ZMA BY GREGORY CHANDLER, ATTORNEY AT LAW

Besides training and dieting, boosting your body's anabolic hormone levels is the fastest way to increase muscle mass. Unfortunately, doing so by taking anabolic hormones as drugs increases the risk of cancer, heart disease and other ailments, so improving levels of anabolic hormones by correcting common mineral deficiencies is being explored by scientists as a healthier alternative.

By taking blood tests of top competitive athletes, Victor Conte of Balco Laboratories in Burlingame, California, found that a surprising number of athletes had below-optimal levels of magnesium and zinc--minerals that are essential for performance and anabolic hormone production. Some may remember Conte for his association with Barry Bonds, formerly of the San Francisco Giants.

As a result, Conte developed a rather superior zinc and magnesium supplement called ZMA. ZMA contains zinc monomethionine, magnesium aspartate, and vitamin B-6. ZMA was tested on football players at Western Washington University by Lora Brilla, Ph.D. ZMA increased both anabolic hormone levels (testosterone and IGF-1) and performance of bodybuilding exercises (leg curls and leg extensions). ZMA is almost certainly advisable for bodybuilders, male and female, owing to their active lifestyle and similar dietary requirements for these essential minerals.

I suggest taking three capsules of ZMA at bedtime with water. If you also take dairy products before bedtime, I would recommend that you separate the dairy products and the ZMA by at least 30 minutes. This is because the calcium in the dairy products tends to limit the effectiveness of the ZMA.

GREGORY CHANDLER, Attorney at Law