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The Way Up Newsletter |
| "Our consciousness is the substance of our
world." Joel Goldsmith, Practising The Presence |
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| NAMASTE & WELCOME TO THE WAY UP MONTHLY NEWSLETTER! | |
| INDIGESTION ANYONE?
Hello out there. Well I just returned from 2 enjoyable weeks watching the
Women's Tennis Tournaments at La Costa & Manhattan Beach.
What struck me was the number of players sidelined by injuries. Persistent
injury prompted Monica Seles to cancel her appearance. Injury forced Steffi
Graf to withdraw in the middle of an excellent match at La Costa & within
the week to announce her retirement because of the frustration of recurrent
injuries. Natasha Zvereva conceded a match because of a sprained ankle.
Barbara Schett had her play hampered by a problem with her right wrist.
Lindsey Davenport had her left thigh wrapped & played poorly, seemingly
related, though not used as an excuse.
CAN SPORTS & EXERCISE INJURIES
BE MINIMIZED?
Actually most of us are injured at some time or another & not necessarily
related to extreme physical acitivity, so this question applies to all.
A number of nutritional supplements help protect against strains, sprains,
pulls, tears, breaks, but I sat there & started thinking about the amino
acid L-Proline. For years I have recommended it as part of a program for
healing or preventing injury. I suspect few professional athletes or extremely
active individuals specifically add L-proline
to their supplement list. Yet in testing plasma levels of amino acids for
almost 25 years on hundreds of people, I have rarely seen normal L-proline
levels, even when most of the other amino acids are normal.
L-Proline is what is called a "conditionally essential amino acid" which
means when your body has enough of the amino acids which can convert to
L-Proline available & the conversion process takes place properly, you won't
need intake of the L-Proline. The amino acids which can convert to L-Proline
are ornithine, glutamate, & arginine. This presupposes enough of the precursors
are left over from other functions to be available for the conversion, &
that there are adequate co-factors of vitamins, minerals, & the specific
form of vitamin B6 needed for amino acid conversions, pyridoxal-5-phosphate.
In fact, a vitamin C or a pyridoxal-5-phosphate deficiency will result in
a proline deficiency. When such precursors & co-factors are inadequate L-Proline
becomes an "essential amino acid" which must be obtained from the diet or
as a supplement.
L-Proline is concentrated in high protein foods like meat, cottage cheese,
& wheat germ. There is more in dairy than in meat protein.
WHAT DOES L-PROLINE HAVE TO DO
WITH INJURY?
About half the body's proline is contained in collagen. Collagen accounts
for 25-30% of the body's proteins. Collagen is the main supportive protein
of skin, tendons, ligaments, bone, cartilage, & connective tissues. It literally
holds your body together. You can see if this is deficient the structure
will be weaker & more injury-prone.
LETS TALK MORE ABOUT AMINO ACIDS
& EXERCISE
There is general consensus from studies that strenuous exercise suppresses
protein synthesis & stimulates protein degradation in muscles. Following
exercise there is a recovery of protein synthesis especially maximized with
the proper nutrient intake before & after exercise.
There is much focus on carbohydrate loading for intense exercise, but amino
acids are also critical & so are fats. Generally various protein powders
are used by athletes, but the protein in these powders must be broken down
& metabolized to the various amino acids. I suggest that protein powders
be used, but also free form multi amino acid capsules,
in the relatively high dose of 5 capsules 3-4 times daily on days of maximal
performance. This is more efficiently used for muscle conservation & building
& conversion to energy. We'll specifically focus on the performance benefits
of the amino acid:
L-CARNITINE
L-Carnitine facilitates the production of energy from fats. It can be formed
from the amino acids L-Lysine & L-Methionine, assuming you have a surplus
& all factors in the conversion are working as discussed with the L-Proline
formation. Or you can directly supplement L- Carnitine. Dietary l-carnitine
from foods ( mostly animal) only supplies about 50 mg daily. Carnitine is
almost non-existent in plants.
Strenuous exercise produces large decreases in plasma & muscle free carnitine
levels. L-Carnitine supplementation can result in greater & longer production
of muscular energy. Studies also showed L-Carnitine increases maximum oxygen
utilization, decreases the heart rate for a given work load, & decreases
the pain causing lactic acid build up in muscles.
Multiple studies using from 1-6 grams of L-Carnitine daily show that increasing
the levels of free carnitine allows greater amounts of fatty acids to be
used as an energy source during intense exercise. L-Carnitine given 1-2
hours before exercise produces more efficient exercise performance & decreases
exercise induced free radical production.
In fact, numerous studies have shown L- Carnitine supplementation improves
exercise tolerance & performance, total work output, cardiac function, blood
lipid levels,& time to exertional pain in patients with angina, congestive
heart failure, peripheral vascular disease, chronic respiratory insufficiency,
& those on hemodialyses as well as athletes & those who are healthy.
One drawback of L-Carnitine is the price, but it is also available as a
presciption product under the name of Carnitor, if you are lucky enough
to have insurance coverage of such.
Well, enough musings about injuries & maximum physical performance for now. Again, I love to hear from you with requests for topics, etc. BE WELL.Priscilla Slagle M.D. To heal is to make happy. Course In Miracles |
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