Arachidonic Acid – Study shows no gains in muscle mass or strength

I have to admit, I’ve never been impressed with most supplements out there on the market. Whey Protein was supposed to be the answer to everyone’s prayers, but honestly, did anyone switch from casein (or albumin) to whey protein and actually get bigger? Not really (at least nobody that I know). HMB is overpriced garbage, and certainly doesn’t “Feel like Deca” as Bill Phillips said.

But Arachidonic Acid seemed promising for awhile. It was logical, and looked like it had the potential to make you stronger or bigger. Remember, when you buy a supplement, all you care about is the results – in essence, you’re buying a result, and the supplement is the thing that you hope will get it for you. Getting stronger, losing fat, or gaining muscle is what you (and I) am after.

Bill Llewellyn, the man who holds the patent for it, has claimed that it is:

… the most effective non-steroidal muscle-building agent yet introduced to the supplement industry…

So it’s incredibly disappointing when a supplement has as much potential as I thought AA did, and it just turns out to really suck. I won’t bore you with the details, but here’s the conclusion from a published medical study:

CONCLUSION: AA supplementation during resistance-training may enhance anaerobic capacity and lessen the inflammatory response to training. However, AA supplementation did not promote statistically greater gains in strength, muscle mass, or influence markers of muscle hypertrophy.

Of course, the supplement is pretty popular with bodybuilders and especially on several forums. But in this case, the science just doesn’t support the claims being made by the patent holder. Maybe a future study will work out better for the product, but for now – it looks like a huge waste of money.

[As a side note, I know two of the people who were involved in conducting this particular study...Colin Wilborn was the guy who introduced me for my speech in 'Vegas, and Jean Jitomir was one of the girls who attended it (who I later got to meet and have lunch with).]

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