Myostatin

 

Myostatin


Get more muscle without more work


I'll start this post by giving you a short explanation of what myostatin exactly is.


Myostatin is a protein from the TGF-b family which is regulated through the myostatin gene.


This protein has a very special function. Its a regulator of skeletal muscle growth, but in a negative way. It limits skeletal muscle growth thus decreasing the amount of muscle you can build depending on your genetics


Low myostatin activity? → build muscle easier

High myostatin activity? → build muscle harder


People with a mutation in their myostatin gene that causes them to have no myostatin levels can build muscle WITHOUT working out. Because the body has no limit on how much muscle it can build.


With low myostatin activity, all your excess calories will be pushed into muscle instead of fat and give you quite literally unlimited muscle growth.


But why would the body even have something like this?


The myostatin protein exists to preserve energy for more important things like the brain or the immune system. Since muscle is very expensive to build and maintain and requires a ton of metabolic energy.


Having a ton of muscle is not always optimal, but that doesn't mean myostatin can't be lowered.


Lowering myostatin has 0 effect on immune system efficacy, otherwise people with myostatin deficiencies would get sick all the time and die from the flu, but they don't.


You probably know the famous strongman Eddie Hall, he has a myostatin deficiency, or if you want to see what a myostatin deficiency looks like, google belgian muscle cow.


Or look at this picture, where they gave mice a myostatin inhibitor called follistatin. Which resulted in massive muscle growth compared to the other mice who stayed skinny.

Source: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0000789


How to lower myostatin


Taurine


Taurine is able to inhibit myostatin by directly lowering myostatin gene expression. Less myostatin gene expression means that the gene will be less powerful and less emphasized. Resulting in lower myostatin signaling.


Taurine also activates mTOR, which does the opposite of myostatin. By activating mTOR, taurine can increase skeletal muscle mass production.


Lastly, it also blunts TGF-b signaling, which is the pathway that oversees and activates myostatin.


  • Red meat

  • Eggs

  • Shellfish


Vitamin D


Vitamin D is also a potent inhibitor of myostatin. This is because vitamin D is technically a hormone, or a hormone precursor to be more precise.


Vitamin D gets synthesized into the hormone called calcitriol, which has found to be a potent myostatin inhibitor


It decreases MSTN mRNA, so it reduces the amount of messages myostatin can send to the body to slow down muscle growth.


It also increases follistatin which like mentioned earlier is a direct inhibitor of the myostatin protein.


  • Sunlight

  • Fatty fish

  • Beef liver


Cool fact: you dont need vitamin D supplementation during the winter if you get enough sunlight in the summer. This is because the vitamin D precursor called 7-Dehydrocholesterol is stored in the skin and synthesized into vitamin D when your body needs it, allowing you to have amazing vitamin D levels even in the winter, so make sure you get enough sunlight.


Coffee


Coffee is another inhibitor of the myostatin protein.


This is because coffee increases a ton of things that actually make you really anabolic.


  • IGF-1

  • mTOR

  • PGC‑1α


These are all things that will decrease myostatin since they are anabolic to muscle.


Coffee also contains N‑acyl‑5‑hydroxytryptamides that block MSTN receptor activation. Blocking the receptor will obviously have amazing effects since less myostatin is able to exert its effects.


MOTS-C


MOTS-C is a peptide that is able to reduce myostatin gene expression in muscle by activation of Akt. In mice, MOTS-C reduced myostatin by 40%, in humans there is also an inverse relationship between these 2.


  • Urolithin A

  • CoQ10

  • Berberine

  • Resveratrol

  • MOTS-C peptide injections



Bee pollen


Bee pollen lowers myostatin by decreasing the inflammation loop that triggers myostatin and also directly lowering myostatin mRNA in muscle tissue, this reducing the effects it has and helping you to build more muscle.


HIIT


Working out is one of the, if not the best way to lower myostatin.


When you work out, your muscles secrete a myokine called decorin. This myokine directly binds to myostatin and deactivates it.


Besides that working out also increases mTOR, IGF-1 and other things that help you build muscle which directly counteracts the effects myostatin has.


HIIT also increases follistatin which like earlier mentioned is the primary inhibitor of myostatin.


End


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