ZMA

(Zinc Magnesium Aspartate, Zinc Monomethionine Aspartate)

What is it?

A combination of the minerals zinc and magnesium.

Does it occur naturally in the body?

No.

What are the claims?

It is supposed to increase free testosterone levels over 40% without prohormones.

Does it work?

Research is scarce, but in a study by Dr. Lorrie Brilla of Western Washington University, 24 bodybuilders who were heavy supplement users and had low ZMA levels, saw strength increases after supplementing with ZMA. That was in the year 2000.

Since then, millions of dollars of ZMA supplements have been sold without a single study to determine if ZMA supplementation had any benefit for people who had normal levels of Zinc and/or magnesium in their bodies.

Then there was the 2007 study conducted at the Karaman High School of Physical Education and Sport, Selcuk University, Karaman in Turkey. For 4 weeks, researchers studied this:

"The effects of magnesium supplementation on plasma magnesium, zinc, and copper levels were determined in young adult tae-kwon-do athletes and sedentary controls at rest and exhaustion."

What did they discover? Well, after 4 weeks they found that both athletes and non-athletes alike can increase their plasma magnesium, copper and zinc levels when they take Zinc and Magnesium supplements.

You read that right. The test was to see if taking a supplement, would increase the amount of supplement in the athletes body. Obviously it did.

What they didn't test for, was to see if that supplment had any long term benefit for strength gain or muscle mass increase. After all, that's what ZMA is being marketed as doing.

We challenge the supplement industry to actually conduct a test and see if ZMA supplementation helps build muscle or increase strength. We also want to know how much ZMA should be taken, in what form and what increases can be expected. As of 9/28/2008 no such studies exist.

What are the dangers?

Stomach upset, bloating, gas or diarrhea have been reported. In recent studies if you take in 100 milligrams or more of zinc daily you may be at increased risk for prostate cancer.

The Bottom Line

If you have your zinc and magnesium levels tested, and you are low, you might benefit from taking this supplement. There do not appear to be beneficial effects (such as muscle growth) that can be attributed to taking this supplement for people who have normal levels of zinc or magnesium.

Unless prescribed by a doctor for a medical condition, we cannot recommend the supplement combination known as ZMA for people simply looking to build muscle.

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