PRESCRIPTIONS
'Andro' doesn't build muscle strength
By Landis Lum
Q.I was thinking about taking "andro" to help build my muscles and improve athletic ability. What's the scoop on andro?
A. Mark McGuire used andro, or androstenedione, during his home-run hitting streak. It can be converted by the body into testosterone, and so has been touted to build muscle strength. But does it really work?
Dr. Douglas King and colleagues at Iowa State University gave andro or a dummy placebo pill daily to 20 young men, and then had them do bench and shoulder presses, knee extensions and flexions, vertical butterflies, leg presses and biceps curls for two months.
They reported in the June 1999 Journal of the American Medical Association that andro did not increase muscle mass or strength, and did not increase testosterone levels.
And later studies not only duplicated these findings, but also found something very interesting — andro actually increases estrogen levels.
So what gives? Well, not only is andro a precursor or building block molecule for testosterone, but is also a precursor for estrogens. When we take andro supplements, the body, in its infinite wisdom, preferentially converts it into estrogens rather than into testosterone.
So if you want larger breasts, a higher voice, or sexual dysfunction, then andro may be the way to go, but it won't build muscle strength. Mark McGuire hit homers, but it was not on account of andro.
What about creatine?
Most studies show that this may actually improve performance, but only with exercise that involves short, repetitive periods of extremely powerful activity, like repeated sprinting or weight lifting.
However, the improvement is not large, and creatine won't help endurance running.
In March, our very own University of Hawai'i-Hilo (along with centers in Connecticut, Ohio and Pennsylvania) reported in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise that creatine improves muscular performance in older men.
Their one-week randomized trial in 20 men between the ages of 59 and 72 found significant improvements in repeatedly going from a seated to standing position and walking quickly along a line (tandem gait test). There was a 6 to 9 percent reduction in the time required to complete these tasks.
So should you take creatine? Well, when creatine is produced, variable amounts of contaminants like dicyandiamide, dihydrotriazines, and ions are made, and their safety is unknown — perhaps they cause cancer in later life. And you definitely should avoid creatine if you have any type of chronic kidney disease.
Dr. Landis Lum is a family practice physician for Kaiser Permanente and an associate clinical professor at the University of Hawai'i's John A. Burns School of Medicine.
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