Epicatechin is a natural molecule present in dark chocolate, green tea, and different fruits such as cherries, blackberries, and apples. It has been shown to take the ‘brakes’ off muscle growth by inhibiting the enzyme that suppresses muscle hypertrophy.
Epicatechin has also demonstrated the ability to increase blood flow throughout the body, lower cholesterol levels, and improve brain and heart health. This supplement can also improve insulin sensitivity to decrease your risk of diabetes.
All in all, unlike many bodybuilding supplements on the market, Epicatechin doesn’t just concern itself with increasing the size and strength of your muscles. This supplement improves your overall health while helping you achieve your goals in the gym.
What is Epicatechin?
Epicatechin is a flavonoid (a molecule with antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial properties). It is present in large amounts in dark chocolate and green tea. Different fruits such as apples, cherries, broad beans, and blackberries also contain trace amounts.
While different foods contain different amounts of epicatechin, dark chocolate and green tea have the highest percentage of this molecule per 100 g. For instance, a cup of green tea contains 8–12 g of epicatechin, with 100 g of dark chocolate containing 41.5 mg.
However, as we’ll see later, you’d have to drink a lot of green tea or consume mouthfuls of dark chocolate to experience the sought-after benefits of this flavonoid. Only by making an epicatechin supplement a part of your daily diet can you get the recommended dosage.
How does Epicatechin Work?
Epicatechin helps you build more muscle by:
1) Decreasing myostatin levels
Multiple studies have shown that epicatechin decreases myostatin levels in the body. This is significant because myostatin is an enzyme that inhibits muscle growth. So, by reducing myostatin levels in the body, epicatechin improves your capacity to build more muscle. [R]
2) Inhibiting MYF5 activity
Myogenic factor 5 is a protein that regulates the formation of skeletal muscle tissue. Research has linked increased MYF5 activity with reduced muscle hypertrophy. As such, by taking away MYF5’s ability to act freely in your body, epicatechin boosts muscle hypertrophy. [R]
3) Increasing follistatin levels
There are two ways any compound could inhibit myostatin. The direct method involves acting on the enzyme and interfering with its structure. The indirect method is to increase follistatin, which inhibits myostatin. Epicatechin inhibits myostatin directly as well as indirectly. [R]
4) Increasing markers of muscle growth
A preclinical study has demonstrated that Epicatechin doesn’t only increase follistatin and inhibit myostatin. This compound also increases markers of muscle growth, meaning it stimulates such changes in your body that are conducive to muscle hypertrophy. [R]
Epicatechin Benefits for Bodybuilding
Research has shown that epicatechin could offer multiple benefits to bodybuilders. These include increased muscle mass, enhanced muscle protein synthesis, and increased nitrogen oxide production. This supplement could also improve muscle strength.
Here are the various epicatechin benefits for bodybuilding:
1) Increases muscle mass
There are two ways epicatechin helps you build more muscle.
The first of which involves the reduction in levels of myostatin, an enzyme that puts a biological ceiling on how much lean muscle mass you can put on. So, by preventing myostatin from blocking muscle growth, epicatechin lets you get maximum skeletal muscle exercise response. [R]
Another way epicatechin increases muscle mass is by increasing follistatin. This enzyme blocks the activity of myostatin and thus stimulates muscle growth when it’s increased. [R]
2) Enhances muscle strength
Although it opposes muscle growth, myostatin still serves a very useful purpose.
Myostatin is responsible for giving your muscles their strength. If your myostatin levels drop to zero, the capacity of your muscles to generate force will follow suit. This poses a major problem for bodybuilders: how to block myostatin while not hurting muscle strength?
Guess what? That is precisely what epicatechin does. While this supplement (with proper diet and exercise) increases your muscle size, it also enhances your muscle strength. Need proof? A preclinical study has reported that epicatechin can strike this balance. [R]
3) Increases your stamina
Epicatechin won’t only help you get the fruits (increased muscle mass) of your labor (exercise).
This supplement will also give you the tools (added stamina) to quickly get the body of your dreams. This is according to a preclinical study, which has shown that just 15 days of epicatechin supplementation increased exercise performance and reduced muscle cells fatigue. [R]
4) Helps you keep your gains
Here’s one benefit of epicatechin that gives it an edge over other bodybuilding supplements.
A preclinical study found that epicatechin maintained the gains (i.e., exercise-induced improved capillarity and mitochondrial capacity), even when exercising regimens were continued. The study further noted that the gains remained even after two weeks of detraining. [R]
5) Boosts nitric oxide production
Here’s how epicatechin increases your exercise performance or stamina.
Nitric oxide has been proven to be involved in the widening of blood vessels, or vasodilation. Wilder blood vessels increase the supply of nutrients and oxygen to working muscles during exercise, thus keeping muscle fatigue at bay and improving exercise performance. [R]
Other Epicatechin Benefits
Epicatechin helps you in more ways than one. This supplement has demonstrated the ability to reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and several brain diseases. It may also reduce your systolic and diastolic blood pressure and help you lose body weight.
Here are the general health benefits of Epicatechin:
1) May lower your risk for diabetes
If you want to reduce your risk for diabetes, high insulin sensitivity is key.
Someone with low insulin sensitivity will require higher insulin levels to maintain normal blood sugar levels than another person with high insulin sensitivity. This, in turn, will make the former person’s cells resistant to insulin, increasing their risk of diabetes.
Thus, high insulin sensitivity is key to a healthy and diabetes-free life. Guess what? Multiple studies have shown that epicatechin elevates insulin sensitivity to lower blood sugar levels, leading to a much-reduced risk of diabetes. [R]
2) Has anti-cancer effects
Multiple studies have highlighted the anti-cancer effects of this supplement.
In separate studies, epicatechin extracted from green tea inhibited the growth and proliferation of cervical cancer cells and prostate cancer cells. These findings demonstrate that taking pure epicatechin in high doses may have cancer-prevention effects. [R]
Another study found that epicatechin supplementation increased the sensitivity of pancreatic cancer cells (PCCs) to radiation therapy. Finally, it has been shown that epicatechin supplementation may reduce the risk of lung cancer among tobacco smokers. [R]
3) May reduce blood pressure
This effect was observed in a preclinical study involving hypertensive mice.
The study reported that epicatechin treatment reduced blood pressure by two mechanisms. These included the increased production of nitrogen oxide (NO) levels and the resulting widening of blood vessels (vasodilation). [R]
4) May improve cognition
A clinical review of studies has shown that epicatechin may improve cognition.
Specifically, this supplement has been shown to improve memory, executive function, and information processing speed in older adults. Still further research is needed to fully understand the potential impact of this supplement on human cognition. [R]
Epicatechin Dosage
For athletes and bodybuilders, the optimal epicatechin dosage ranges between 150 to 250 mg/day.
New users who have no prior experience with bodybuilding supplements will want to start with 150 mg/day. Monitor for a few days how your body responds to the drug. If you don’t experience any adverse effects, gradually increase the dosage.
How to Take Epicatechin
Epicatechin usually comes in the form of capsules, so dosing it won’t be a problem. Pure Rawz supplies high-quality Epicatechin capsules at a serving of 300 mg/cap. So, you may want to take half-capsule daily to get the best results from this drug.
What to Expect on Epicatechin
User reviews indicate that Epicatechin does provide the above benefits, after all. Multiple people have stated that taking this drug has helped them ‘warm up a little faster’, prevents them from ‘feeling as tired’ as before, and is ‘great for endurance’.
One user indicates that their ‘power output and ability to tolerate heavier loads for more volume’ has increased quite a bit after they started supplementing with epicatechin. They also feel that they have become ‘denser’, indicating increased muscle mass.
Where to Buy Epicatechin
Pure Rawz is the best place to buy Epicatechin online.
Pure Rawz provides reference materials with every product we sell. All of their products come with an independent, third-party-issued Certificate of Analysis for identification, purity, and concentration.
Pure Rawz also offers free international shipping on all orders above $100. You can pay for your purchase through various methods, including PayPal and Bitcoin.
Epicatechin Side Effects
Although it has undergone multiple preclinical studies and at least one randomized controlled trial, we’re yet to hear anything bad about epicatechin. You’re highly unlikely to experience any side effects while using epicatechin unless you’re allergic to its sources.
That said, taking this supplement in high doses may enhance your risk of side effects, derailing all the gains this drug may have helped you achieve. It’s thus recommended to stick to the above dosage.
Summary
Epicatechin is a bioactive compound famously found in green tea and dark chocolate. It could help you build lean muscle mass, improve muscle strength, and increase stamina. Supplementing with this drug could thus help you achieve a leaner, more toned physique.
If you do decide to buy Epicatechin, be sure to get it from PureRawz for the highest quality goods. Every batch of their Epicatechin for sale is 3rd party verified for purity and quality.
Use the code “MD15” to get 15% off your entire order, and of course, if you have any questions be sure to let us know down below!