a little ibuprofen...
A New Muscle-Building Drug
The newest muscle-building drug is already in your medicine cabinet: Tylenol.
A new study shows acetaminophen (Tylenol) and ibuprofen boost muscle mass and strength among elderly men and women who do weight training.
This was surprising, because an earlier study on the short-term impact of ibuprofen and acetaminophen on muscle ****bolism among young men and women who lifted weights over a 24-hour period, showed a negative impact. The two drugs were found to have blocked the workings of an enzyme known as Cox and inhibited the adding of new protein to muscle.
The researchers wanted to explore this effect in elderly people who regularly take these drugs, but need muscle-building exercise to remain mobile. They tracked 36 men and women between the ages of 60 and 78 for who enrolled in a three-month regimen of knee-extensor weight training at the Human Performance Lab.
Training intensity and duration—15- to 20-minute sessions 3 times per week—was set at a level known by the researchers to prompt significant muscle mass and strength growth in a participant's quadriceps muscles, in the absence of any medication.
The participants were randomly divided into an acetaminophen group, an ibuprofen group or a placebo group, and the two drugs were consumed at recommended daily dosage levels, as noted on current over-the-counter packaging.
To the research team's surprise, an analysis of muscle tissue samples taken before and after revealed that while the placebo group experienced a 7 percent growth in muscle mass and strength, those taking either acetaminophen or ibuprofen experienced an even greater gain—40 percent to 60 percent more.
The reason for this effect is unknown, but researchers theorize that the two drugs could be provoking the body to overcompensate for an initial blocking of the enzyme any muscle needs to grow—prompting muscles to send out fresh and powerful signals demanding even more enzyme than the body would normally produce.
April 14, 2008
MH Today
