Any opinions on HMB?

[Research123]

I am wondering if anyone knows anything about HMB IE whether it's helpful, unhelpful or otherwise? They are tablets you take that help you exercise for longer by minimising protein breakdown and exercise during exercise - I find my strength increases, but as my numbers continue to go up, wonder if there could be any negative effects ie does it encourage CLL?

[scryer99]

I'm not expert, but note that one of the natural sources for the chemicals your body uses to make HMB are grapefruit. And grapefruit is a no-no for CLLers in treatment with BTK inhibitors as it changes the treatment's effectiveness.

[Research123 in reply to scryer99]

Just on w and w at the moment but clearly not a good one when I get treatment then!

[lankisterguy Volunteer]

Hi Research123,

I usually check WebMD- here is their response.

webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingre...

"Hydroxymethylbutyrate (HMB) is a chemical that is made when the body breaks down leucine. Leucine is an amino acid, one of the building blocks of protein.

HMB might promote muscle growth. It can be found naturally in small amounts in grapefruit, alfalfa, and catfish. It's also naturally made in the body.

People use HMB for building muscle or preventing age-related muscle loss. It's also used for athletic performance, muscle loss due to HIV/AIDS, muscle strength, obesity, and many other purposes, but there is no good scientific evidence to support these uses."

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And NIH- ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

"Abstract

The leucine metabolite beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) has been extensively used as an ergogenic aid; particularly among bodybuilders and strength/power athletes, who use it to promote exercise performance and skeletal muscle hypertrophy. While numerous studies have supported the efficacy of HMB in exercise and clinical conditions, there have been a number of conflicting results. Therefore, the first purpose of this paper will be to provide an in depth and objective analysis of HMB research. Special care is taken to present critical details of each study in an attempt to both examine the effectiveness of HMB as well as explain possible reasons for conflicting results seen in the literature. Within this analysis, moderator variables such as age, training experience, various states of muscle catabolism, and optimal dosages of HMB are discussed. The validity of dependent measurements, clustering of data, and a conflict of interest bias will also be analyzed. A second purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive discussion on possible mechanisms, which HMB may operate through. Currently, the most readily discussed mechanism has been attributed to HMB as a precursor to the rate limiting enzyme to cholesterol synthesis HMG-coenzyme A reductase. However, an increase in research has been directed towards possible proteolytic pathways HMB may operate through. Evidence from cachectic cancer studies suggests that HMB may inhibit the ubiquitin-proteasome proteolytic pathway responsible for the specific degradation of intracellular proteins. HMB may also directly stimulate protein synthesis, through an mTOR dependent mechanism. Finally, special care has been taken to provide future research implications."

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Len

[Research123 in reply to lankisterguy]

Thank you Len that's very helpful. There doesn't seem to be anything negative about it and for me it helps me do more exercise, which is probably a good thing - I find I can do a few extra pull-ups etc which helps me I think to be less tired.

[LeoPa]

Hi why would you want to exercise longer? With high intensity exercise shorter bursts are enough. If you do any movement to failure it is considered to be high intensity. With low intensity you can exercise as long as you want because it is low intensity. What I mean to say it doesn't matter if you do 12 pull-ups or 10 until you reach failure. Working muscles to failure causes muscle hypertrophy and strength gains. Provided it is accompanied by the right diet of course. Once this kind of exercise is finished it is very important to give the body sufficient time to rest and rebuild. Because muscle damage and breakdown during this kind of exercise is a given. The other training method is called greasing the grove. During which you only do half of your maximum rep count but do it many times over during the day. This one is perfect if you want to work on your stamina ,mobility, joint health, and avoid unnecessary muscle damage and breakdown. And since it is easy to do it doesn't matter if you are a bit more tired. I grease the groove everyday and then hit the muscles hard every few days. The way I see it as I'm getting older the last thing I really want to promote is growth in the body. If it grows my muscles it probably grows my prostate too. And who knows what else that I don't even want to think about. So my focus is mostly on staying strong and functional while avoiding unnecessary muscle growth. But since I'm very muscular already your situation may be different.

[Research123]

My aim really is to increase my stamina. Recently I helped a relative dragging around a suitcase on a long journey - and was exhausted. So extra strength to keep me able to do more is welcome (am not planning on entering Mr Universe....) So i dont do big amounts of exercise but try to improve...if nothing else it makes it more interesting, and hopefully carries through to the rest of my day. I've given up running and go for long walks instead.....

[LeoPa in reply to Research123]

I always hated running and swimming 😄. That's torture in my book. But resistance training I always liked. You can get very strong without lifting weights just by doing high repetition push-ups, pull-ups and squats. It is way easier to do 20 times 6 pull ups than 10 times 12 Pull-Ups. But at the end of the day what counts is how many you did during the day. If at the end of the day you come to the point of muscle failure even with few repetitions, then you did a good job. Then you can do something else the next day. I would not do the same exercise more than twice a week this way. And of course it is very important to build up the repetition count very slowly. Not only the muscles but the tendons need to get used to high rep counts too. It is easy to overdo it. If a tendon or muscle hurts, leave it alone and skip the exercise.

[LeoPa in reply to Research123]

Hi Research123,

you might find this enlightening:

youtube.com/watch?v=JmOEgK5...(Not working as expected?)

Tsatsouline is a legend in his field.