A wide variety of natural supplements are marketed for enhancing athletic performance, but only a select few are touted for their specific benefits in bodybuilder training. You might take natural supplements to improve your strength or increase your muscle mass, but you should keep in mind even natural substances can pose health risks. Before you begin taking a natural supplement for bodybuilding or athletic performance, consult your doctor about the possible health dangers, side effects and drug interactions.
Supplements
Among the most popular natural supplements for bodybuilding are vanadium, creatine, chromium and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. Chromium is an essential mineral and antioxidant that appears to help in regulating blood-glucose levels and insulin utilization, as well as transporting glucose from your bloodstream into your cells for use as energy. Vanadium is also a mineral that appears to have similar effects as chromium. Creatine is a natural amino acid your body converts into phosphocreatine, which is stored in your muscles and used for energy. Taking creatine supplements might help you to build up stores of phosphocreatine in your muscles, which is released during short-duration, high-intensity exercise like weight lifting, notes the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. DHEA is a type of hormone that may inhibit your body's response to cortisol, which could stimulate an increase in muscle-tissue growth and increase muscle mass.
HMB
Another natural supplement that's been studied as a bodybuilding aid is hydroxymethyl butyrate (HMB), which is a chemical your body makes when it breaks down the amino acid leucine. Your HMB levels increase due to the leucine breakdown in your muscles during weight training, potentially signaling your body to slow down the damage to muscle tissues. In this way, HMB supplements could possibly help in enhancing your muscle mass and improving your strength.
Considerations
Little scientific evidence supports the use of any natural supplements for bodybuilding or sports-performance enhancement, notes the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. In fact, even the most-studied supplements like creatine, DHEA and HMB have yielded negative results in human clinical trials. Chromium and vanadium actually have little to no valid human studies that support their use in bodybuilding or athletic performance, says the University of Maryland Medical Center.
Dangers
In addition to the lacking scientific evidence, many natural bodybuilding and sports supplements can pose a variety of dangers. In fact, bodybuilding products are in the top three categories of frequently tainted dietary supplements, the Mayo Clinic warns. The two other categories of supplements that have received the most complaints with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are weight-loss products and sexual-enhancement supplements. Each natural bodybuilding supplement can pose its own unique health risks as well. For example, the high doses of vanadium often recommended for weight lifting can be toxic and cause liver or kidney damage, cautions the University of Maryland Medical Center. Even at "safe" doses that are less than 1.8 milligrams per day, vanadium can cause anemia, low white blood-cell counts, high cholesterol, low blood-sugar levels and other adverse effects. Talk with your doctor about these and other dangers before you take any natural supplement for bodybuilder training.
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