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If you ever took an exercise physiology class, you might remember pyruvate, the by-product of metabolism in which glucose (a six-carbon molecule) yields two molecules of pyruvate (a three-carbon molecule) or more specifically, pyruvic acid. Now there’s more exciting news about pyruvate: After nearly 25 years of extensive research, it’s available as a dietary supplement that offers some remarkable results.
Research on pyruvate demonstrates two key benefits to athletes: increased exercise performance and enhanced fat loss. Let’s take a look at just how it works.
Pyruvic acid is chemically unstable (and can cause nausea and intestinal discoumfort), so manufacturers stabilize it by forming a “salt”, call pyruvate. Pyruvate salts are formed when pyruvic acid is combined with either sodium, calcium, potassium or magnesium. Although this steps sounds easy, the manufacturing of pyruvates isn’t a simple process, which is one of the primary reasons why these substances are only now entering the marketplace.
Pyruvate is also found in the diet, with naturally ingested amounts ranging from 100mg to 1-2 grams daily.
Although pyruvate is found in a variety of foods, most of them contain less than 25 mg per serving. Foods high in pyruvate include certain fruits and vegetables – most notably, red apples contain 450 mg – certain cheeses, dark beer (80 mg per 12 ounces) and red wine (75 mg per 6 ounces).
Two human studies conducted by premier pyruvate researcher Ronald T. Stanko, MD, from the Gastroenterology and Clinical Naturition Division at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, found that supplementation with pyruvate along with another three-carbon molecule, dihydroxyacetone (DHA), for seven days significantly increased muscular endurance in both the arms and legs by 20%. More specifically, the pyruvate mixture increased the time it took to exhaust arm muscles by 23 minutes and leg muscles by 13 minutes. (More recent studies have used only pyruvate, which is more effective than DHA.)
In the world of athletics, a 20% increase in endurance – whether in your workouts or in some type of aerobic competition – is highly significant. This result is supported by a third study that found when subjects ingested the pyruvate/DHA mixture, they noticed a more than 20% decrease in perceived level of exertion, meaning they felt that the task was easier to do.
The dose used in the three endurance studies was either a 100 gram mixture of pyruvate and DHA (25 grams pyruvate per 75 grams DHA) or 100 grams carbohydrate (placebo) daily for seven days, at which time subjects were tested for endurance, switched to the other diet for seven more days and then retested. “The reason such large doses were used was because we wanted to see a response,” says Stanko. “No one knew at the time that lower dosages were just as effective.”
Since then, published data as well as more than 1,000 pages of unpublished data produced by a leading
United States pharmaceutical company have revealed that the optimal dose isn’t 100 grams but rather 5 grams a day. Says Stanko: “We see a linear response between 2 and 5 grams a day and then the response plateaus.
In other words, the response with 10 to 15 grams or more is the same as with 5 grams.”
According tot the human studies, pyruvate improves exercise primarily by enhancing the transport of glucose into the muscle cell. This process is known as “glucose extraction” and refers to the amount of glucose extracted by the muscles from circulating blood. In fact, the pyruvate mixture increase glucose extraction after one hour of exercise almost 300% in the study that measured arm endurance, 150% in the study that measured perceived exertion, and more than 60% in the study measuring leg endurance. Glucose extraction was also increased at rest with the pyruvate mixture, which may not sound very important but led to a 50% increase in muscle glycogen.
Since glucose is the body’s high-octane fuel, increases in glucose extraction (a source of immediate energy) as

Page 2 well as muscle glycogen (a source of stored energy) could theoretically translate into a greater capacity for not only endurance as explained above but for high-intensity activity like bodybuilding as well. Although future research will be required before definitive statements can be made on the effects of pyruvate on anaerobic activity. Stanko’s experience is that “no matter what the exercise, people are able to do more longer, yet without the unwanted side effets that one would get from caffeine or some other stimulant.”
Of note, Olympic gold-medal gymnast Shannon Miller and her coach, Steve Nunno, are expected to endorse pyruvate because of the increased energy Miller experienced with the product. Though not part of a scientific study, Miller says that pyruvate helped energize her just days before the 1996 Olympics.
Following his studies on exercise endurance, Stanko focused on pyruvate’s effects on fat loss. His interest stemmed from the fact that pyruvate had already been shown to reduce fat accumulation in the liver of alcohol-treated animals. In a word, Stanko’s results were phenomenal. Two well-controlled human studies conducted at the Clinical Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine found that pyruvate had a significant impact not only on weight loss but, more importantly, on fat loss.
The most recent study found that when obese female subjects were given pyruvate for three weeks, they lost
37% more weight (13 vs. 9.5 pounds and 48% more fat (8.8 vs. 5.9 pounds). In practical terms, this translated into a loss of nearly an extra pound of body fat a week. These women were quite obese (average weight 244 pounds), were on a liquid diet consisting of only 1,000 calories a day, and were ingesting 30 grams of pyruvate daily (the control group consumed an equal amount of carbohydrates). As noted above, subsequent research has determined the maximum effective dose to be 5 grams of pyruvate daily.
The earlier study, which used a 500-calorie daily diet, found 16% greater weight loss and 23% greater fat loss resulted when 16 grams of pyrovate were given along with 12 grams of DHA. This study is one of several that found pyruvate to be significantly more effective than DHA. Interestingly, the obese woment in the later study who ingested 30 grams of pyruvate lost nearly as much weight (13 pounds vs. 14.3 pounds) and fat (8.8
pounds vs. 9.5 pounds) as the women in the earlier study (who ingested 16 grams of pyruvate), despite ingesting twice the number of calories (1,000 vs. 500). “Larger caloric deficits may influence the effects of pyruvate,” says Stanko.
Terry Newsome, a 38-year old executive from Westlake, California, who has battled obesity for two decades, touts the effects of pyruvate. “I’ve lost 39 pounds in less than 40 days. Other than the 5 grams of pyruvate, my eating and exercise habits have remained the same and I feel better than I ever dreamed possible. Now I can play with my 7- and 9-year-old boys for hours, where before my activity level was extremely limited.”
Probably the most difficult problem with losing weight is keeping it off. This is especially true for those who follow very low-calorie diets (fewer than 1,200 calories per day) and lose a lot of weight in a short period.
Two animal studies found that pyruvate supplementation significantly reduced fat accumulation by 32% in rats and 15% in pigs. Of note, preliminary data expected to be published soon indicate that pyruvate can significantly reduce both the weight and fat replacement that occurs when severe caloric restriction is followed by excess caloric intake.
Two potential mechanisms by which pyruvate enhances both fat and weight loss are through increasing metabolism and fat utilization. Although animal studies have shown that pyruvate increases resting metabolic rate and fat utilization (as determined by a decrease in respiratory quotient), “increased metabolic rate hasn’t been found in humans. Still, preliminary data indicate that pyruvate may increase fat utilization in humans.”
Additional research on this front is going on right now. One researcher, Dr. Frank Greenway, an endocrinologist at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, focuses on the effects of nutrition in obesity. Greenway says that pyruvate is “a normal constituent of human metabolism, so its safety should be high.” He agrees with the research on improved exercise performance and weight/fat loss, but also adds that “pyruvate decreases cholesterol in a high-fat diet, has important antioxidant activity and seems to improve cardiac function.”
All of which is why you’ll likely be hearing a lot more about the powers of pyruvate as a dietary supplement.
Additional research is also being funded by a Fremont, California-based company, Med-Pro Industries, in the

Page 3 area of concern to athletes. Med-Pro currently markets a pyruvate product formulated specifically for athletes and another for fat loss. M&F will keep you posted on relevant findings.
Other forms of pyruvate, including amino acid pyruvates such as pyruval-glycine, (a combination of pyruvic acid and the amino acid glycine), may have been shown to be more effective than pyruvate salts. The increased effectiveness ranges from 40% - 50% to double that of pyruvate salts. Interestingly, a major pharmaceutical company was studying these amino acid pyruvates as drugs, yet with the passing of the
Dietary Health and Education Act of 1994, these substances can now be sold as dietary supplements. On the downside, Pyruvyglycine is significantly more expensive, so its cost effectiveness must be determined; also, it may not be commercially available until 1997.
Adverse side effects in the 100-gram and 30-gram study groups included diarrhea and borborygmus (gurgling sounds in the digestive tract) in some subjects. No changes were seen in the standard laboratory testing or in clinical evaluations that included measurements of heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature, EKG and urine output. Stanko notes, however, that the intestinal side effects documented in the early studies are no longer seen, as the quality of raw pyruvate has increased tremendously.
Stanko sums up 25 years of research into pyruvate by saying, “I’m convinced that pyruvate is not only effective but also has no serious side effects.” Strong early words indeed. Let’s see if the product can live up to the promise.
This information is for educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to replace the advice or attention of healthcare professionals. Consult your physician before beginning or making changes in your diet, supplements, or exercise program, for diagnosis and treatment of illness and injuries, and for advice regarding medications. James B. Roufs, MS, RD, is the technical director of research and product development for Amrion Inc. a manufacturer of nutritional supplements located in Boulder,
CO. He has taught nutrition courses at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and has been involved in dietary supplement research and development since 1988. RECOMMENDED READING The Mystery of Pyruvate. Ronald T. Stanko, MD. Due out in
November 1996.
References
1. Stanko, R.T., Robertson, R.J., Spina, R.J., Reilly, J.J., Greenwalt, K.D., Goss, F.L. Enhancement of arm-exercise endurance capacity with dihydroxyacetone and pyruvate, Journal of Applied Physiology 68:119-124, 1990
2. Stanko, R.T., Robertson, R.J., Galbreath, R.W., Reilly, J.J., Greenwalt, K.D., Goss, F.I.. Enhanced leg-exercise endurance with high-carbohydrate diet and dihydroxyacetone and pyruvate. Journal of Applied Physiology 69:1651-1656, 1990
3. Robertson, R.J., Stanko, R.T., Goss, F.L., Spina, R.J., Reilly, J.J., Greenwalt, K.D., Blood glucose extraction as mediator of perceived exertion during prolonged exercise. European Journal of Applied Physiology 61:100-105, 1990
4. Stanko, R.T., Tietze, D.L., Arch. J.E. Body composition energy utilization, and nitrogen metabolism with a 4.25-Mj/d low-energy diet supplemented with pyruvate. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 56:630-635, 1992
5. Stanko, R.T., Tietze, D.L., Arch. J.E. Body composition energy utilization, and nitrogen metabolism with a severely restricted diet supplemented with dihydroxyacetone and pyruvate. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 55:771-775, 1992
6. Stanko, R.T., Adihl, S.A., Inhibition of lipid accumulation and enhancement of energy expenditure by the addition of pyruvate and dihydroxyacetone to a rat diet. Metabolism 35:182-186, 1986
7. Stanko, R.T., Ferguson, T.L., Newman, C.W., Newman, R.K. Reduction of carcass fat in swine with dietary addition of dihydroxyacetone and pyruvate. Journal of Animal Science 67:1272-1278, 1989
8. Cortez, M.Y., Torgan, C.E., Brozinick, J.T., Miller, R.H, Ivy, J.L. Effects of pryuvate and dihydroxyacetone consumption on the growth and metabolic state of obese Zucker rats. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 53:847-853, 1991