Frank Morgan And Real Food: Two Vegetables That Grow Muscle

Monday, January 9, 2017

Two Vegetables That Grow Muscle

Are there really two vegetables that grow muscle, in actuality there are more than two but let’s start here.

This is a very interesting and important article that should help anyone concerned over losing muscle mass by being vegan or vegetarian.
However, the last sentence demonstrates a failure to research thoroughly….cooking not only does not enhance the necessary chemicals for muscle development and cancer prevention, but rather it actually destroys the enzyme responsible for producing these phytonutrients.

We know that these chemicals exist in brassica vegetables as natural pesticides …. when the insect bites and crushes / breaks the wall between two adjacent cells, myrosinase (enzyme) catalyzes the reaction necessary to produce sulphurophanes, the group of phytonutrients that have a multitude of health benefits, including increasing muscles mass and, in fact cooking decreases the production of sulphorophanes by inactivating myrosinase.
Please see my article published a few years ago, Breasts, Broccoli and Cancer for a description of the cancer prevention and even cancer treating qualities in brassica vegetables, especially broccoli and cauliflower.
The following article was originally posted on TNation.

Research shows these veggies deactivate the muscle growth inhibitor, myostatin. Check out the science.

Most of us have an inherent bias when it comes to vegetarian athletes. We assume, because of their meat-shunning ways, that their asparagus-fueled muscles just won’t cut it on the athletic field, let alone produce any muscles worthy of admiration.
We think we can automatically spot these supposedly pasty-faced anemic souls, but time and time again, we’re proven wrong. There are vegetarians in every major sport, and there seem to be plenty of them in gyms, too, where their physiques are often indistinguishable from meat eaters.
There may be a scientific reason for this. Vegetarians may actually have a secret weapon that allows them to grow muscle as easy, or even easier, than meat eaters.
Superhero Bulls and Dogs
You’ve probably seen those amazing pictures of incredibly muscular Belgian Blue bulls and super-hero sized whippets. They’re said to be “double muscled” because they have a mutation that suppresses the production of a growth-controlling protein called myostatin.

However, if you can suppress myostatin through the use of some externally administered drug or compound, you could theoretically turn normal bulls, dogs, and yes, even humans, into double-muscled wonders.
Amazingly, some researchers at the University of Bonn have discovered a class of vegetables that may actually suppress the myostatin gene in satellite cells, thereby allowing muscles to grow beyond their normal genetic limitations.

Two Vegetables That Grow Muscle So Pass the Brassicas

Glucoraphanin is a chemical found in broccoli, cauliflower, and, in particular, the young sprouts (microgreens) of these two vegetables of the Brassica family. When humans eat and digest these vegetables, the glucoraphanin is converted to a substance named sulforaphane, which has long been known to have anti-cancer and anti-microbial properties.
However, when scientists in Germany exposed pig satellite cells (which are very similar to human satellite cells) to sulforaphane, the cells developed into adult muscle cells.
This discovery has the huge medical and economic potential, as the researchers themselves noted: “If its effects are verified and applied to in vivo models, sulforaphane may have therapeutic benefits in the treatment of human skeletal muscle disorders and practical value in meat production.”

Screw Apples. Eat Broccoli and Cauliflower

Vegetarians are presumably, albeit inadvertently, already taking advantage of the myostatin-inhibiting effects of sulforaphane by eating a lot of broccoli and cauliflower.
Meat-eaters can jump on the same double-muscled garden truck, too, by simply having daily servings of these two vegetables, at least until suforaphane is maybe some day available in supplement form.
Other research also suggests that you should eat cooked versions of these vegetables (as opposed to raw), as cooking makes the nutrients and compounds more bioavailable.
Again, as I said again at the beginnning of my opening, cooking these vegetables will destroy the enzyme that produces these phytonutrients, east them in their natural raw form.