Supplements giant General Nutrition Center (GNC), distributor of the popular weight-loss goods Hydroxycut in the Philippines, pulled out the said products after Philippines’ Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) released BFAD Advisory 2009-2005.  Hydroxycut, whose main components are composed of hydroxagen and L-Carnitine, are manufactured by Ontario-based Iovate Health Sciences Inc. was pulled out of the market due to reported cases of liver damage.  US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also ordered product recall last May of 2009 due to the same issue.  FDA warned consumers to stop using 14 Hydroxycut products to avoid the health risks—FDA declared that adverse effects are rare but it does exist.

Hydroxycut’s main components are from herbal extracts--Garcinia Cambogia, caffeine and green tea.  The drug enhances metabolism, reduced cravings, burns fat and enhances energy.  According to FDA’s report, there are 23 cases of reported liver-related deaths over the period of seven years.  Iovate Health Sciences Inc. voluntarily recalled the products when FDA ordered it.  A summary of frequently asked questions were detailed in a webpage published by manufacturer.

In Philippines, US FDA issued pull out of Hydroxycut products last May 1, 2009 but the link in BFAD’s website became only active recently—they have published it last May 25, 2009 (GMANews.TV).  The following products were called from the shelves:

•    Hydroxycut Regular Rapid Release Caplets
•    Hydroxycut Caffeine-Free Rapid Release Caplets
•    Hydroxycut Hardcore Liquid Capsules
•    Hydroxycut Max Liquid Capsules
•    Hydroxycut Regular Drink Packets
•    Hydroxycut Caffeine-Free Drink Packets
•    Hydroxycut Hardcore Drink Packets (Ignition Stix)
•    Hydroxycut Max Drink Packets
•    Hydroxycut Liquid Shots
•    Hydroxycut Hardcore RTDs (Ready-to-Drink)
•    Hydroxycut Max Aqua Shed
•    Hydroxycut 24
•    Hydroxycut Carb Control
•    Hydroxycut Natural

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Aside from the newly-remodeled centre court, Wimbledon Open is full of surprises.  The Swiss who will try to grab his 15th record-breaking major championship fashioned a good game and a new look.  The second seeded Roger Federer defeated the Taiwanese Yen-Hsu Lu in three sets after trailing by a break in the set number one--- 7-5, 6-2,6-3.  His performance in the centre court is not the talk of the town—his new look perhaps.  Federer paraded with British military-inspired tuxedo vest with white and gold lining.  Wimbledon 2009 is Federer’s first grass court appearance since his loss to Rafael Nadal 50 weeks ago, in Wimbledon 2008.

Move over Paris Hilton.  The hot Russian Maria Sharapova also paraded with her own version of new fashion statement.  The 24th seeded Russian beauty showcased her talent and demonstrated how eager she is to be on top again.  She defeated the Ukraine native Viktoria Kutuzova in two sets, 7-5, 6-4.  Sharapova stumbled two times and told the public the grass was damp and longer than the grasses on the other courts.   Sharapova wore a similar white military-inspired coat carrying a classy oversized bag from Nike.  The bag has cute and sporty design—it suited her very well.

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Hong Kong health officials released last 2nd of June a laboratory analysis claiming that Red Bull Cola, Red Bull Sugar-free and Red Bull Energy Drink has tiny amounts of cocaine, a stimulant drug.  Taiwanese officials also pulled out 18,000 cases in the market of the said energy drink.  Hong Kong’s Center for Food Safety claimed that they found between 0.1 and 0.3 micrograms of the banned substance per liter.

Also, Germany’s Food and Safety Department declared that from their analysis, 0.13 microgram of cocaine per can were found but stated that it will not pose a serious health risk—but according to them “it was enough to cause concern.”  Banning the said energy drink will create a debate since the levels of cocaine per can are small.  Also, Red Bull officials claimed that Red Bull products with coca leaf extract are safe according to US and Europe standards.

Red Bull is one of the world’s leaders in energy drink market.  They have organized different sporting events all over the world—from the mixed martial arts world especially Muay Thai, Extreme Sports like FMX and the different MTB Downhill leagues.  Red Bull originated from Thailand’s energy drink called Krating Daeng—literal equivalent of the word Red Bull in Thai.

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Mouthguard--commonly called mouthpiece because by its definition, anything that makes contact with the mouth.Mouthguard is used in different sports to protect teeth, jaws, lips, gums, even tongue and especially protecting the wearer from concussions after an accidental or intentional blow to the jaw or the areas near the jaw.

Written by Rochelle Cuyco
Published by Filipinas Herald (7 May, 2009)
 

By the time this column comes out, a man named G. Dizon would have reached the Bicol region on his 10th riding day, after having cycled from Aparri, Cagayan. Dizon is bound for Zamboanga, on a trip he calls "A(parri) to Z(amboanga), the Ride of My Life". He rides a mountainbike.

In one of the last text messages I got from him he said the dreaded Bitukang Manok in Quezon province “is nothing but an overrated bully, I did it in less than an hour.” This is not to say he looks at the whole enterprise as a piece of cake. His anticipation of Bitukang Manok and what it turned out to be is a reflection of the many surprises of his journey.

I met Dizon a few nights ago when he passed through my home province of Bulacan. He had started the day from San Manuel, Tarlac, and by the time he reached Guiguinto, Bulacan he had cycled 138kms.

He has been cycling rain or shine, not having any definite itinerary or schedule. Totally unsupported, he carries only a single backpack containing 4 shirts and 3 pairs of shorts. He does his laundry at night when he can, and he begins the day and starts cycling when he is ready. He stops at night when it makes sense to stop, and tries to look for lodging where he finds himself.

Once he found himself in a 6th class municipality that had no commercial lodging places, and gladly accepted the serendipitous kindness of a barangay captain who offered him shelter in the barangay hall.

Another time he had to sleep in a waiting shed, which was beside a 24-hour burger stand. He bought his dinner from the stand, gave the keeper a generous tip, and asked that the fellow keep an eye on him and his bike as he slept.

Most times he gets lucky and finds an affordable and safe place to sleep when night falls.

He does take breaks, sometimes not cycling for a day to let his body recover. He loads on carbohydrates and rides at a relaxed pace, ensuring endurance for the daunting distance still ahead of him.

So far he has been doing no less than 100kms every cycling day. On the day I met him, he would complete a century, 165kms. I was surprised and concerned to find he had no headlight nor a blinker with him. He said he purposely did not bring any to discourage himself from riding at night. He finds himself riding at night anyway, so I insisted he takes my extra blinker.

He is amused when people ask him, "Where did you come from? Where are you going?" He says if he tells them, they do not believe him.

I think a harder question for Dizon is, "Why are you doing this?" Without going into a brief history of his life, he says, in a nutshell, that he needs to do this now before he gets too old. That to me sounds like a carpe diem logic. And as many of you who understand the lure of adventure know, when you are out to seize the day, there is no better time than the present.

Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao proved that he’s now the best boxer in the entire world by knocking out Ricky “Hitman” Hatton in the second round of the scheduled 12 round boxing match. It was Hatton’s second loss in his career and the first shameful loss in the division which he reined for a decade. Referee Kenny Bayless stopped the fight in the second round declaring the Filipino as the new ruler in the IBO Light Welterweight division.

Pacquiao showed his unique fighting style when the British keep on going forward, clinch and give some punches. He threw a sickening right hook to the champion that sends him down on the canvass. Hatton got up after the eighth count and received flurry of punches form the pound for pound king. Before the first round ended, Pacquiao send Hatton again on the canvass

Hatton became more aggressive in the second round—he kept on pushing forward and giving Manny the pressure. Manny continue to punish him with a barrage of combos that diminished the British’s performance. Before the round ended, Pacquiao delivered a nasty left cross after setting it by a jab. The champion was knocked out cold in the middle of the ring

Pacquiao is considered by the promoter Bob Arum as “the greatest fighter ever lived.” Floyd Mayweather Jr. will be the next tough opponent of the greatest Filipino boxer if he will agree to fight in the 140-lb division. Based on statistics, Mayweather finished De La Hoya and Hatton in 22 rounds while Pacquiao finished them in just 11 rounds. Pacquiao did not just beat Hatton, he knocked him out cold: that’s the warning to his next opponent.

Manny Pacquiao is the king of boxing today. He ate all his opponents from the 106-lb to 140-lb division. He won his last four fights in four different divisions—a remarkable and record-setting feat. If Mayweather wanted to get a piece of the Filipino boxer, he must start shutting his mouth, go to the gym and prepare early for his bid against Pacquiao.

When doing Muay Thai, Boxing or MMA, one basic move is always used: the punch.  The question is how much force can your fists or wrists endure?  No matter how strong you are, at the end of the day, throwing hard punches will make your fists, hands and wrist joints swell or develop calluses on your knuckles.

MMA enthusiasts are now patronizing the gel wraps but some still stick to the old school hand wraps—they believe that old school hand wraps are still the best.  Gel wraps are fingerless wraps with state of the art cushioning materials that provides anatomical support not just on the knuckles but also on the wrist.

Some prefer the Mexican hand wraps which are elastic unlike the traditional gauze.  Gel hand wraps are available in different sports shops.  Here in the Philippines the Bull’s Gel Wraps are most commonly purchased due to its low price ($ 11) compared to Everlast’s Ever Gel ($ 35).  The bottom line is not the price, its how the gel wraps protect you.

The main purpose of the hand wraps is not just to serve as a cushioning material for the hands—anatomically, its purpose is to align the joints and compress the tissues of the hands.  Many believes that elastic hand wraps are better because of better compression to the joints while others are now into gel wraps because aside from hassle-free wrapping, it minimizes the friction of the cloth to the skin that cause calluses and abrasions.

The SQ (SasQuatch) logo was gone—it was replaced by the V logo.  What’s with the V anyways?  Tiger Woods came out from last year’s US Open with the SQ logo and now with the V—it is the recently released Victory Red iron by Nike.  It has a letter V with a red lower case letter r on the right top half of V.  Red color was used because it’s the Nike Golf mainman’s favorite final day color.

Nike dominated the iron win count—collecting 22 majors last year.  Tiger Woods worked with Nike’s design and engineering team to produce Nike’s best gold clubs.
According to the experts, though these VR clubs are very similar with Nike’s past series of clubs, it has a little yet definite improvement.

Sports Illustrated interviewed Tiger Woods about the clubs on his bag for the 2009 Masters: “"The only thing I change is my 5-wood or 2-iron. In fast conditions, I used to be able to chase a 2-iron [tee shot] down there on number 7 (450-yard par-4), but that's no longer the case. Now the only time we monkey around with the 2-iron is if number 4 (240-yard par-3) is playing under certain conditions. I hit my 5-wood about 10 to 15 yards farther than my 2-iron—a pretty big gap between my 3-iron and 5-wood—so sometimes I'll put in a two-iron just for that shot on number 4."

I’ve seen athletes playing with different accessories, accessories that are required and that are just for fashion and beliefs. One of the coolest things I’ve seen is the so-called Titanium bracelets and necklaces available in the market today.  Titanium bracelets and necklaces manufacturers claim that their products can help to relieve stress and fatigue from daily activities, although US Food and Drug Authority (FDA) did not approve these products.

The “science” behind these accessories is that when a person’s weak, sick or stressed, the positive and negative ions of the body are not balanced therefore the main role of these accessories is to stabilize the flow of energy—it’s like the equilibrium of the yin and yang.

There are many baseball players who wore these accessories.  Randy Johnson bought some while in a tour in Japan; Tom Glavine once wore it and lost his game and swore not to wear it again (ha!); and the first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz also did not like the necklace because it stinks when used for a long time.  I think it’s just a placebo effect, if you think that it will work, it will.

Other peculiar things I saw in TV are the green stickers on the NFL players’ helmets.  I thought it was just a new helmet and the owner forgot to remove the sticker or the certification mark like the IEC mark of the electrical equipment.  But these stickers are markers to determine whose helmets are equipped with speakers to hear the play from the sideline or from the team booth.  I’ve noticed that only quarterbacks are the only ones who have the green stickers but there’s also a defender allowed to have a speaker in his helmet.  Anyways, the logo on the sticker’s quite cool—NFL logo and a lightning bolt.

Philippines’ Universal Reality Combat Championship (URCC) welterweight champion Eduard “Landslide” Folayang won via technical knockout (TKO) against Jerome Narita in his hometown, Saipan, in the Gorilla Warfare MMA “Battle Ready” last March 28.  Folayang improved his record to 4-0 while the younger Norita fell to 2-2.

It was Folayang’s first fight (in MMA) outside the Philippines.  Folayang is a member of Philippine national Sanshou-Wushu team and the best fighter of Lakay Wushu, one of Philippines’ elite MMA team.  He’s from Baguio City and got his nickname because of his dominating power against his opponent.

Folayang finished his opponent in just 52 second by vicious left and right combinations to the head and body.  Folayang grabbed the welterweight title against Caloy Baduria and probably defend it on URCC 14: Aggression.  Rumors are spreading that he will be the first full blooded Filipino to enter UFC’s Octagon.