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Is Quercetin the New Super Sports Supplement?
Quercetin, a flavonoid which naturally occurs in apple skins, berries, black tea, broccoli, cabbages, red onions, red wine, and some leafy vegetables, is one of the few legal substances believed to help improve athletic performance.
Lab mice given large doses of quercetin were able to run as much as 37 percent longer on a wheel or treadmill while those given a placebo showed no such improvement. The muscles and brains of the mice given quercetin also showed new mitochondria, the part of the cell which helps produce energy.
FRS, the makers of a sports drink containing quercetin, bankrolled a small study in 2006 which featured top-level cyclists who “significantly improved high-intensity cycling time-trial performance through enhancement of power output,” after drinking the quercetin-containing beverage.
Other studies, however, did not provide encouraging results. Runners who used quercetin before the 100-mile Western States Endurance Run in California, did not place better than those who didn’t take the supplement.
The largest and most comprehensive study on quercetin and athletic performance was conducted on a group of 30 healthy but untrained young men at the University of Georgia. This was reported in August in The Journal of Applied Physiology. The researchers hypothesized that quercetin might not work for trained athletes because regular aerobic exercise had already maxed out their mitochondrial production, but it might stimulate mitochondrial production in the untrained and boost their athletic performance.
The results were disappointing because there was no difference between the quercetin group and the placebo group. This study is not definitive but it also means that researchers can’t generalize from mouse studies to humans. It also stressed the point that improved performance cannot be delivered by supplements alone – athletes still need to exercise, train and eat right.
Physical preparation is just one step. Some athletes also have to deal with performance anxiety. Whether you’re shooting hoops, cycling or running a marathon, the mental battle is also crucial.
The Meridian Tapping Technique or MTT (also known as the Emotional Freedom Techniques or EFT) can help balance an athlete’s body energy to help him/her perform in the most pressure-packed situations.
MTT is a simple do-it-yourself tapping procedure gently done with the fingertips on key acupuncture points and takes less than a minute. This minute could spell the difference between an average showing and an elite performance
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Tags: Emotional Freedom Techniques, Meridian Tapping Technique, performance anxiety, quercetin, sports supplement
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