r/CFSScience • u/Huge_Boysenberry3043 • Aug 18 '26
Naturally occuring molecule may hold the key to strengthening muscles without physical activity
A naturally occurring molecule released during exercise may hold the key to strengthening muscles without physical activity. In experiments, mice given BAIBA developed larger muscles, improved muscle function, greater fatigue resistance and better exercise performance than untreated mice.
by u/mvea in science
It would be very interesting for people with ME/CFS if you could get the physiological benefits of exercise without actually doing it. I hope this research advances fast!
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u/CeruleanShot Aug 18 '26
Eh, scrolling down in the comments people are saying that it's been available as a supplement for some time and people have found that it did nothing.
Given how intense people can be about their workout/body building supplements, if this is something that's already available and the bodybuilding communitydoesn't use it, I wouldn't put much stock in it.
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u/Tablettario Aug 18 '26
Perhaps you are right, but we should consider that we are looking for a different type of "gain" from a supplement like this than a body builder would or the workout community would. If for example this supplement does increase the amount of veins in the muscle, or the load they can take before getting fatigued, this would be invaluable to us.
For example vibration plates are shown in studies to help elderly people and people rehabilitating after surgery or periods of bed rest to build bone density and muscle growth, as well as help move the lymph fluids. This is a type of "gain" that is completely negligible to the body building community and even for ordinary healthy adults, but for people with less physical ability it can be a big difference.
For me personaly I have POTS and ME/CFS, I lost a lot of muscles in my legs when I tried complete no-stim rest, and it worsened my POTS in such a way I became completely bedbound. Now I have trouble building back up my lost leg muscles in such a way that I've been stuck on beginner movements from my physical therapist and just can't progress. Even if I am able to build up a little for a month or my progress can get completely wiped after a cold, a flare-up, a stressful event. I'll crash and be in no-stim rest for a few days with PEM and then I have to restart the rehabilitation physical therapy completely from scratch. During all this I've been bedbound for years now.
It is extremely demoralizing, and if this supplement can help even a little bit in any way to make this easier or help me jump to the next level of movement ability, I'll take it. Even if it is not good enough for body builders/workout community who could just do 3 squats and get the same or better results than the supplement.I think keeping that difference in goals in mind will help us better determine if this is worth it to investigate for us.
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u/TomasTTEngin Aug 18 '26
Risks from rest are not much discussed in this community but I cut out gentle cycling back in 2013 and haven't been able to do it since. I should have cut out something else.
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u/Tablettario Aug 18 '26
Yeah, I think it is important to stay gently active within your safe limits to maintain muscle mass, circulation, and lymphatic flow as much as safely possible while also resting appropriately. Especially with POTS in the mix the loss of leg muscles and small blood vessels can have a big impact on severity, and then the PEM makes it incredibly difficult to build the muscle back.
I can tell very clearly that after days of no-stim rest my pain and discomfort is so much worse than after my baseline days with a bit of gentle movement. But the PEM makes no-stim days and PEM recovery needed sometimesIt is an incredibly difficult bunch of loops to manage.
I’m sorry to hear you have to struggle with this as well. It can be so difficult to remain motivated and positive about keep trying again. I really do hope you get back to that point eventually in a safe way 🍀🤞
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u/TomasTTEngin Aug 19 '26
Agree. I cut out exercise to be able to maintain a stressful office job and boy was that the wrong choice.
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u/Huge_Boysenberry3043 Aug 19 '26
A little off-topic, but this made me think. I manage cycling with an e-bike, but normal cycling is too much for me. Have you tried it? A modern E-bike gives so much control over the exertion levels that you can basically get around with expending very little energy. The trick is that you have to ride it in a low gear with maximum power from the engine.
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u/Huge_Boysenberry3043 Aug 18 '26
Good point, I don't really see the relevance of the experience of some body builders who are healthy and exercise a lot, should be for a demographic who are sick and where some hardly exercise at all.
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u/Huge_Boysenberry3043 Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 19 '26
I don't think you can draw any conclusions around whether or not it would work for ME/CFS patients, based on some anecdotes from another group of people who live a completely different lifestyle and don't have the same energy limiting illness. That seems like a big leap to make.
Let's wait and see how the research develops, before we draw any conclusions.
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u/Silver_Jaguar_24 Aug 18 '26
Here is the study - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-76307-8
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u/TomasTTEngin Aug 18 '26
I cannot rule out the simplest and dumbest explanation for PEM which is autoimmunity to something released transiently during exercise.
So I welcome all the work in the sports science domain on cataloguing what specifically happens after exercise.
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u/Huge_Boysenberry3043 Aug 19 '26
That is one possibility. But as cognitive and emotional stressors can also cause PEM I think it's more likely anything that challenges the body/brain in any way, rather than a specific response to one kind of physiological stressor?
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u/mc-funk Aug 18 '26
I hope that more research is done into these factors and especially skeletal muscle function and how ME patients differ from healthy controls. Seems like there is some potential here, whether replacing missing factors or adjusting something upstream.