What ZMA Supplements Claim To Do
In 2000, a study performed by Brilla and Conte found that semiprofessional athletes who supplemented with ZMA experienced an increase of plasma testosterone levels up to 30% and improved muscle strength compared to the control athletes.
Until the above study was published, studies had only linked zinc supplementation to increased testosterone levels in individuals that were zinc deficient.
So is the study valid? Here’s the truth behind it (taken from a post on Bodybuilding.com):
ZMA was created by Victor Conte, owner of Balco Labs. Victor Conte is not a scientist. He spent about 15 years playing bass in various rock bands (including Tower of Power), and when money started running out he opened up a holistic health center with wife. He shut this center down after a year and then opened up BALCO (Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative). At a sports medicine conference in 1997, Conte met Brilla and asked her to conduct a study on SNAC’s zinc-magnesium supplement. In November 1998, Brilla and Conte presented their findings on a poster board at a meeting of the Southwest Chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine, in Las Vegas. There were made the claims that ZMA produced 250% greater strength gains compared to placebo, that it created “hormonal increase” on the subjects and that it was the only natural supplement that was clinically proven to increase testosterone.
What the press release didn’t say was that Conte owned SNAC and it was simply an affiliate of BALCO. Nor did it reveal that Conte’s SNAC had helped pay for the study or that Brilla had been aided by Jim Valente and Dr. Brian Goldman, BALCO’s vice president and medical director, respectively. It also didn’t report that of the 57 Western Washington University football players who signed up for the study, 30 quit. By the end, only a dozen players were using ZMA while 15 took a placebo.(1) Furthermore, Brilla had in the past conducted studies on magnesium and it’s effect on testosterone and strength in athletes and football players in particular. The ZMA study demonstrated results painfully close to the ones of the magnesium-only study she herself had conducted a few years earlier(4). Brilla was simply asked to repeat the study, using this time along with the magnesium some zinc and surprisingly the same good results came out.
I think it’s safe to say that Conte had some financial interest in ZMA supplements selling well.
The Truth About ZMA
In 2009, Koehler and colleagues looked at the effectiveness of ZMA in young healthy individuals with normal zinc levels to determine if ZMA led to tesosterone increases.
The Results
The addition of the ZMA supplement did not show significant effects on serum testosterone concentrations in the subjects. Consequently, urine markers of testosterone and its metabolism were also not altered by the use of ZMA.
Conclusion
Taken from the study, “In summary, it can be concluded that even if zinc supplementation may reverse lowered testosterone levels and restore disturbed testosterone metabolism in cases of mild or severe zinc deficiency, it is not capable of further increasing serum testosterone when sufficient zinc is provided by the regular diet.”
Some Commentary
So in less you have chronically low zinc levels, you are wasting your money with ZMA.
Another benefit of ZMA I have discussed before is its ability to improve sleep. I can say honestly that ZMA did improve the quality of my sleep. However, I have since switched from ZMA to melatonin. I am very satisfied with the results I get from melatonin and will not be going back to ZMA anytime soon. If you want to give melatonin a go, I suggest Optimum Nutritions.
References
Pubmed Abstract (the abstract is not found on the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition website)
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
hi
i have been thinking about using this ,so my dear you have saved some money.
thanks SEAN.
@sean – Sure thing Sean!