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ASEA Metabolite Findings FAQ
Q. Who conducted this research?
A. This research took place at the North Carolina Research Institute, a collaborative entity involving seven universities (Duke, UNC Chapel Hill, NC State, UNC
Charlotte, NC Central, NC A&T State, UNC Greensboro, Appalachian State). The research was led by the Appalachian State University’s Human Performance Laboratory
under the direction of Dr. David Nieman. Dr. Nieman and his team of Ph.Ds. are renowned for their rigorous research into the effects of supplementation on exercise
and exertion.
Q. How was the research conducted?
A. The research team selected 20 highly fit cyclists, then
Q. How was the research conducted?
A. The research team selected 20 highly fit cyclists, then
randomized them into two groups of 10. Using double-
blinded techniques in which neither the athletes nor
the researchers knew which group received ASEA and
which received a placebo, one group drank four ounces
of ASEA each day for seven days, while the other drank
equal amounts of placebo. At the end of seven days,
both groups undertook a 75-km cycling trial. Blood was
drawn immediately before the trial, immediately after,
and one hour after.
After a washout period in which the athletes drank
neither ASEA nor placebo, the crossover portion of the
research took place. Again double-blinded, the original
ASEA group now drank the placebo for seven days, and
the original placebo group drank ASEA. At the end of the
seven days, both groups did the same 75-km cycling trial,
and blood was drawn just as before.
Q. What was used as a placebo?
A. The answer to this question is extremely enlightening,
especially if you’ve ever heard someone say that ASEA
is just salt water. In the research that was conducted by
the Human Performance Laboratory, the placebo was salt
water! In other words, the research compared ASEA to
salt water and found significant and substantial differences,
so there is no way anyone can ever say that ASEA
is simply salt water.
Q. What were the results of the research?
A. The researchers expected to see some difference in
metabolite shift between ASEA and the placebo. However,
they expected to see those shifts AFTER exercise, since
most researched supplements express metabolite shifts
due to the combination of supplement and exercise.
To their surprise, they found that athletes who drank
ASEA experienced a significant shift in metabolites PRIOR
to exercise. In total, researchers found a shift in 43
metabolites simply from drinking ASEA, even before they
began to cycle. The results were so extraordinary that Dr.
Neiman said, “When I saw it, I couldn’t believe it.”
Q. What are metabolites?
A. Metabolism is the name we give to the chemical reactions
that take place inside our cells in order to sustain
life. Metabolites are the molecules that participate in our
metabolism cycles. They are very small molecules in the
blood that shift in response to supplementation and/or exercise.
Metabolomics, the study of these metabolite shifts,
is the very latest tool used by researchers to understand
what effects supplementation has in the human body.
Q. Why was this shift in metabolites so surprising
to the researchers?
A. In this research, 108 metabolites were mapped, and
so the first thing that caught the scientists off guard was
that a shift in 43 metabolites represented about 40% of
the total. The sheer number of shifts was enough to get
the researchers’ attention.
But even more surprising, these shifts occurred PRIOR to
exercise. Most supplements tested by the Human Performance
Lab express metabolite shifts AFTER exercise. In
other words, most supplements cause metabolite shifts
when combined with exercise. ASEA, on the other hand,
caused a major shift in metabolites even before the athletes
began cycling. Simply drinking ASEA caused these
shifts.
Q. What do these metabolite shifts mean?
A. The specific metabolite shifts in the athletes who
drank ASEA pointed mostly to a vast mobilization of free
fatty acids. Fatty acids are the main source of fuel for the
body, and they mostly come from fat stores in the body
known as adipose tissue.
Q. Free fatty acids? Why is that significant?
A. When anyone, athlete or not, begins to exercise, the
muscles need fuel. Initially, the fuel source for this physical
effort is blood glucose and muscle glycogen. When
muscle glycogen is depleted, the body shifts to another
source of fuel: fatty acids from adipose tissue. The body
converts triglycerides in adipose tissue into free fatty
acids, which “mobilizes” those fatty acids – puts them in
the blood stream for the muscles to use as fuel.
What makes the research results so surprising is that even
before exercise – before using muscle glycogen to the
point of depletion – fatty acids are mobilized and ready
to use as fuel for the muscles. The body is being “primed
for exercise,” as one Ph.D. on the research team put it.
Q. What effect does this have on muscle
glycogen?
A. The implication is that muscle glycogen is likely being
spared by drinking ASEA. While further research is being
done to confirm this, the ramifications are huge. Athletes
take months to train their bodies to spare glycogen and
use fatty acids as fuel. And here it appears to be happening
simply from drinking ASEA.
Q. What if I’m not an athlete? Does this research
mean anything for me?
A. The mobilization of free fatty acids is incredible news
for athletes, but it also has meaning for the rest of us,
as well. Once these fatty acids are mobilized, they will
be used by the body as fuel. They are the primary fuel
source for a body at rest. The body needs fuel simply to
stay alive, so the freed-up fatty acids will be burned no
matter what.
Q. Does this make ASEA a weight-loss product?
A. It is wrong to think of ASEA as a weight-loss product.
Exercise is a weight-loss product. Proper nutrition is a
weight-loss product. But that said, one very clear conclusion
coming from the research is this: If you want to burn
more fat during exercise, drink ASEA.
Q. I understand that the research also indicated
a release of ascorbic acid (probably from the
adrenal cortex). What does that mean?
A. The research did show a spike in the release of ascorbic
acid post-exercise, but it’s simply too early to draw
any conclusions about what this means. Further research
will be done to learn more.
Q. How does Redox Signaling tie into this
research?
A. Redox Signaling works on a cellular level, and its
primary functions ensure the ongoing vitality of our cells,
including proper cell metabolism. Metabolites are the
“fingerprints” left behind during cell metabolism, an
indication of the chemical reactions that take place inside
the cell. This research helps reveal some of the effects of
the world’s first and only Redox Signaling supplement on
cell metabolism.
©2012 Asea, LLC. All Rights Reserved. May 2012
