Sarsaparilla & Bodybuilding

Sarsaparilla, or smilax officianalis, is often marketed to the bodybuilding community for its purported anabolic benefits, including providing testosterone or helping the body produce it. While sarsaparilla has been scientifically proven to contain numerous health benefits, so far the only evidence supporting using sarsaparilla for bodybuilding is anecdotal. Some of sarsaparilla's proven benefits, however, like its energy-boosting and fatigue-combating abilities, do indirectly support weightlifting regimens.

The Steroid Myth

Claims that sarsaparilla contains testosterone are wrong and claims that it aids the body in producing testosterone currently are only theoretical. Sarsaparilla does contain many plant steroids, including a family of steroids called saponins that potentially can be synthesized into testosterone. So far, however, this has been documented only in a laboratory, not in the human body. Sarsaparilla has not been found to have any anabolic or muscle-building properties.

The Evidence

In one study reported in the February 1993 issue of "Sports Medicine," research was reviewed on 624 supplements marketed to bodybuilders, including those containing smilax. Not only was no evidence found to support the claimed performance-enhancing benefits of these compounds, but valid research was often found to have been distorted by advertisers to support these claims. Further, concerns about the safety of these products was raised. The President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, meanwhile, describes the evidence supporting the performance-enhancing benefits of smilax officianalis as weak, with little to no positive data on the subject available.

Actual Steroidal Benefits

The natural plant steroids contained in sarsaparilla are responsible for many of the health properties attributed to the plant, some of which might be indirectly beneficial to bodybuilders. For example, the steroidal glycosides in sarsaparilla do have certain rejuvenating properties that include boosting energy and combating fatigue, both of which can help support a rigorous weightlifting regimen.

Antioxidants

There is one other way that sarsaparilla can be beneficial for a bodybuilding program and that's by containing several phytochemicals called flavonoids, which possess antioxidant properties. Antioxidants fight free radicals in the body, which are produced during exercise, among other ways. In a 2003 "Journal of Exercise Science and Fitness" review article, Li Li Ji explains that oxidative tissue damage induced by strenuous exercise is predominantly caused by the body's generation of free radicals during exercise. Ji further outlines evidence supporting phytochemical antioxidant supplementation, such as from sarsaparilla, as one of the ways to defend against this damage.