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HMB Supplement Review

HMB: Scam or Wonder Supplement

By now most people have read about EAS's new supplement HMB ( beta-hydroxy-beta-methyl butyrate... now I know why they use HMB 8^) ) and we've all wondered about what sort of effects it would have on us... is it another supplement scam or could it be a possible benefit to bodybuilders?

In reality although Phillips claims otherwise there is very few studies on HMB out there. If you do a Medline search you're only going to turn up two or three references... all from the Journal of Animal Science.

( Contrary to his reports in May 1996 there has been no peer-reviewed research presented in any sports/medicine journals... was this research actually carried out? If so why wasn't it published? )

So what do these references say about HMB supplementation?

In "Effects of HMB on performance and carcass quality of feedlot steers", J Anim Sci, 71: 8, 1994, 1927-35 the abstract states:

'Feeding HMB increased daily gain of steers slaughtered at 105d but decreased daily gain of steers slaughtered at 147d' and 'HMB tended to increase the ratio of intramuscular fat to subcutaneous fat'.

Basically this seems to indicate that the gains in weight are primarily due to intramuscular fat. And why do the daily gains decrease from 105d to 147d? Doesn't this indicate that HMB might be counter-productive to long term msucle growth?

Almada who also writes for MM2K also points to some studies that show increases in LBM and even loss of fat mass... surprises the heck out me... I can't seem to locate these mythical references.

IMHO... stay away from HMB. Bill Phillips is playing guessing games about what might or might not work and the scientific evidence in his corner is marginal at best... stick with something that has better research backing it up like creatine or even invest in protein powder if you're looking for something that might deliver some bang for your buck... 'cuz HMB isn't that.

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HMB Supplement Review