“It was the secret to Popeye’s super-human strength – but leading athletes look likely to be banned from following his lead.

Nearly a century after the creation of the cartoon sailor, and his love of spinach, scientists have realised he might have been on to something.

Researchers at the Free University of Berlin have found that ecdysterone – a hormone found in spinach – is so powerful that they want it considered a performance-enhancing drug.

The research team found a significant spike in performance among those who took the supplement in large quantities. The team, whose study was funded by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), gave athletes capsules of ecdysterone during a ten-week strength training session…”

https://mol.im/a/7185353

My god, I want doping in the athletic world to go away. Take what you want to take, may the best man, woman, or undecided win. No gender classes, diet or supplement restrictions, just the first person to the line, period.

quote:

Originally posted by Perception:
My god, I want doping in the athletic world to go away. Take what you want to take, may the best man, woman, or undecided win. No gender classes, diet or supplement restrictions, just the first person to the line, period.

I agree! Professional athletes or any adults should be permitted any PED they like. I want to see a 6'7" 400# person run a 4.4 second 40 yard dash.

I don't really watch professional sports outside of the occasional tennis match or golf round so I don't really care but the whole PED thing is getting silly. Well, even more silly than "professional" sports.

Spinach for fucks sake. I guess we should be putting all food on the list, just in case you eat something else that gives you an edge...

https://www.fishertitus.org/he...t-foods-for-athletes

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:
Spinach for fucks sake. I guess we should be putting all food on the list, just in case you eat something else that gives you an edge...

https://www.fishertitus.org/he...t-foods-for-athletes

Actually not spinach but a compound found in minute quantities in spinach and used as a supplement. It’s likely that an athlete would need to eat a truck load to have it detected if not doping otherwise why would they not have been eating it all along.

quote:

Originally posted by TSE:

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:
Spinach for fucks sake. I guess we should be putting all food on the list, just in case you eat something else that gives you an edge...

https://www.fishertitus.org/he...t-foods-for-athletes

Actually not spinach but a compound found in minute quantities in spinach and used as a supplement. It’s likely that an athlete would need to eat a truck load to have it detected if not doping otherwise why would they not have been eating it all along.

The point is that if you can somehow eat enough of it, or any other food, you can marginally increase some aspect of performance. Look at the list of foods in the link I referenced; eating them over long periods can offer better performance so where do we draw the line?

quote:

Originally posted by TSE:

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:
Spinach for fucks sake. I guess we should be putting all food on the list, just in case you eat something else that gives you an edge...

https://www.fishertitus.org/he...t-foods-for-athletes

Actually not spinach but a compound found in minute quantities in spinach and used as a supplement. It’s likely that an athlete would need to eat a truck load to have it detected if not doping otherwise why would they not have been eating it all along.

The posted article says the dosage used in the study was the equivalent of eating 8.8 pounds of spinach daily for 10 weeks.

Personally, I think doping ruins sports.

I used anabolic steroids for a few cycles. I was very underweight when I started, I went from 5’9” and 110 lbs to 189 lbs in seven months. I had the correct hormones to get off the steroids without losing my gains. You will always lose a little, but not too much.

That said, it was an incredible advantage. I could workout until the point of complete exhaustion and near collapse. The next morning I didn’t even feel like I went to the gym. You heal that quickly.

Had I been competing in a sport, like when in high school, wrestling. It wouldn’t have even been a competition. I was that much stronger. Yeah, wrestling has weight classes. But the use of an AAS makes you pound for pound, significantly stronger.

Look at Barry Bonds. He beat Hank Aaron’s home run record. Barry only was able to accomplish that because of his steroid/HGH usage. Hank Aaron did that on his own, as an exceptional athlete.

So yeah, in more ways than one, I think doping ruins sports.

quote:

Originally posted by maladat:



The posted article says the dosage used in the study was the equivalent of eating 8.8 pounds of spinach daily for 10 weeks.

The explosive diarrhea would get you off the blocks like a Hornet catapulted off a carrier deck, and your competitors would be slipping and sliding off the track in your green jet-wash.

Yeah, unfair advantage!

Kale sucks !

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:

quote:

Originally posted by TSE:

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:
Spinach for fucks sake. I guess we should be putting all food on the list, just in case you eat something else that gives you an edge...

https://www.fishertitus.org/he...t-foods-for-athletes

Actually not spinach but a compound found in minute quantities in spinach and used as a supplement. It’s likely that an athlete would need to eat a truck load to have it detected if not doping otherwise why would they not have been eating it all along.

The point is that if you can somehow eat enough of it, or any other food, you can marginally increase some aspect of performance. Look at the list of foods in the link I referenced; eating them over long periods can offer better performance so where do we draw the line?

The line is already drawn. The reality is that it is not possible to increase performance appreciably by trying to eat large amounts of "super" foods. Athletes eat healthy diets that provide balanced nutrition, and typically add some extra protein.
The required balance would be pretty hard to meet if you were trying to eat 9lbs of spinach, and xlbs of each of the listed "super" foods, and then tried to pick up the required amounts of protein each day. For example, they would be forced to drop protein for spinach, and the negative effects of that would likely outweigh any advantage the spinach offered.

Wait until they find out what kale can do for you!

Many of the beneficial nutrients found in "superfoods" can also be found in good bourbon !!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it......

I take from this that simply eating spinach, even an implausibly large amount of it, isn't "performance enhancing," but this hormone, if extracted and concentrated, is.

I like raw spinach in a salad or on a sandwich instead of lettuce. A large amount of it has an unpleasant side effect ~12-24 hours later, if you get my drift.

I've always been fond of cooked spinach, and even more so of mixed greens (spinach, swiss chard, mustard leaves, beet tops, poke salad)--my parents grew all that stuff in Detroit during my childhood and mom canned the mixture. Good stuff.

flashguy

^^^^^^^^
For cooked greens, my favorite is collard greens – has an al dente character, which cooked spinach does not. I steam collards in a bowl set into my pressure cooker.

quote:

Originally posted by RichardC:

quote:

Originally posted by maladat:



The posted article says the dosage used in the study was the equivalent of eating 8.8 pounds of spinach daily for 10 weeks.

The explosive diarrhea would get you off the blocks like a Hornet catapulted off a carrier deck, and your competitors would be slipping and sliding off the track in your green jet-wash.

Yeah, unfair advantage!

You sir, are a poet.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
I take from this that simply eating spinach, even an implausibly large amount of it, isn't "performance enhancing," but this hormone, if extracted and concentrated, is.

But, say folks were to start breeding/altering techniques to produce it? (Same as potheads did with weed.)