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C60 makes muscles tireless
C60 makes muscles tireless
The nanomolecule C60, which mimics the action of enzymes such as SOD in the mitochodria, is marketed as a longevity supplement. Those supplements also seem to be catching on in sports. Maybe with good reason, suggests an animal study that Ukrainian biophysicists from Taras Shevchenko National University published in the Journal of Nanobiotechnology.
C60 for athletes
If you believe the testimonials on sites that sell C60, bodybuilders lose fat when they use C60. At the same time, they are able to work out more intensively and notice that old injuries heal.
Runners who supplement with C60 after grueling competitions seem to recover faster, and are surprised to find that they have no sore muslces or painful joints. Swimmers taking C60 break their personal records. And hey - older athletes suddenly notice that they no longer need their glasses. Of course.
You read similar stories on Reddit and athlete forums.
So - if we ignore the stories about improved eyesight by C60 users, should we take these anecdotes seriously? The Ukrainian animal study, which appeared in 2017 by the way, suggests so.
Study
The researchers injected a leg muscle from anesthetized rats - the triceps surae to be precise - with 0.15 milligrams per kilogram of body weight C60, dissolved in water. They injected the same muscle, in the leg on the other side of the body, with salt water. (The white bars)
The Ukrainians waited an hour, and then administered a series of electrical stimuli to both muscles, causing the muscles to contract. The researchers determined the force with which the muscles contracted.
Results
The strength that the muscles injected with C60 [the gray bars] developed decreased significantly less quickly during the successive electrical stimuli than that of the muscles that were injected with salt water [the white bars].
Conclusion
Sure, injecting muscles is very different from using supplements with droplets of olive oil with C60. What can you expect from taking C60 orally?
And then those darn side effects. According to the researchers, the dose they gave their rats has no side effects, but frankly, we are less and less reassured that C60 is safe. Informed readers send us studies that make our hair stand on end.
Part 2
Do elite athletes secretly use C60? We jokingly asked this question two days ago, when we wrote a post about the effect of intramuscular injections of C60. After reading an animal study that researchers from the Gdansk University of Physical Education and Sport published in Frontiers in Physiology, we ask this question again, but this time we are serious. According to the Poles, C60 is orally available.
Study
The experimental design of the Poles is very similar to that of the study of the Ukrainian biophysicists in which laboratory animals received intramuscular injections. A difference between the two studies is that the Poles did not inject their active substances intramuscularly, but injected them into the small intestine of their lab rats. And yes, there was also a group of rats that were given C60 orally.
By the way, the Poles used C60 dissolved in water.
The researchers injected a group of lab rats with 0.14 milligrams of C60 per kilogram of body weight into their small intestines. After the injection, the researchers stimulated the triceps surae in the hind legs of the rats with several series of electric pulses, and at the same time measured with how much force the muscle could contract.
Another group of rats were given a daily oral dose of 0.225 milligrams C60 per kilogram of body weight for 5 days. If the rats had been humans, they would have been givenn 2-3 milligrams of C60 daily. This corresponds to doses mentioned by experiences users on the boards.
The researchers injected rats in other groups with a relevant dose of beta-alanine or N-acetylcysteine into their small intestine.
Results
The bottom left of the figure below shows the rapid decrease of the force with which the leg muscles could contract during the successive series of stimuli. The bottom right shows how both the intestinal injections with C60 and the orally administered C60 prevented this decrease.
C60FAS = C60 Fullerene Aqueous Colloid Solution.
The figure above compares the effect of C60 with that of beta-alanine and N-acetylcysteine. In this experimental design, the substances are not inferior to each other. However, the researchers note that in a few lab animals that were given C60, the measured muscle strength increased during the experiment. This increase did not occur in the test animals in other groups.
Mechanism
As far as Poles can determine, C60, beta-alanine and N-acetylcysteine work in a similar way. They reduce free radical damage, inhibit the formation of lactic acid and make that the muscle cells have to produce less antioxidant enzymes such as catalase and SOD.
Does C60 have any side effects?
We are still not sure about that. Still coming.
Source:
Front Physiol. 2018 May 15;9:517.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10 ... 00517/full
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