The Toxic Avenger: Calcium D-glucarate — a new detoxifying supplement — can help enhance your metabolism, recovery and growth - The Wright Stuff

Flex, Feb, 2002 by Jim Wright

Q: I really enjoy you column and have made excellent progress. Although I'm satisfied with my training program and my overall diet, I'm still not getting that final polish on my physique. Is there anything else --perhaps a supplement -- I can use to harden my physique?

A: Maximizing your potential for leanness, hardness and fullness might not be rocket science, but it does take more than popping a few thermogenics, going on a low-carb diet and doing cardio three or four hours a week. It also requires a whole lot more information than I have room to impart here (look for a superfeature on fat loss in our April 2002 issue).

There definitely is, however, one supplement I'd highly recommend to every bodybuilder who wants to support his or her overall health. In addition to lowering cancer risks, this supplement helps to eliminate excess estrogen, among other metabolites, waste products and toxins, that could contribute to fluid retention, gynecomastia (in males) and other undesirable physique effects.

Calcium D-glucarate (C-D-G) is a nontoxic patented form of glucaric acid that is easily absorbed, active in small (and inexpensive) doses and bioavailable in the body for relatively extended periods. Glucaric acid is present in different fruits and vegetables and is made in very small amounts by our own bodies. However, as science has discovered with regard to most beneficial phytochemicals, even if you ate as much of the appropriate foods you could, it would still be difficult if not impossible to consistently get the amount of C-D-G more conveniently available in the supplement. (See the sidebar, "A Quick Guide to C-D-G," for further information.)

Researchers at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, developed the supplemental form of C-D-G. The scientists there were studying why and how a diet high in fruits and veggies reduced the incidence of certain cancers and other degenerative diseases. After many animal and human studies showed that C-D-G could significantly decrease lung, skin, liver, breast, colon and prostate cancers, most by half or more, the agent was developed into a dietary supplement. Even if you're not worried about cancer, C-D-G definitely has something to offer with regard to your physique.

DETOX AND IMMUNITY You don't have to be a genius to realize that optimizing metabolism and growth requires a "clean" internal/chemical environment. That can't be stressed enough. The liver is the key organ for detoxification, as well as for literally hundreds of other reactions that directly impact anabolism and catabolism in muscle and connective tissue. The immune system drives the train of tissue repair.

Detoxifying the body, and thus reducing the associated load on the liver and immune system, allows more of those systems' capacities and more of the body's energy to be directed toward repair of exercise-induced tissue damage, more effective nutrient processing and muscle growth. It should be obvious that a clean internal environment would make a difference in how your body responds to training, especially over the long term.

How do you detox the body and get clean? As we've said repeatedly in past issues, you do that by:

* eating "clean";

* drinking plenty of water;

* ensuring a high fiber intake;

* taking antioxidants (e.g., a complete multivitamin-multimineral supplement);

* and limiting intake of or exposure to toxic substances, such as tobacco, alcohol, environmental pollutants and pharmaceutical drugs (except those prescribed by a physician).

But how many bodybuilders adhere to those rules most of the time? And how many manage to eat the eight to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables daily that are needed to support physique and performance goals? Forget the government-recommended five servings a day; just as with the old recommended daily allowances, they don't cut it for bodybuilders and other serious athletes. That's especially true now that we know that, among their other benefits, fruits and vegetables are so important for overall health and for bodybuilding because of their glucaric acid content.

HOW TO GET DRIER AND HARDER

Supplementing with C-D-G is important to bodybuilders -- male or female -- because it significantly boosts the body's capacity to eliminate toxins and waste products and improves androgen/estrogen balance.

As demonstrated in many studies, supplemental C-D-G has amazing effects on estrogen levels in women, dramatically lowering estrogen-related health problems and diseases. In my own informal studies, I've seen C-D-G improve the physiques of a number of women bodybuilders and fitness athletes, and I'm confident that it can help anyone make progress over time.

Given the chemical similarity between testosterone and estrogen, you might wonder if C-D-G could also reduce testosterone levels or adversely affect muscle building. To answer that, since it's not apparent from the published literature, I queried Thomas Slaga, PHD, director of AMC Cancer Research Center in Denver, Colorado, and an expert on C-D-G. He responded unequivocally that it "would have no effects on free testosterone or on testosterone binding to its receptors in muscle."