregon, area, call Colleen Flattum at 503-335-2463 at the Center for Health Research.