In March of 1996 while attending a National Nutritional
Convention , I was introduced to a new supplement by a most impressive
gentleman. He was fighting an uphill battle , since he was trying single-handed
to introduce a product that nobody, at that time, had heard of: Calcium
Pyruvate. I stopped and listened to him, and confess this was partly
because of a "competition" he was running to spark interest in his
product. He had been a competitive body builder , and was still a fine figure of
a man though obviously no longer in his prime: what he had was a picture of
himself and his wife in bathing suits: the object was to try and guess the
combined age of the two individuals in the photo and win some of the product. I
guessed 125 years (not because they looked that old, but because obviously they
HAD to be older than they looked, or where was the point of the contest?) and
was off by 22 years! The answer was 147. I realize this is beside the
point, and I know they weren't JUST using Calcium Pyruvate -
but I was still lastingly impressed, and recently when articles began to appear
about Pyruvate, I read them with great interest.
Pyruvate is part of the glucose molecule, a product of the
breakdown of sugar for the production of energy: many studies have been done on
its influence on weight loss, and rebound weight gain, mostly at Pittsburgh
University. Pyruvate can be bound to a number of different carriers, and caution
needs to be used to make sure you are not getting SODIUM Pyruvate, which could
throw off the sodium ratio in your diet. While it is also possible to get too
high a level of calcium, most people actually do not get enough: therefore the
calcium form of Pyruvate is currently the one to look for. The studies show
definite benefits for dieters who add Pyruvate to their regimen, both in terms
of weight and fat loss, (almost double the weight loss over those study
participants taking the placebo) and also appeared to raise the basic metabolic
rate of the women using it in the study, which is extremely helpful for
sustained weight loss.
The interesting thing to me, though, is that there were many
accompanying health benefits: increased oxygenation of the heart, lowering of
cholesterol and blood pressure, and some positive effects for diabetics. Being
part of the glucose molecule, it appears to have an effect on insulin
resistance, a term used when the cells of the body will not allow sugar to
enter, thereby upsetting the balance of sugar in the bloodstream. There are
other nutrients that enable the entry of sugar into the cells, notably chromium
and vanadium - we may have to add Pyruvate to their number.
The only thing that takes the edge off this rosy picture is
the high amounts of Calcium Pyruvate that were taken to achieve
the results: doses used ranged from 30 to 50 grams - remember, there are 1000
milligrams in a gram: so one would be looking at 60 x 500 mg capsules, or 30 of
the 1000 mg strength. One would have to be both rich and determined to carry out
that schedule!
Some of the companies marketing the supplement are suggesting
that results can in fact be obtained on much lower levels of the Calcium
Pyruvate, they suggest between 3 and 5 grams daily, which is a far more
reasonable amount both financially and physically to swallow: I have had
anecdotal reports that it works at even lower levels, and my feeling is that if
the overweight is a result of faulty carbohydrate metabolism (as it often
is) then Calcium Pyruvate may indeed be a helpful adjunct to the dieter.
Apart from its use in weight loss, some studies have been done
on its use by athletes, and have definitely suggested it may improve endurance
both because of its sparing effect on muscle glycogen ( also known as
"muscle sugar" ), and its ability to increase the efficiency of oxygen
use.
I know I give the impression of praising with faint damns
here: my main reservation is because of the levels of the supplement needed to
achieve the test results: once I see some convincing studies using the lower
levels, I will be able to be much more enthusiastic - in the meantime, my
verdict is - Maybe!
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