HMB Bodybuilding Supplement Reviewed

HMB (beta-hydroxy beta-methylbutyrate).  Is a substance produced by the body in the form of BCAA, leucine.  It is also found in small amounts in foods such as grapefruit, alfalfa and some fish species.

What HMB does 

HMB helps the immune system, and some evidence suggest that it may also help build muscle size and strength, decrease body fat, and lower blood cholesterol levels.  Sounds pretty promising!  The problem is that scientists aren't sure exactly how it works. 

They believe that HMB is  involved in cellular repair since it is a precursor to a crucial component of cell membranes that aids in growth and repair of muscle tissue.

The evidence 

There are only a few studies performed by universities, and these are the only studies that should be deemed remotely accurate in my eyes.  Most studies you read about that show dramatic muscle and strength gains were probably conducted by the supplement companies themselves, and I would really question the reliability of any of these.

The main study was conducted at the University of Iowa in 1997.  It gave one group of men who have never weight trained 3 grams of HMB daily, and a second group of men a placebo.  They were put on the same training program for 3 weeks. 

At the end of the study, the group that took HMB had muscle gains of 1.2 KG, and increased their strength levels by 18%.  The Placebo groupe gained 0.45 kG of muscle mass, and increased their strength by only 9%.

A second study conducted at the University of Queensland in Australia in 2000 was performed on 22 well trained athletes.  They took 3 grams of HMB daily for 6 weeks.  At the end of the study they showed no significant changes in strength or muscle mass.

Note:  Some experts suggest that taking creatine along with HMB may increase it's effectiveness, but there are no studies that I could find to back this up.

Recommended dosage of HMB supplements

If you would like to give HMB a try, take it in the same amounts as used in the studies since there is no evidence to suggest any other dosage will or will not work.

Men:  3 grams a day divided into two or three servings.

Women:  2 grams a day divided into two or three servings. 

These numbers are equal to about 38.1 mg per KG of body weight (per day). 

How Can a Bodybuilder Benefit from HMB? 

There isn't much evidence to suggest that this is an effective supplement, which is why it scores a low rating on the bodybuilding supplement reviews page.  Based on only a handful of studies, HMB could benefit beginner bodybuilders for the first two or three months of weight training, but is unlikely to do much after that period of time.  It should also be noted that I was unable to find any reliable long term studies performed on HMB. 

Conclusion

HMB certainly hasn't proven it's self as an effective supplement.  Although the Iowa University test showed some promising results, "real world" feedback from bodybuilders suggests otherwise.  Let's be honest, if this were a super supplement that worked incredible well, you'd figure that it would get the recognition it deserved after being around for more than 1o years!

Is it worth a try?  Possibly, but you are better off spending your money on the bodybuilding supplements that are proven winners.

Those supplement are: