Garlic - An Anabolic Agent
Q: My training partner eats garlic in the belief that it increases testosterone levels. Does it do that?
A: Your training partner is on the right track. The stinking rose, as garlic is often called, has in fact been shown to raise testosterone levels, a key hormone in muscle growth and strength. Garlic has an interesting additional benefit--it has been shown to lower cortisol levels.
A catabolic hormone, cortisol is an adversary of testosterone, as the two compete for the same growth-stimulating sites within muscle cells. Cortisol causes the breakdown of muscle protein. Since garlic stimulates testosterone and inhibits cortisol, it has great potential as an anabolic agent.
Maybe this is the reason that professional bodybuilding has been blessed with so many huge competitors of Italian ancestry--Kevin Levrone, Franca Columbu, Lou Ferrigno and Mike Matarazzo, to name a few. However, there is a better way than mom's spaghetti sauce to get garlic in its most active form.
Try taking a daily garlic supplement that supplies four milligrams (mg) of allicin (the active ingredient in garlic) in two divided doses of 2 mg each. Consume one of those doses about one hour before a workout. This should help you maximize the anabolic effects of garlic while minimizing its odoriferous effect on your training partner.
-Jim Stoppani, PHD
