Now we all know that for a healthy life, we need to exercise and eat regularly. But if you are dealing with heavy training in the sports you do regularly, your diet should be a little different. For example, you may need to take much more protein and carbohydrates, or you may want to regain the vitamins and minerals you lost by taking food supplements such as ZMA much faster.
Zinc, magnesium and vitamin B6 found in ZMA supplement; It contains the most lost and needed vitamins and minerals during sports. These components not only strengthen muscles and increase endurance, but also provide sleep patterns. Although it is not certain, what is ZMA, which is said to increase testosterone, what it does, what are the harms and benefits, let’s examine it in all details.
For those who say what it is, let’s start by defining it; What is ZMA?
ZMA, which is used as an abbreviation for Zinc Magnesium; It is a kind of food supplement used by athletes, bodybuilders and similar sportsmen. As the name suggests, it contains a kind of mixture of zinc, magnesium and vitamin B6.
A standard ZMA pill contains 30 mg of zinc, 450 mg of magnesium, and 11 mg of vitamin B6. When you take a ZMA pill, you get 270 percent of your daily zinc needs, 110 percent of your daily magnesium needs, and 650 percent of your daily vitamin B6 needs. As it can be understood from the ratios, it does not make much sense to use it other than athletes.
What exactly does ZMA do, why is it used?
Let’s remember what the components in ZMA are; Zinc nourishes more than 300 enzymes in the digestive and immune systems. Magnesium supports the chemical reactions of muscle and nerve functions. Vitamin B6, on the other hand, has basic functions such as processing of nutrients in metabolism.
Using ZMA regularly increases muscle strength and muscular endurance, improves sleep quality, increases exercise power, and increases testosterone levels, though not definitively. In addition, you will quickly get the necessary vitamins and minerals for your general body health.
The main reason why athletes take ZMA supplements is that most of the zinc and magnesium in the body are excreted through sweat and urine during training. If a limited diet is preferred and these components are not taken as much as they should, ZMA should be used.
Let’s look briefly, what are the benefits of ZMA?
- Increases exercise strength.
- It strengthens the immune system.
- It controls blood sugar.
- It improves sleep quality.
- It’s good for the mood.
- It releases testosterone.
Increases exercise strength:
There isn’t a lot of research on the subject, but one study looked at 27 football players who used ZMA for 8 weeks. It has been observed that the players who take ZMA every day have increased muscle strength, are much more durable and can use their muscles much more flexibly than those who do not. It has also been shown to reduce muscle fatigue, even if it does not increase strength.
Strengthens the immune system:
Zinc, magnesium and vitamin B6 in ZMA are essential vitamins and minerals for our immune system to be strong. If you are not doing intense sports, it is possible to meet this need from food, but if you are doing sports intensely through sweat and urine, ZMA will work.
Controls blood sugar:
Zinc, one of the components in ZMA, has a great effect on Hba1c, which determines blood sugar level, just like a diabetes drug. Likewise, magnesium improves blood sugar control by improving insulin ability.
Improves sleep quality:
There is nothing better than magnesium to activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which allows our body to relax. Zinc also has a healing effect on the hormone melatonin, which regulates the sleep cycle. ZMA has plenty of both.
It is good for the mood:
Most of the time, if we look at situations where depression and similar moods are bad, we see that the body is deficient in vitamins and minerals. Studies have shown that magnesium reduces the risk of depression by 22 percent. Vitamin B6 is also known to have a therapeutic effect on depression.
It releases testosterone:
The effect of ZMA supplementation on testosterone is somewhat controversial. No testosterone increase was observed in healthy men given ZMA in the studies. But there is one small detail. When a person’s zinc levels are low, their testosterone level also drops. Zinc taken with ZMA can increase this level. So the event is actually zinc, not ZMA.
So, does ZMA make you lose weight?
60 obese people were given 30 mg of zinc per day for one month and they lost weight compared to the group that did not. Another study found that zinc suppresses appetite. But just like in the testosterone thing, the issue here is zinc. So if you want to sit at home, drink handfuls of ZMA and lose weight, such a thing is impossible.
Let’s come to the feared issue, is ZMA harmful or does it have side effects?
There are no commonly seen signs of ZMA recorded so far. However, if you exceed the recommended dose, due to zinc, dizziness, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach cramps, loss of appetite, headache, dizziness; Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach cramps due to magnesium, and pain and numbness in the hands and feet due to vitamin B6.
Note that zinc and magnesium can interact with antibiotics and diuretics, causing side effects. Likewise, pregnant and lactating mothers should be extremely careful when taking such food supplements. But generally speaking, ZMA is not a harmful food supplement when you take it in doses.
Let’s go now and drink handfuls of ZMA, shall we?
Please don’t do such a thing. First, go to a doctor and get a full blood test and see if you have more or less. Your doctor will give you the necessary supplements for your already missing vitamins and minerals. If you are an athlete who trains intensely, tell him about it, and your doctor will solve it. So in summary, don’t go to your head and use ZMA and similar food supplements.
We answered questions such as what is ZMA, the food supplement used by athletes to increase muscle strength and testosterone, what is it for, is it harmful. What we describe is for informational purposes only. Do not forget that you should get the most accurate and specific information about the use of ZMA from a specialist physician, as in all health issues.
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