Anyone who has been to a sports nutrition store knows how many beautiful jars there are with inscriptions like mass up, hyper mass, true mass, etc. They can't think of anything using people's complexes 😁
Yes, gaining mass is just as much of a problem as eliminating it. And it's more about muscle mass, which is probably more relevant for guys. So today's post is going to be about that. And no banal bullshit, like you should eat a lot and work out, we'll leave these postulates to trainers in the gyms 🙂
And so, we have no health problems, GI and hormones are fine, we eat healthy food, but the muscles are in place, not growing. Where's the trigger that triggers muscle growth? ❓
Answer: Muscle growth depends on the activity of a protein called Myostatin in the tissues. The name itself hints that this protein suppresses muscle growth. If its activity is high, there is little muscle and vice versa. Roughly speaking, of course.
So, by inhibiting the activity of this protein you can epigenetically increase muscle mass. At the end of this post, there will be photos of the animals that got the upgrade..
Scientists have long been developing drugs targeting this protein to treat myodystrophies (Follistatin-344 , ACE-031 , ). Moreover, these experimental drugs are even available on the black markets. However, this is not the way I advise 😉
I think each of you has tried a vegetable that has a substance in it that indirectly suppresses myostatin, but you didn't know about it 🙂
That vegetable is broccoli. And the substance in it is Sulforaphane. So, sulforaphane in plants like broccoli plays the role of a kind of "growth hormone" that is released when the plant is mechanically damaged, under the action of the enzyme myrosinase.
In the human body, sulforaphane acts in a variety of ways. One of its effects is inhibition of some enzymes (histone deacetylase, DNA methyltransferase) that work with DNA of satellite (stem) cells of skeletal muscles. In simple words, this action blocks the DNA regions with genes that code for the protein myostatin. As a result, there is less myostatin in the muscle tissue cells and more muscle tissue 🙂
I won't bore you with complicated words, just to say that taking broccoli supplements can increase muscle mass. Of course, everything is individual, but for example, I managed to gain 3 kg of "pure" weight for 6 months of taking sulforaphane. However, there are a couple of things to consider:
1️⃣ When choosing such a supplement, you should look for the enzyme myrosinase. Supplements without it are a scam that has no effects. See on the photo an example of a supplement that I take.
2️⃣ There has to be moderate physical activity. Without it, muscles don't grow. We are not talking about heavy weights in the gym. It is enough to swim, run, or just do exercises with your own weight.
3️⃣ It is advisable to take other nutrients (vitamins and minerals, see post above). You can also add creatine malate (if there are no kidney or acne problems)
Also, some of you may think it's better to eat a lot of broccoli. You might. Especially if you combine broccoli with mustard (helps sulforaphane absorption) and garlic (also has a positive effect on muscles).
However, I have not yet met a single person who can eat broccoli every day. It's easier and more effective to take supplements 😉
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23092945/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25080109/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28946211/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29806738/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32649980/
