Herba Selaginella

Herba Selaginella extracts an ingredient called amentoflavone which belongs to the family of Selaginellaceae. Both selaginella and its compound amentoflavone may be new to most bodybuilders and athletes who want to build muscles and enhance performance, however, amentoflavone has been registered in Chinese Pharmacopeia (CP2005 Edition) and used in China for decades for

Anti-cancer
Anti-inflammatory
Anti-virus
Analgesia
Lowering blood pressure
Lowering blood glucose
Strengthening the role of immune functions

Let’s start with strength, but we have to know the relation between strength and calcium. The final trigger in muscle contraction is an increase in calcium in the muscle cell. The calcium binds to key muscle proteins that result in contraction, and it has been shown that the more calcium released into the muscle cell, the stronger the contraction. Amentoflavone possesses the highly unique ability to increase calcium release in vitro. In fact, only one other common compound shares this mechanism; caffeine. Unlike caffeine though, amentoflavone is 20 times stronger at increasing muscle calcium than caffeine.

In addition, amentoflavone is a PDE inhibitor, which is a well-known mechanism of vasodilatation. Amentoflavone’s ability to inhibit PDE comes in handy not just for those looking for the performance and pump benefits of PDE inhibition, but this mechanism is also associated with improved lipolysis.

Amentoflavone also inhibits fatty acid synthase, therefore acting on the opposite side of the coin by preventing the body from forming new fatty acids.

When looking at amentoflavone’s possible impact on mood, it should be noted that it is a negative modulator of the GABA-A receptor, which may improve alertness and wakefulness.

As a supplement, amentoflavone is a versatile ingredient mainly used in sports nutrition. The key benefits of amentoflavone extract in sports are strength enhancement, mood enhancer, muscle pump, and fat loss.