The Supplement for Warfighters
This substance preserves muscle mass and strength during prolonged periods of physiological stress. Here's the science.
Physiological stress is a double-edged sword. Acutely, it prepares you for battle. The sympathetic nervous system stomps on the gas pedal, heart rate increases, and adrenaline surges. Your liver releases glucose for immediate energy. Extra blood flow is redirected to the muscles. Your body is ready to fight... or run away really damn quickly.
But prolong that physiological stress and it has a "toxic" effect, increasing the odds of getting cardiovascular diseases, weakening the immune system, and leading to disorders like anxiety and depression. You can even lose strength and lean body mass.
No one knows this better than the men and women serving in the military. The training is physiologically stressful, and the missions are literally life and death. Even the general environment is stressful: the deployments away from family, the politics, superior officers being total twat-waffles, etc.
Sure, the training is supposed to be hard. It's supposed to weed out the weak and prepare the strong for the rigors of battle. But when you train athletes for competition, you don't send them onto the field physically depleted. Luckily, the military recognizes this and they're studying ways to combat it. Here's what they found and how fish oil (Buy at Amazon) can help.
Why Hard Training Weakens Warriors
One study found that the very training that was supposed to turn Army Rangers into superior warfighters actually had the opposite effect. The Rangers experienced a 23% reduction in upper body strength and a 35% reduction in core strength. And, this was discovered two weeks AFTER completing training.
Another study designed to replicate an eight-day covert reconnaissance mission found that the stress, along with the protracted periods of immobilization, led to a 10% reduction in maximal jump height, an 11% decrease in maximal strength, a 20% decrease in the rate of force development, and a 5% loss of lean body mass (LBM). Post hoc analysis found that the decrease in LBM and strength was mediated by a 42% reduction in total mTOR (a protein kinase that regulates protein synthesis and cell growth).
However, to their credit, the armed forces are aware of the problem. Some free thinkers have even proposed the idea of supplying anabolic steroids to soldiers to offset the loss of LBM and strength incurred during training or combat missions.
Fish oil, however, might be a more socially acceptable alternative. There's sufficient evidence that it preserves strength and mass in soldiers during periods of physiological stress. This same research shows that fish oil has similar effects on first responders, athletes, and exercisers.
How Can Fish Oil Help?
Researchers pooled the results of 18 separate studies on the effects of fish oil on participants that mirrored the typical military population: 18-42 years old, body mass index of less than 30, and generally healthy. The 18 studies were published between 1997 and 2019 and involved 455 men and women.
Some studies found that fish oil supplementation increased muscle mass or at least protected against muscle breakdown during periods of physiological stress. It also accelerated the recovery of muscle strength. Related studies show that fish oil also staves off anxiety and depressive symptoms.
The researchers said that two grams daily for at least four weeks seemed to be the minimally effective dose.
The Best Fish Oil to Take
To get these stress-fighting, muscle/strength-preserving benefits, you need a hefty dose of fish oil: at least 2 grams (2,000 milligrams) or more. That's at least eight capsules of standard fish oil. And if you're using the cheap stuff, they probably won't tell you anything about the ratio of EPA/DHA omega-3 fatty acids it contains.
More and more evidence tells us that DHA is the heavy lifter of the EPA/DHA duo. Your fish oil should contain a lot more DHA than EPA.
Flameout DHA-Rich Fish Oil (Buy at Amazon) contains five times more DHA than EPA: 2000 mg of DHA and 400 mg of EPA. And you only need three softgels per day.
Chronic physiological stress weakens you. Fight back, whether you're dealing with the stressors of military life or general training and job stress.
References
- Heileson JL et al. The effect of fish oil supplementation on the promotion and preservation of lean body mass, strength, and recovery from physiological stress in young, healthy adults: a systematic review. Nutr Rev. 2020 Dec 1;78(12):1001-1014. PubMed: 32483626.
- Peltier C et al. The Future of Steroids for Performance Enhancement in the U.S. Military. Mil Med. 2018 Jul 1;183(7-8):151-153. PubMed: 29741698.
- Li J et al. Health benefits of docahexaenoic acid and its bioavailability: A review. Food Sci Nutr. 2021 Jul 23;9(9):5229-5243. PubMed: 34532031.