A new testbooster in town!! D Aspartic Acid

Posted on September 28th, 2010

There is a buzz at the moment surrounding the new test booster on the market, D Aspartic Acid or DAA. In studies….more importantly human studies where the subjects took 3 grams of DAA for 12 days, the DAA boosted there testosterone levels by 40-50%! HUGE!! Not only is this a massive increase in testosterone but what makes this exceptional is that these studies were done on young healthy men ages 26-27 years old,not older men who’s testosterone levels had already begun to decline. This is of course very exciting news that a young person can increase testosterone levels with out taking endogenous testosterone e.g. steroids and thus deal with the associated problems.

Lets take a closer look at how it works. There are three distinct areas of interest, particularly to male bodybuilders and athletes, are the hypothalamus, pituitary, and testes. The hypothalamus monitors the concentration of certain hormones and other factors. In response to thresh hold events, regulatory hormones are raised or lowered accordingly. These hormones travel directly to the pituitary, a gland in the brain that releases stimulatory hormones into the blood stream. The testes are the source of testosterone. The hypothalamus can detect drops in testosterone and in response produces LHRH which stimulates the pituitary to release LH;LH enters the blood stream and travels to the testes stimulating testosterone production. Testosterone rises up and down within a fairly well defined range, based on this regulatory mechanism. One example of this when a man takes in testosterone or other anabolic steroids the hypothalamus reads this as the body having plenty of testosterone and so then decreases the out put of LHRH and then the pituitary in turn releases less LH and the testes production of testosterone drops. This causes a decrease in both size and function of the testes. DAA stimulates this hypothalamus-pituitary-testes axis resulting in the production of more testosterone. Normally as stated with the taking of anabolic steroids this would result in a chain of events that would eventually suppress testosterone production. Which brings us to another exciting point about DAA, its testosterone boosting properties are not suppressive to the hypothalamic pituitary testes axis! Rather than suppress normal production it appears to aid it! These are truly amazing results, which like most of you made me sit up and take a closer look.

Moms words seemed to ring in my ears “if it seems to good to be true it probably is”. Lets take a closer look at this amino acid out side of this particular study. First off you have probably seen plenty of products like L-Carnitine L-Glutamine, L- tyrosine ect. The key note is that all of these products are L isomers. Nearly all of the amino acids that humans naturally ingest are L isomers. The mirror image of the L is the D isomer,it is not so common as the L and is only found in trace amounts in nature. In the human body DAA is found in concentration between the synapses in the brain,suggesting that it might be used as a chemical messenger (thus its role in boosting testosterone levels) If we are normally meant to ingest only trace amounts of this amino what happens if we start taking several grams of this amino? Well if we do not get DAA readily from nature,and yet it does exist in our body where does it come from? It seems that Aspartic acid can in a time dependent fashion be converted to D Aspartic Acid. DAA then through a methyl-transferase reaction called NMDA sythethetase, DAA is converted into N-Methyl-D-Aspartate. As these conversions take place in the body this amino or its analogs become more and more potent. NMDA is a analog of DAA and is 100 times more potent, reacting directly with NMDA receptor sites. NMDA receptor sites are stimulatory neurotransmitters receptors located in the brain,that are involved in learning, memory, alertness. Naturally we tend to only ingest small amounts of Aspartic Acid and even smaller amounts of DAA, this is because it only takes a little to stimulate these receptors. Over stimulation of these receptors will cause symptoms such as fatigue, anxiety,headaches, insomnia,impaired ability to learn, impaired memory,and in the end death of the neurons. The later is why Aspartic Acid, DAA, and NMDA are considered neurotoxic, to much neuron stimulation leads to death of the neurons. A more commonly know neurotoxin working on the same receptors is Monosodium Glutamate – MSG. MSG is used as a flavour enhancer often is chinese food is widely known to cause a massive array of symptoms from migraines, vertigo,asthma,damage to the hypothalamus,and to the pituitary as well as atrophy of the ovaries and testes. MSG is comprised of 78% glutamic acid and 21% sodium the remaining 1% is made up of (contaminants). Of the 78%glutamic acid it is made up from a mix of both L-Glutamic Acid and D-Glutamic Acid. It is believed that the D-Glutamic-Acid component is the form of Glutamic Acid that is responsible for the toxicity is MSG. Studies have also shown that the brain has little ability to clear excess D-isomers,so the effects of taking to much may linger for quite some time. All said and done D-isomers including DAA play a interesting role in the body and in time will most likely play a valuable role in medicine. Until more research is done I don’t think I would be signing up to be the Guinea pig. Long term safety of DAA has not been studied; neither has therapeutic range.

If you choose to give this new product a go, I would strongly urge you to monitor changes in mood, concentration, and physical symptoms. This product has potential to be a great tool for bodybuilders and other male athletes…..lets wait and see.

Ps: Sorry ladies there is no documented evidence that DAA will increase testosterone is women. In fact it is more likely to increase estrogen.

NOTE: Supplementing with Taurine and magnesium may help to prevent damage to your NMDA receptors

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DMAA what is it ?

Posted on July 13th, 2010

A new ingredient on the market!!! 1,3 Dimethylamine or DMAA is popping up in pre workouts, weight loss products and energy supplements. So what exactly is it, and what does it do for us? DMAA  is extracted from the oil of the geranium plant and was originally formulated as a nasal decongestant.Interestingly this was one of the uses of ephedrine . Like ephedrine it increases focus and energy, decreases appetite and acts as a powerful thermogenic. With DMAA most people find their energy levels are more sustained then caffeine with no jitters and crash at the end. Unlike ephedrine DMAA, doesn’t effect our beta receptors but instead acts as a noradrenalin re-uptake inhibitor, or NRI. Although the two could be easily confused as the experience feels quite similar. The benefits of NRI’s are:

• Enhanced focus and concentration
• Increased alertness
• Increased drive and motivation
• Mood elevation
• Appetite suppression
• Powerful thermogenic
• And of course nasal decongestant

You can try this new ingredient in pre workouts like :

• Jack3d by USP labs
• 1MR by BPI

And in thermogenics like:

• AMP2 by Ergopharm
• OxyElite Pro by USP labs

Tags: Supplement Reviews
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