HME® | Human Muscle Equivalent®

Resistance exercise (eg. bodybuilding) causes, on one hand, micro-damages to muscle fibers and, on the other hand, an increase in the level of hormones such as growth hormone that, in turn, induces muscle "repair" through increased protein synthesis in muscles. This causes muscle hypertrophy.

Muscle hypertrophy simply means an increase in the volume of muscles. This mainly happens through an increase in muscle fiber thickness (although an increase in the glycogen level inside muscles can also play a role).

The increase in muscle fiber thickness happens through increased protein synthesis within the muscle. The muscles use "amino acids" as the raw material for the synthesis of muscle tissue, leading to muscle hypertrophy.

The majority of our body tissues (including our muscles) are made of proteins, and proteins are made of amino acids. Proteins are different simply because the type and proportion of the amino acids used in different proteins are not the same.

To synthesize different proteins, our body digests the food and cuts the food proteins into amino acids. Then it choses the necessary amino acids to reconstitute its own proteins (such as muscle).

Protein synthesis happens in all body tissues on the needs of our body. This process is controlled by several mechanisms (hormonal influence etc). Muscle protein synthesis happens upon the body's need for more "strength" and this need is signaled to our body through resistance exercise.

The growth hormone level increases right after the resistance exercise and causes muscles to absorb the amino acids needed to synthesize muscles. If the correct types of amino acids are available at the right proportion and at the right time, muscle growth would be optimal.

Obstacles against optimal muscle protein synthesis (muscle growth) are variable. One of these obstacles is the non-availability of amino acids right after the resistance exercise, or the availability of wrong amino acids or their incorrect proportions compared to what is needed by human muscles. Many ingested proteins contain amino acids that are different from the amino acids that constitute human muscle.

Different types of amino acids with variable proportions are used by our body to make different types of proteins. To make muscle protein, our body has to cut the ingested food into amino acids and then choose the necessary amino acids to make muscle (the non-used amino acids can be transformed to glucose instead of being used for protein synthesis, depending on the type of the amino acid).

If the available amino acids are not the right ones, or their proportions are too different from what is needed for muscle synthesis, muscle protein synthesis would not be optimal.

One of the amino acids used by our body to build muscle is β-alanine. To build muscle efficiently, a small amount of beta-alanine must be available to the muscle during a longer period time compared to other amino acids. That is why this amino acid is provided in the form of a slow-release tablet, which is taken together with the mixture of the rest of the HME® amino acids that are in the form of a powder.

The level of growth hormone increases dramatically right after exercise and this increases muscle synthesis. Growth hormone level drops after one-hour post-exercise. This one-hour period during which amino acids must become fully available in order to build muscle is called the golden hour.

Usually, people ingest proteins (meat, whey, eggs, etc..) to provide the body with amino acids. These proteins must be first digested in the gut to liberate amino acids. Proteins, however, take several hours (up to 7 hours) to be digested. The golden hour is thus readily missed.

The best way to overcome this problem is to ingest « free-form amino acids » instead of ingesting proteins during the golden hour.
Free-form amino acids do not need any digestion and readily enter into the blood and muscle tissues upon ingestion. The free-form amino acids must resemble the amino acids that constitute human muscle, or optimally be identical to human muscle amino acids. This is what HME® provides.

With Human Muscle Equivalent®, you'll get:

✓ The exact replicant of human muscle amino acids in type and proportion

✓ Free-form amino acids, with no need of digestion; thus respecting the golden hour for amino acid availability for muscle synthesis

The main cons of taking regular whey:

X Whey protein does not contain the exact amino acids of human muscle

X Whey protein needs to be digested first to liberate amino acids. This causes the golden hour to be missed

X Free-form amino acids (like those of HME®) increase growth hormone secretion, while whey protein does not have such an effect