The ordinary person is aware that they should consume as many fruits and vegetables as possible. They probably have no idea why they're encouraged to consume more.
Sure, they may understand that fruits and vegetables will help them live longer and that if they don't eat them, they will get scurvy and be mistaken for a bowlegged 18th century pirate, but they have little else.
The ordinary individual is aware that they should consume a lot of fruits and vegetables, if not all of them. They most likely have no idea why they're encouraged to consume more.
Sure, they might grasp that fruits and vegetables would help them live longer and that if they don't eat them, they'll get scurvy and be mistaken for a bowlegged 18th century pirate, but they're mostly dumb beyond that.
What They Have Done
Young male mice were separated into three groups by scientists from the University of South Florida's Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences. For 20 weeks, the control group was fed regular mouse food. A second group was given a slightly modified version of the chow, with the same basic ingredients but a modest (2%) portion of a powdered fruit and vegetable blend.
The third group received the same chow but with a slightly higher percentage of powdered fruit blend (3%) added to it.
The vegetable and/or fruit powder they used is widely available and sold to supplement people's diets. The product is comparable to Biotest's Superfood, but it is "weaker," as it contains only a third of the fruits and vegetables contained in Biotest's product.
(It's worth noting that the manufacturer of the powdered fruit and vegetable blend did not pay for this research, which is always a plus because it lends legitimacy to the findings.)
The muscles of the mice in the powdered fruit and vegetable groups were roughly 1.4 and 1.45 times larger than those of the control group.
When forced to run until exhaustion, the mice in the powdered fruit and vegetable groups ran 1.7 and 1.8 times longer than the control group, respectively.
The mice in the powdered fruit and vegetable groups also ran around 50% faster than the control group mice.
The mice in the powdered fruit and vegetable groups had stronger grips than the control group mice.
When the scientists looked into the biochemistry of the supplemented mice's actions, they discovered some strange things. The fruit and vegetable extracts raised the amount of mitochondria in the mice's muscle cells, which are responsible for producing ATP, the cell's energy currency, as well as pumping out enzymes that convert food into cellular energy.
The powdered mix also triggered the activation of the following "signal molecules," all of which are crucial to how muscle behaves and functions:
SIRT 1 – Among other things, this molecule appears to be important in resistance-overload-induced hypertrophy.
PGc-1-alpha — This chemical appears to play a function in slow-twitch muscle fiber biogenesis rather than fast-twitch muscle fiber biogenesis.
PPAR delta — This molecule regulates the metabolism of skeletal muscle.
AMPK - Another important regulator of skeletal muscle metabolism is AMPK.
What Can You Do With This Information?
We used to believe that the vitamins in fruits and vegetables were healthy for us, or that their crunchy fiber was excellent for us. While such qualities are admirable, they aren't what makes these plants magical, and they aren't what enabled the mice's muscles to grow larger and stronger in the experiment.
Instead, polyphenols, not vitamins, are responsible for the majority of the disease-fighting, health-promoting, and muscle-building properties of fruits and vegetables.
Polyphenols are a diverse group of big compounds with biological effects involving complex biochemical interactions that we are only now beginning to comprehend.
Polyphenols decrease inflammation, regardless of the mechanism. They keep platelets from clumping together (clotting). They help to reduce blood pressure. They defend against oxidative stress caused by exercise. They help to improve insulin sensitivity. They help to lower cholesterol levels. They help to keep cancer at bay. They also combat cancer after it has struck.
They now appear to be gaining muscle mass and increasing physical endurance. However, I do not believe that eating Superfood, a product similar to it, or any other massive mix of whole fruits and veggies would cause your muscles to grow by 40 to 50 percent in 20 weeks, or for that matter, in any amount of time.
Still, this study adds to the growing body of data that plant polyphenols, when taken regularly and in adequate levels, have the ability to perform a variety of amazing feats on your body and its systems, including, to some extent, contributing to muscle and performance increases.
Use two scoops of Superfood twice a day, blended with yogurt, your protein shake, baked goods, porridge, or anywhere else convenient you can think of to recreate the approximate quantity of powdered fruits and vegetables used in the Florida study.
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