Champion Nutrition’s Super Heavyweight Gainer 1200 is a delicious, calorie-dense, easily digested MRP. Such a formula can be extremely advantageous for bodybuilders that are bulking.

For example, suppose an athlete is trying to gain a large amount of muscle mass, and eating 6,000 calories + daily. The problem is, how can you consume this many calories without your stomach exploding?! The answer: choose calorie dense foods.

Nutrient density is the amount of a particular nutrient (carbohydrate, protein, fat, etc.) per unit of energy in a given food; however, the term ‘density’ is not scientifically accurate. Density means mass per unit of volume, not mass per unit of energy (as refereed to above). Loose interpretations of this word are common, however. For example, population density refers to the number of people per unit of area. 

Calorie density (CD) is the number of calories per weight of food. A perfect illustration is found when comparing proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Typically, proteins and carbs contain 4 calories per gram, while fats have 9 calories per gram. Fats would be said to have a higher calorie density than the former two.

For instance, 100 grams of a cucumbers contains a minuscule 12 calories. That adds up to .12 calories per gram of cucumber. However, Champion Nutrition’s Super Heavyweight Gainer 1200 contains 450 calories in the same 100 grams—that is a whopping 4.5 calories per gram. Imagine trying to consume all of your carbohydrates from the cucumber. Such a task is almost impossible; this is why one may choose to opt for the calorie dense weight gainer.

Interestingly enough, many scientists would claim that energy density is the most potent weapon one has for manipulating satiety [121]. This topic has been highly investigated by nutritionists, and results support the claims made. For example, Duncan, Bacon, and Weinsier, over 5 days, gave 20 obese and non-obese subjects a diet low in energy-dense foods and one high in energy-dense foods and then allowed each group to eat until satisfied [128]. The subjects which ate as many low-energy dense foods as they wanted had 1,570 calories, while the subjects which ate high-energy dense foods had 3000. Furthermore, the former group ate 33% longer throughout the day than the latter group.

As discussed previously, energy density (kJ/g) of foods strongly affects satiety. However, the question still remains whether increasing the volume or size of a food, independent of weight, affects hunger. To test this, Rolls, Bell Bethany, and Waugh fed 28 lean men breakfast, lunch, and dinner in a laboratory 1 d/wk for 4 weeks [118]. They gave them isoenergetic (equal amount of energy), yogurt-based milk shakes that varied only in volume (300, 450, and 600 ml) as a result of the incorporation of different amounts of air. The food contained identical ingredients and weighed the same. The high volume drink significantly affected energy consumption at lunch. Energy intake was approximately 12% lower after the 600 ml drink than after the 300 ml liquid. Subjects also reported greater reductions in hunger and increases in fullness after consumption of both the 450 and 600 ml drinks than after the 300 ml ones. Therefore, varying the volume (irrelevant to weight) does affect satiety and digestion. 

This experiment should have profound effects on the nutrition industry. This means that foods such as popcorn, which are very light but puffy because of air volume, have higher satiety than foods with the same weight and energy but less volume. Designing foods with high air volumes would therefore assist a great many of dieting customers; likewise, when dieting, consuming high-volume foods would be of benefit to the athlete.  

Therefore, another advantage of this weight gainer is that it is a liquid, and not as bulky as steak, for instance. So it has the advantage of being calorie-dense, and low volume. Volume can also be manipulated by limiting the water content of the solution.

For more information on the satiety mechanism and nutrient density, refer to Wilson (2003), Nutrient Density Explored and Wilson (2004), An Investigation of the Satiety Mechanism: A Research Initiative.

Of course, calorie density, and manipulating satiety is not the only factor to consider for a body builder. For example, a bag of Theater Popcorn with butter has been found to contain an extremely high fat density, consisting of 130 grams of lipids, adding up to 1170 calories! This nutrient comes from several sources of artery-clogging saturated fats, such as hydrogenated soybean oil and coconut oil-based fats. In addition, it may contain up to 700 mg of salt per bag. 

In the bulking example, though you want to consume more calorie dense foods, you would not opt for theater popcorn, though it has a very high calorie density, or for 5 cups of table sugar so that you can get your carbohydrate intake. In this context, the next factor that must be considered is the nutrient content of Champion Nutrition’s Super Heavyweight Gainer 1200.

Protein

This weight gainer has a solid protein density, of 50 grams per 900 calories. The proteins come from easily digested whey proteins (which is another advantage for satiety purposes); and is high in anabolic branched chain amino acids.

For more information on glutamine and other anabolic amino acids read Wilson, G (2003), Glutamine—The Conditionally Essential Amino Acid, and Wilson, J (2005), Champion Nutrition's Amino Acid Shooters.

Fat

Fat is often given a bad rap. However, it has many vital purposes. These include:

1. Phospholipid structure
2. Cell membrane structure
3. Storage of fat soluble vitamins
4. Production of hormones
5. Storage form of energy (adipose tissue)
6. Supply of energy through beta oxidation.

The goal with fat is the optimize the nutrient partitioning effect. Nutrient Partitioning can be defined as the distribution of ingested nutrients among basal metabolism, growth, tissue maintenance and repair, physical activity, and other forms of energy expenditure and nutrient storage. The goal is to partition nutrients away from fat storage, and towards these other vital functions that fats have, such as increased hormones.

Consuming the correct proportion of certain fats can help accomplish just this.

Champion's 1200 Weight Gainer contains various fats which are very beneficial for this. These include medium chain triglycerides and essential fatty acids (a small amount).

The length of a chain of carbons determines the classification of fatty acid.

>8 are short chain fatty acids
8-12 carbons are medium chain
16 + = long chain fatty acids

What is interesting is that short and medium chain fatty acids can actually diffuse into mitochondria without carnitine transferase, which is important for their ability to be oxidized.

This is why medium chain FFA's are often used for say malabsorbtion sydromes of fats.

There are three main differences between long and medium chain fats:

1. Chain length
2. Solubility - medium chains are more soluble in water
3. Medium chains can diffuse into the mitochondria without carnitine transferase

In this context, medium chains TG's are actually preferentially oxidized!

One of the ways to measure if a food is being used for energy or not is to measure oxygen consumption before and after the nutrient is taken in.

In one study (Brody, 2003) people consumed 45 grams of long or medium chain fatty acids. Oxygen was measured to determine energy used. 02 consumption increased slightly in the long chain condition, but a larger increase occurred in medium chain condition. This is consistent with long chain FFA's being first stored as fat, with medium chain ffas being oxidized instead. In 6 hours following test meals, 13 % of medium chain and 4 % of long chain were completely oxidized. Therefore, fat oxidation is relative to the fat substrate.

The point is that medium chain FFA's are less likely to be stored as fat, and more likely than long chain FFA's to be used as fuel. However, this depends on the type of long chain triglyceride. For instance, essential fats are long chained fatty acids; however, they have been found to increase insulin sensitivity, thermogenesis, anabolic hormones, anti-inflammatory cytokines, among numerous other benefits (Wilson, 2003).

For more information on essential fatty acids, refer to Wilson, G (2003) Essential Fatty Acids - An In Depth Analysis. An in-depth article will be written in JHR on the benefits of medium chain triglycerides in the near future. 

Now, a large amount of even these quality fats can be counterproductive. Thus, this weight gainer only contains 30 grams of fat per 900 calories.

Carbs

Insulin is a hormone released from the beta cells in the islets of Langerhans of the pancreas. Its primary secretagogue (anything that stimulates the release of a hormone) is glucose. A primary importance of carbs is therefore, to manipulate this hormone.

Insulin has numerous anabolic effects such as increasing protein synthesis and glycogen replenishment. However, insulin also spares fat from from being utilized as fuel, and chronic production of this hormone can increase de-nova lypogenic enzymes, increasing the probability of converting carbohydrates to fat for storage.

Therefore, the proper carbs must be consumed at the proper time. The glycemic index measures how much your blood sugar levels increase within 2-3 hours after consuming a meal. Having low GI carbs can limit insulin production, and maintain insulin sensitivity. Having high GI carb will increase insulin production. This is extremely beneficial post exercise. But having to many of these high GI carbs will increase the chance of fat gain, and decrease insulin sensitivity.

What is important to understand is that chronic release of an hormone will promote down regulation. Receptors exposed to hormones to unphysiologically high concentrations, or for long periods of time, are down regulated (become less available for hormone action). Thus, insulin’s anabolic effects will be decreased.

Champion Nutrition’s Super Heavyweight Gainer 1200 does contain a fair amount of slowly digesting carbs, but also various high GI carbohydrates, such as maltodextrin. These carbs are easily digested, which is beneficial for satiety purposes. And as mentioned, insulin has numerous extremely anabolic properties. However, because of this, this weight gainer would not be optimal for a cutting program, as high insulin levels increases the likelihood of fat gain. It should therefore, be spared for extremely hard-core bulks. It is also advised that this be used early in the day, when insulin sensitivity is highest.

For more information on hormones, read the hormone section of the site, Exercise Endocrinology. 

Lastly, Champion Nutrition’s Super Heavyweight Gainer 1200 is natural, and uses no artificial colors or sweeteners, such as aspartame.