New Insights into Theaffeine™ - Australian Fight Sports Performance Company Nutrition Underground® Deals a Lethal Blow to the Stimulant-Based Supplement Industry

Over recent years, the term “pre-workout” has rapidly evolved to become synonymous with the term “stimulant".

Although the sensation of supraphysiological energy, at face value, attracts athletes from various sporting backgrounds, the supplement industry’s competition for the “dirtiest” (or most severe) stimulant has resulted in many products and their ingredients being blacklisted by regulatory authorities (e.g. DMAA, numerous pre/pro-androgens etc). More recently, a new direction has been pursued by minds at an Australian Fight Sports Nutrition company ^[1], where athletic performance is dependent on flawless repetitive accuracy, concentrated endurance and sustained alertness; factors uniquely inherent to combat sports where athletes must surmount tremendous physical and mental stressors in order to avoid being beaten (to a pulp).

Isolated from a leaf commonly eaten and/or steeped (for tea), γ-Glutamylethylamide (GG), the dominant component of Nutrition Underground^® (NU)'s unique ingredient Theaffeine™, has been investigated heavily by several medical research groups ^[2-6] over the past 24 months of NU’s operation. In these investigations, it was observed that GG, when coupled with other components of Theaffeine™:

- Synergistically improves alertness and cognitive performance (with low doses of caffeine) ^[2]
- Significantly improves attention and concentration and reduces errors in repetitive physical tasks ^[2]
- Counteracts caffeine-induced sleep disturbance ^[3] and improves sleep quality ^[4]
- Reduces psychosocial stress and anxiety ^[5]
- Prevents damage and dysfunction in the brain through novel neuroprotective mechanisms ^[6]

The Fight Sports Industry has perked up its ears and responded with gratuitous affection for the combat-purposed nutriceutical, exclusive to NU's "Pre-Fight Formula" Ampla-Fix. Looking forward, the informed prediction of this writer sees men and women from other high-stress sports ditching their generic bodybuilding supplements and investing in performance-based nutrition, developed or at least inspired by the Australian Biomedical Scientists at NU.

-Written by Griffin, RD _BBiomedSci & Donner, DG _{BBiomedSci,MMedRes,GCResMgt}

[1] Lemon JT (2011) The NU Scientific Protocol, Nutrition Underground PTY LTD www.nutritionunderground.com.au/index.php?dispatch=pages.view&page_id=5

[2] Foxe JJ, Morie KP, Laud PJ, Rowson MJ, de Bruin EA, Kelly SP (2012) Assessing the effects of caffeine and theanine on the maintenance of vigilance during a sustained attention task, Neuropharmacology; 62(7):2320-2327.

[3] Jang HS, Jung JY, Jang KH, Kim SH, Ha JH, Suk K, Lee MG (2012) L-theanine partially counteracts caffeine-induced sleep disturbance in rats, Pharmacol Biochem Behav; 101(2):217-221.

[4] Lyon MR, Kapoor MP, Juneja LR (2011) The effects of l-theanine (Suntheanine®) on objective sleep quality in boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial, Altern Med Rev; 16(4):348-354.

[5] Unno K, Iquchi K, Tanida N, Fujitana K, Takamori N, Yamamoto H, Ishii N, Nagano H, Nagashima T, Hara A, Shimoi K, Hoshino M (2012) Ingestion of theanine, an amino acid in tea, suppresses psychosocial stress in mice, Exp Physiol; Pub ahead of print.

[6] Kakuda T (2011) Neuroprotective effects of theanine and its preventative effects on cognitive dysfunction, Pharmacol Res; 64(2):162-168.

• < Prev
• Next >