Why do I feel a tingling sensation on my face?
Q: I feel a tingling sensation on my face shortly after taking a dose of Fully Charged. What’s happening?
A: This is due to the beta-alanine in the product. This amino acid, which is converted to carnosine in the body, is an outstanding acid-buffering/pH-neutralizing nutrient. When it is first metabolized, it oftentimes causes a small amount of tingling on the face. This is completely normal, natural, and harmless, and the effect lasts only 3-5 minutes.
How do I determine the equivalent of one scoop of Fully Charged?
No scoop? No problem! With the following conversion information, your "Where did my scoop go?" problems are resolved!
Fully Charged
1 Level Scoop (9 cc) = 1.25 tsp
Is taurine a stimulant?
Q: I see taurine in all those energy drinks that contain lots of stimulants. Is taurine a stimulant? Is it safe?
A: The amino acid taurine—found in Fully Charged and Cherry Bomb HEED—has gotten a bad rap over the years. The reason? Because it’s an ingredient commonly found in many of the canned energy drinks you can find pretty much anywhere (especially gas stations). These drinks are typically loaded with a variety of unwanted stimulants and excess amounts of caffeine.
Taurine? It kind of “goes along for the ride” in these drinks because of its oftentimes-forgotten effects for helping increase focus, alertness, and concentration. That’s one of the primary reasons it’s in Fully Charged and Cherry Bomb HEED; however, there’s so much more to this oft-maligned amino acid. In fact, the researchers in one study boldly stated, “Considering its broad distribution, its many cytoprotective attributes, and its functional significance in cell development, nutrition, and survival, taurine is undoubtedly one of the most essential substances in the body.” [1] Other researchers refer to taurine as “a wonder molecule.” [2]
General Health
Taurine may very well be one of the most important nutrients to help protect against type II diabetes, with animal research showing that supplementation with taurine supplementation can help reduce the onset of type II diabetes. [3,4]
Studies with diabetic rats have shown that taurine helps support heart function by protecting against heart damage via its ability to increase glucose transport into heart muscle cells, thus lowering blood glucose levels. [5,6]
Taurine has also earned the distinction of being a superb “heart health” nutrient because of its ability to assist in many factors associated with alleviating hypertension. Taurine supplementation helps improve circulation, lower blood pressure, reduce arterial thickening, and enhance the beneficial effects of increased nitric oxide levels. [7, 8, 9]
Taurine is also an outstanding “eye health” nutrient, helping to maintain optimal retinal function [10], and it’s also an extraordinarily beneficial nutrient for liver health. [11, 12, 13]
Athletic performance
Taurine supports enhanced athletic performance by:
- Reducing fatigue [14]
- Increasing VO2max (i.e., the amount of oxygen you can utilize during exercise) [15]
- Increasing muscle and heart contractility, allowing for improved cardiac output and greater exercise workload [16,17]
- Optimizing the proper functioning of electrolytic minerals [18]
- Extending endurance by decreasing the amount of lactic acid/lactate that accumulates [19, 20]
- Lessening muscle tissue breakdown [21]
- Enhancing recovery by providing antioxidant support to protect against free radical damage [15]
Summary
Unlike most other amino acids, taurine is not used to build proteins; however, because it serves many important functions in the body—along with the fact that it’s not readily available in the diet—taurine is classified as a conditionally essential amino acid.
For supporting many aspects of significantly improved athletic performance—with some pretty impressive cross-over benefits for overall health—you’d be hard-pressed to find a more versatile amino acid than taurine.
You’ll find 500 mg of the “wonder molecule” known as taurine in every serving of Fully Charged and in each scoop of Cherry Bomb HEED.
REFERENCES:
[1] Ripps H, Shen W. Review: Taurine: A “very essential” amino acid. Mol Vis. 2012;18:2673-86. Epub Nov 12, 2012.
[2] https://jbiomedsci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1423-0127-17-S1-S6
[3] Franconi F, Loizzo A, Ghirlanda G, Seghieri G. Taurine supplementation and diabetes mellitus. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care.2006 Jan;9(1):32-6.
[4] Kim KS, Oh da H, Kim JY, et al. Taurine ameliorates hyperglycemia and dyslipidemia by reducing insulin resistance and leptin level in Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima fatty (OLETF) rats with long-term diabetes. Exp Mol Med. 2012 Nov 30;44(11):665-73.
[5] Tappia PS, Thliveris J, Xu YJ, Aroutiounova N, Dhalla NS. Effects of amino acid supplementation on myocardial cell damage and cardiac function in diabetes. Exp Clin Cardiol.2011 Fall;16(3):e17-22.
[6] Das J, Vasan V, Sil PC. Taurine exerts hypoglycemic effect in alloxan-induced diabetic rats, improves insulin-mediated glucose transport signaling pathway in heart and ameliorates cardiac oxidative stress and apoptosis. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2012 Jan 15;258(2):296-308.
[7] Murakami S. Taurine and atherosclerosis. Amino Acids.2012 Dec 8.
[8] Abebe W, Mozaffari MS. Role of taurine in the vasculature: an overview of experimental and human studies. Am J Cardiovasc Dis. 2011;1(3):293-311.
[9] Rahman MM, Park HM, Kim SJ, et al. Taurine prevents hypertension and increases exercise capacity in rats with fructose-induced hypertension. Am J Hypertens.2011 May;24(5):574-81.
[10] Chesney RW. Taurine: its biological role and clinical implications. Adv Pediatr. 1985;32:1-42.
[11] Miyazaki T, Bouscarel B, Ikegami T, Honda A, Matsuzaki Y. The protective effect of taurine against hepatic damage in a model of liver disease and hepatic stellate cells. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2009;643:293-303.
[12] Gentile CL, Nivala AM, Gonzales JC, et al. Experimental evidence for therapeutic potential of taurine in the treatment of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 2011 Dec;301(6):R1710-22.
[13] Chen X, Sebastian BM, Tang H, et al. Taurine supplementation prevents ethanol-induced decrease in serum adiponectin and reduces hepatic steatosis in rats. Hepatology.2009 May;49(5):1554-62.
[14] Balshaw TG, Bampouras TM, Barry TJ, Sparks SA. The effect of acute taurine ingestion on 3-km running performance in trained middle-distance runners. Amino Acids.2013 Feb;44(2):555-61
[15] Zhang M, Izumi I, Kagamimori S, et al. Role of taurine supplementation to prevent exercise-induced oxidative stress in healthy young men. Amino Acids.2004 Mar;26(2):203-7.
[16] Goodman CA, Horvath D, Stathis C, et al. Taurine supplementation increases skeletal muscle force production and protects muscle function during and after high-frequency in vitro stimulation.J Appl Physiol. 2009 Jul;107(1):144-54.
[17] Molaparast-Saless F, Nellis SH, Liedkte AJ. The effects of propionylcarnitine taurine on cardiac performance in aerobic and ischemic myocardium. J Mol Cell Cardiol. 1988 Jan;20(1):63-74.
[18] Zhao L, Lou JS, Kang Y. Taurine-magnesium coordination compound attenuates hypoxia/reoxygenation induced Ion channel dysfunction in rat ventricular myocytes. Drug Res (Stuttg). 2013 Mar 13. [Epub ahead of print]
[19] Manabe S, Kurroda I, Okada K, et al. Decreased blood levels of lactic acid and urinary excretion of 3-methylhistidine after exercise by chronic taurine treatment in rats. J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo). 2003 Dec;49(6):375-80.
[20] Imagawa TF, Hirano I, Utsuki K, et al. Caffeine and taurine enhance endurance performance. Int J Sports Med. 2009 Jul;30(7):485-8.
[21] Dawson R, Jr., Biasetti M, Messina S, Dominy J. The cytoprotective role of taurine in exercise-induced muscle injury. Amino Acids.2002 Jun;22(4):309-24.
Are your supplements 3rd party tested?
Yes, every Hammer Nutrition supplement is 3rd party tested in compliance with the FDA’s regulations, 21 CFR Part 111 – Dietary Supplements. All the raw materials for each supplement we produce are tested for purity, strength, identity, and integrity. In addition to raw material testing, every Hammer Nutrition supplement is also tested in every stage of production—blending, encapsulation / powder-filling, packaging components and finished goods—before being released for distribution.
Will there ever be another flavor other than Tart Cherry?
If we were to take out the tart cherry extract in the product, we could possibly do other flavor options. However, we don’t want to take this key ingredient out of Fully Charged because it’s so outstanding for reducing aches and soreness. The “downside” is that tart cherry extract has such an overpowering taste/flavor profile, that it’s not possible to cover it up completely. What we did was to add some natural (regular) cherry flavor, and small amounts of Fibersol®-2 AG (a digestive resistant maltodextrin prebiotic) and tapioca maltodextrin to soften the tart cherry extract flavor.
How do I stay alert at night during ultras?
If you're doing an ultra-distance race, especially one where you’ll be racing through the night and into the next day, chances are you'll need something to help you stay alert. Here are four safe and effective suggestions, all of which you can use in combination:
1) Take 1 serving of Fully Charged every 3-4 hours. Among the numerous benefits this amazing product supplies, two amino acids in Fully Charged, taurine and tyrosine, enhance focus, alertness, and concentration without stimulating the nervous system. Fully Charged also contains a small amount of caffeine—approximately 10-15 mg per serving—courtesy of the green tea extract in the product.
2) Take 1-2 capsules of Endurance BCAA+ prior to the race and each hour during. The primary components in this product are the three branched chain amino acids (BCAA), l-leucine, l-isoleucine, and l-valine. Among their many benefits, research has shown that BCAA supplementation helps decrease the perception of fatigue on both a mental and physiological basis.
3) Take a capsule of Super Antioxidant every 1-2 hours during nighttime hours. The Ginkgo biloba and vinpocetine components in the product not only provide antioxidant support, they also have circulation-enhancing benefits and are purported to have cognitive/alertness-enhancing benefits as well.
4) Use one of the caffeinated versions of Hammer Gel on occasion. Each serving of Espresso Hammer Gel contains 50 mg of caffeine and each serving of Tropical Hammer Gel contains 25 mg. By using these specific flavors of Hammer Gel, you will be providing your body with complex carbohydrates for long-lasting energy (no “flash and crash”), as well as a sufficient but not too-high dose of caffeine.
