Junk Science in the Racing Pigeon Sport

NOTE: I received a phone call several days after publishing this article from a Mr. Felix Khan. He believed that I had misunderstood his intentions on the conference call (mentioned in this article) and that my conclusions about his scientific acumen, were in error. After some talk, I have came to realize that he is not the same Mr. Khan with whom I had had an earlier "unfavorable" contact.

Therefore, I now preface this article to acknowledge these subsequent events and to acknowledge that though we disagree on certain issues, one "incident" does not warrant a blanket statement. Mr. Khan also wanted it known that he is not the founder of the national organization mentioned in this article.

When reading this article, please remember what I have written here.

After our last (seventh) newsletter was distributed, I received a phone call from a flyer in Texas, who had visited my website and wanted to order the Super Creatine Plus product that I sell. However, all through the conversation he kept referring to the fact that he uses L-carnitine. He made his order and then he said, "you don't know who I am do you?" I answered no and he proceeded to tell me about himself, how he helped start the new racing pigeon magazine and how he is a regional director of a "new" racing pigeon society in North America. He told me that members of this new society would be able to purchase the "natural" racing pigeon product line of the founder of the organization at a discount and receive other valuable services for a fee, such as; fecal exams, blood smears, crop swabs, etc. He even told me that the organization would be selling bands to racing pigeon fanciers.

About twenty minutes after he placed the order for the Super Creatine product, he called me again, this time on a conference call with the founder of the above mentioned organization who is also the owner of the product line that the society will be selling. This founder / owner started telling me that I did not know the difference between the racing pigeon physiology and the human physiology. He went on to tell me that my product was basically useless for our birds and he referenced several times "the Ghent study" on racing pigeons as a validation of his position.

When I found out who the founder of this organization was, I realized that I had spoken to this man before and my opinion of him at that time was let us say, less than favorable. However, "knowing" that I do not "know it all", I politely let him go on about his knowledge concerning the needs of racing pigeons and let him go on about how my product was of little consequence and my mistake was that I did not understand the physiology of the racing pigeon.

When he finished his speech, I asked for his e-mail address and told him I would e-mail him asking for the research he based his claims upon. As soon as our conference call was over, I did e-mail him, thanking him for his concern and again stating my desire to see the research upon which he based his findings; that my product was of no use to racing pigeons, because it only benefited the white muscle fibers and not the red muscle fibers that are used by our birds during sustained flight. To this day, I have not received even a reply let alone the scientific papers he so authoritatively referenced in his "beratement" of my lack of understanding the needs of racing pigeons.

Having had the earlier experience with this founder of the organization, I knew it would be useless confronting him as he had proved himself in the past and again in our current conference call to be a self-absorbed person. Instead, I politely deferred to his so called "wisdom" and asked for the research papers upon which he based his findings. As I said, I have heard nothing back from him verifying anything he had to say.

Not needing to wait for his reply, I started reviewing several papers on this subject written by Gordon Chalmers, DVM. I exchanged several spirited emails with Gordon on the subject and even obtained a copy of the seven page summary of the Ghent study that had been so authoritively referenced by the founder of the new racing pigeon organization. Just as I already knew, the so called founder's science was faulted!

First off, he claimed that racing pigeons rarely use the white fiber muscles and these white fibers are the ones that might benefit from creatine usage. He stated that the breast muscles of racing pigeons are red fiber and use fat not glucose for energy.

My research into these statements showed that the breast muscle of a racing pigeon is about 25% by volume white fiber and 75% red fiber. This is based on:

1). the fiber count in the breast muscles being about 10% white and 90% red and
2). white fibers are twice the diameter of red fibers

Using the formula for calculating the area of a circle as Area=pi * radius squared, we find that the area of red fiber is (R=1 unit, Pi=3.1416) 3.1416 units and the area of a white fiber is (R=2 units, Pi=3.1416) 12.57 units or 4 times the area of red fiber. But since muscle fibers are not perfect rod shapes I will error on the side of caution and round down the area of the white fiber by 1/4 making each white fiber only 300% the area of the red fiber in cross-sectional examination. So, if 10% of the fibers of the breast muscle of a pigeon are white fibers and each white fiber fills at least 300% the area of a red fiber than the breast muscle of a racing pigeon is about 25% white muscle and 75% red muscle by volume.

However, none of this makes any difference in respect to the conversation I had on the conference call. What the caller failed to realize was that; regardless of whether white muscle fibers use glucose derived energy or red muscle fibers use fat derived energy, the bottom line is --- (And this is important) --- The final product of each of these energy conversion sources is Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP). Yes, both fatty acids and glucose are converted in their final stages of muscle fiber usage to ATP and it is ATP that powers the muscle contractions which result in flight.

One of the wonderful benefits of using Super Creatine Plus (Super Creatine + two special ingredients) is that as the muscles use up their stores of ATP, more ATP (cell energy) is produced via a process of converting the by-product of ATP breakdown, know as Adenosine Diphosphate (ADP), back into ATP by re-attaching phosphate to the ADT molecule.

The difference between ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) and ADP (Adenosine Diphosphate) is one phosphate. In cell energy dynamics, the readily available and first source for that one phosphate is from creatine phosphate stores. The preferred method by which you can increase creatine phosphate stores in the racing pigeon's physiology is by supplementing their diet with Super Creatine Plus.

The end result of my conference call was that the order for my product was cancelled as the buyer had been convinced by his mentor that creatine supplementation is of little value. Well, that is what mentoring is all about - learning from you mentor. Unfortunately, the junk science of the mentor blinded the potential buyer, to the fact that the most basic energy conversion process relevant to flight is the cycle of ATP to ADP then back to ATP again. And, the most reliable and proven method for converting ADP back into ATP is by breaking down available creatine phosphate stores in the body. The preferred method for loading our racing pigeons with maximum amounts of creatine phosphate is to supplement their diets with Super Creatine Plus.

When the muscle fibers exhaust their stores of creatine phosphate, the body delivers additional stores of creatine phosphate by cannibalizing the liver, bones, internal organs and other body tissues. This causes tissue, fiber. organ and bone damage necessitating long recovery periods. You can help your birds greatly by supplementing their diets with Super Creatine Plus before a race and by replenishing depleted stores of creatine phosphate and other important nutrients immediately after the race with Super Creatine Plus and Oxy-Toner.

Oxy-Toner contains many useful ingredients to help your birds prepare for and recover from strenuous races. Most importantly, not only does Oxy-Toner contains rich sources of ATP but it also contains high concentrations of the basic building blocks needed for the creation of additional ATP molecules. By supplementing with these building blocks our birds have the advantageous of not only re-cycling ADP back into ATP with the help of creatine phosphate, but also of manufacturing new ATP molecules from these basic building blocks.

Normally, after strenuous races, it can take many days for our bird's systems to rebuild ATP levels. With Oxy-Toner, this time period is substantially shortened. Oxy-Toner also contains ingredients that increase the concentration of fluids (super-hydration); in the blood, muscles and other tissues; mobilizes oxygen and enhances carbohydrate, glycogen and fat conversion for muscle fiber usage; repairs damaged tissues and promotes healing; stimulate the synthesis of glutathuione, the most important antioxidant detoxification system in the body; and improves endurance under stress.

I have yet to mention that creatine's most well known benefit, is its ability to build up lean muscle mass. About half of the Super Creatine Plus, that I sell, is to knowledgeable flyers who have already seen good results in their youngbirds, from creatine supplementation. These flyers tell me that the muscle development in their youngbirds is better when giving creatine. Learning about the additional benefits that Super Creatine Plus and Oxy-Toner offer during racing and recuperation, only encourages these top flyers to continue using the products throughout the youngbirds race season as well.

I can't guarantee that everything I offer in this newsletter will bring spectacular results to all who use them, but I can say that my customer list is starting to include some of the top racing lofts in the country.

I do serious research and contrary to what the above mentioned "callers" had to say, the science behind what I offer is sound. The next "new arena" in sports supplementation will be addressing the needs of "cellular level" energy conversion, to enhance sports performance.

Two leading products on the market today that address "cellular level" energy conversion and the resultant enhanced sports performance are: Super Creatine Plus and Oxy-Toner.