Can Zynamite Help You Build Muscle?

Long time Nutrition Diva listener Georgia recently wrote to ask me about an ingredient she'd run across called "zynamite":

"I follow several people on social media for inspiration…and one of them is Superman himself, Henry Cavill."

(For the uninitiated, Cavill plays the role of Clark Kent and his alter-ego Superman in the movie Man of Steel. He is, as the kids say, ripped.)

"Recently, he discussed his supplement regimen. One of them (Shatter) has an ingredient that I never heard of before: Zynamite. What is it? I'm not a body-builder like he is, but do I need it? And can I get Zynamite in my regular food?"

I'd never heard of "zynamite" either, but here's what I found out. 

What is Zynamite?

Zynamite is the trade name for a mango extract. But this isn't just any old mango juice; it's extracted from the leaves of the plant, through a proprietary patented process that promises a certain concentration of a polyphenol called mangiferin. 

So, no, this really isn't something you could get from your diet, unless you're planning to chew a LOT of mango leaves. It's marketed to supplement manufacturers as an ingredient to add to formulations that are designed to enhance brain function and sports performance.

According to the manufacturer, zynamite is an "all-natural evidence-based nootropic and sports performance ingredient," supported by seven clinical studies that have been published in peer-reviewed journals.  

Here are just a few of its puported benefits:

• Faster reaction time 
• Increased calculation performance
• Decreased fatigue during exercise
• Increased muscle power when fatigued
• Faster recovery

That's quite a pedigree!  So, let's take a look at all of this evidence.

What is the evidence to support Zynamite?

One of the published clinical studies is a toxicology study. (Good news: It's not toxic!) Another is a very preliminary study in rats. Let's bracket that one.

That leaves five human studies, but only one of them tested the effects of zynamite on its own, so let's start with that one.  A single large dose of zynamite led to small but statistically significant improvements in the scores on cognitive tasks like attention and recall. For example, those taking the placebo scored 62.5% accuracy on one of the standard tests and those taking zynamite scored just under 64%.  So you're probably not going to ace your LSATs on the strength of this ingredient alone. Some studying will still be requied.

The other studies all tested the effects of zynamite on various aspects of athletic performance but, again, all of these looked at zynamite in combination with other ingredients, such as quercetin or luteolin...

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