Pseudonym Posted June 26, 2012 Report Share Posted June 26, 2012 Turns out spinach makes fast-twitch muscle fibers stronger.Cartoon character Popeye is right to down a can of spinach when he wants his biceps to bulge, according to a Swedish study showing why the leafy vegetable makes us stronger.Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm said today they had conducted a study showing how nitrate, found naturally in spinach and several other vegetables, tones up muscles.For the study, to be published in the Journal of Physiology, the research team placed nitrate directly in the drinking water of a group of mice for one week and then dissected them and compared their muscle functions to that of a control group."The mice that had been on consistent nitrate had much stronger muscles," they said in a statement.Read more hereThe article doesn't say whether spinach actually makes the muscles bigger, or just stronger. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indigo1 Posted June 26, 2012 Report Share Posted June 26, 2012 WTF toned? oh wait...it's a Herald article :roll:Will try track down the article Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icecream Posted June 26, 2012 Report Share Posted June 26, 2012 I wonder if this would work with bacon, even though the nitrate is added :-s Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diab0lic Posted June 26, 2012 Report Share Posted June 26, 2012 WTF toned? oh wait...it's a Herald article :roll:Will try track down the articleMuscles show a continuous slight activity even when at rest which is called muscle tone. It is brought about by discharges in the motor nerve to the muscle and permits rapid response to stimulation. Apart from the reporter talking shit about "Popeye's bulging biceps" (which is even wrong itself, he had big forearms), the study isn't talking about the bullshit public definition of "toned" at all.Strong first post too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indigo1 Posted June 27, 2012 Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 WTF toned? oh wait...it's a Herald article :roll:Will try track down the articleMuscles show a continuous slight activity even when at rest which is called muscle tone. It is brought about by discharges in the motor nerve to the muscle and permits rapid response to stimulation. Apart from the reporter talking shit about "Popeye's bulging biceps" (which is even wrong itself, he had big forearms), the study isn't talking about the bullshit public definition of "toned" at all.Strong first post tooIf you'd actually read the article like I had, you'd understand why I questioned the use of the word tone(d).The article talks about increasing contractile force of the muscle via increased intracellular calcium utilization - this has been hypothesized in the past to be caued by nitrate supplementation, but unproven till this study. In this study, it was only observed in fast twitch muscle fibres though, not slow ones.Here's the abstract - I don't think you'll be able to access full text if I link itDietary inorganic nitrate has profound effects on health and physiological responses to exercise. Here, we examined if nitrate, in doses readily achievable via a normal diet, could improve Ca2+ handling and contractile function using fast- and slow-twitch skeletal muscles from C57bl/6 male mice given 1 mm sodium nitrate in water for seven days. Age matched controls were provided water without added nitrate. In fast-twitch muscle fibres dissected from nitrate treated mice, myoplasmic free [Ca2+] was significantly greater than in Control fibres at stimulation frequencies from 20–150 Hz, which resulted in a major increase in contractile force at ≤50 Hz. At 100 Hz stimulation, the rate of force development was ∼35% faster in the nitrate group. These changes in nitrate treated mice were accompanied by increased expression of the Ca2+ handling proteins calsequestrin 1 and the dihydropyridine receptor. No changes in force or calsequestrin 1 and dihydropyridine receptor expression were measured in slow-twitch muscles. In conclusion, these results show a striking effect of nitrate supplementation on intracellular Ca2+ handling in fast-twitch muscle resulting in increased force production. A new mechanism is revealed by which nitrate can exert effects on muscle function with applications to performance and a potential therapeutic role in conditions with muscle weakness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmcb Posted June 27, 2012 Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 WTF toned? oh wait...it's a Herald article :roll:Will try track down the articleIf you'd actually read the article like I had, you'd understand why I questioned the use of the word tone(d) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indigo1 Posted June 27, 2012 Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 Will try track down the article.....for you guys to read. If you have an Ipad you'll understand the brevity...they are horrible for typing on. And unfortuntly it only seems available if you have a subscription, not general public sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chemo Posted June 27, 2012 Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 I wonder if this is this just talking about a high amount of protein or some specific thing in spinach that does this? Would love to see the original research.Gotta say damn I love a good salmon spinish and feta pizza....awwwwww yeah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indigo1 Posted June 27, 2012 Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 I wonder if this is this just talking about a high amount of protein or some specific thing in spinach that does this? Would love to see the original research.Gotta say damn I love a good salmon spinish and feta pizza....awwwwww yeahMy understanding is that it's the nitrate that is in the spinach, not the spinach per se. The animals were just given nitrate disolved in water.It has been published ahead of print, so wont be in a journal for a few months I don't think... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FellowshipOfTheRon Posted June 27, 2012 Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 the only time i really eat any is when my mum makes cannelloni, real tasty in that but I doubt it would taste so good raw right? how do you guys eat spinach? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pseudonym Posted June 27, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 27, 2012 the only time i really eat any is when my mum makes cannelloni, real tasty in that but I doubt it would taste so good raw right? how do you guys eat spinach?I had some raw the other night in what I pretended was a Thai Beef Salad (I'm sure a real one would be much better, but this was a cheat's version, and it did the job quite nicely!)Cheat's Thai Beef SaladSeason and grill your beef steak, and let it rest for a few minutes.Wash the spinach and cut across the leaf so you've got thin fettuccine-like ribbons. Add the thinly sliced steak, and a cubed tomato.Drizzle with sweet chilli sauce, and a small amount of sesame oil. I had some sesame seeds in the pantry, so I threw those on as well, just to make it look fancy.It's good. :nod: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icecream Posted June 28, 2012 Report Share Posted June 28, 2012 I put spinach in my egg pies..12 eggs (or egg whites, whatever)2 cans tuna250g cottage cheese2 cubes frozen spinach (you can add other veg too, im lazy)cook in muffin tins - silicone ones for easy poppin'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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