Arginine and ornithine supplementation increases growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor-1 serum levels after heavy-resistance exercise in strength-trained athletes

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at IGF-1 LR3 in the context of insulin resistance, prediabetes & type 2 diabetes.

This placebo-controlled double-blind study was designed to investigate the effect of arginine and ornithine (arg and orn) supplementation during 3-week heavy-resistance training on serum growth hormone/insulin-like growth factor-1/insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 3 (GH/IGF-1/IGFBP-3), testosterone, cortisol, and insulin levels in experienced strength-trained athletes.

Why It Was Studied

The subjects were randomly divided between a placebo group (n = 8) and the l-Arg/l-Orn-supplemented group (n = 9), and performed pre and posttraining standard exercise tests with the same absolute load, which consisted of the same exercise schedule as that applied in the training process.

Fasting blood samples were obtained at rest, 2 minutes after the cessation of the strength exercise protocol, and after 1 hour of recovery.

Who Took Part

PubMed indexes the participants as young adults, men only.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

The participants were allocated by chance, so the IGF-1 LR3 group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Neither the participants nor the staff measuring them knew who was on IGF-1 LR3, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

Some participants received a placebo instead of IGF-1 LR3, giving a reference point.

A time span of 3 weeks appears in the methods.

What Was Measured

The subjects were randomly divided between a placebo group (n = 8) and the l-Arg/l-Orn-supplemented group (n = 9), and performed pre and posttraining standard exercise tests with the same absolute load, which consisted of the same exercise schedule as that applied in the training process.

PubMed files the paper under topics including Analysis of Variance, Anthropometry, Arginine, Athletes, Athletic Performance, Body Mass Index and Dietary Supplements.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of IGF-1 LR3 in people with insulin resistance, prediabetes & type 2 diabetes over 3 weeks.

The publication is from 2010 (Journal of strength and conditioning research), a journal based in United States.

More context: the IGF-1 LR3 compound page, Insulin resistance, prediabetes & type 2 diabetes research.