The new kid on the block of nutrition booster, ZMA. It is the latest muscle booster that has tempted many to buy off the shelves from nutrition stores. Out goes creatine, which is the favorite of active men that can be found on most sports bag when they hit the gym. Studies have shown that ZMA can really boost body’s two most important groups of muscle building hormones, testosterone and growth factor. The results claim to improve recovery and performance; it also can improve one’s sex drive!

So what exactly is ZMA? Baffled? It is merely a well-absorbed form of common essential minerals, Zinc and Magnesium. Most active men can never get enough of these two minerals zinc and magnesium from the food they eat, as they tend to burn them up faster than they could take in. Mainly because your body needs more if you are a physically active individual, and no supplement in the market can contain a high dosage in a single capsule on a one-day vitamin.

All these hype surrounding ZMA started when scientists at Western Washington University done a research on American Football players. 12 players were each given ZMA for 2 months nightly during an intensive training programme. Their improvements in leg power doubled and their testosterone level increased at a whopping 33.5 per cent. But for the other group that gone though the same intensive training programme without ZMA were found to have a decrease in testosterone by 10 per cent.

Magnesium is such an important mineral that if taken 250 milligrams per day, it acts as a performance enhancer that will improve muscle recovery and leg power. Having said all that, it is found that both Zinc and Magnesium is highly deficient in sportsman. Sad to say that most of the vitamins supplements that you can buy at stores only supply 25% of them to your daily needs. On top of that, taking in Zinc and Magnesium does not prove to be readily absorbed by the body instantly, it has to be bound by amino acid, which over the counter vitamins don’t provide. And some other supplements that claim to have ‘chelated’ (bound to amino acid) are found that 96% of it is magnesium oxide and onyx 4% are chelated.

With all those benefits mentioned above, it is believed to have anti-ageing properties. As IGF-1 is an important element to maintain muscle mass and skin elasticity. When you go above 21, your IGF-1 depletes by 50%. Since ZMA maintains IGF-1 levels, it may also help maintain your youth.

The best thing to know about ZMA is that it is harmless. Prolong use of ZMA is safe, as reports has claim. And that is something everyone is happy about.