You may have heard the expression knowledge is power. Well, today we're going to give you more

power to control your diet and lifestyle by giving you the facts. Welcome to the Nutrition

Facts Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Michael Greger. Today we learned about an herb with

impressive health benefits that has long been used in alternative medicine. It's called

Fenugreek and its effects are remarkable. The effects of a commercially available botanical supplement

on strength body composition power output and hormonal profiles in resistance trained males.

Something had a significant impact on both upper and lower body strength and body composition

in comparison to placebo in a double-blind controlled trial. These changes were obtained with no

clinical side effects. Allowed these men to leg press an extra hundred pounds compared to placebo

and the magical substance was Fenugreek, a naturally occurring edible spice that appears to

double as an anti-cancer agent. In summary, Fenugreek seeds may possess potent anti-cancer properties.

In our next story we learn that for all the benefits of Fenugreek seeds they do have an

interesting side effect. Cancer prevention is all well and good but there is a side effect of

Fenugreek seed consumption. It makes your armpits smell like maple syrup. Analysis of human male

armpit sweat after Fenugreek ingestion and yes it happens to women too. The strong maple syrup

odor which appears after Fenugreek ingestion was investigated. They had men plaster some

gauze pads into their armpits before and after eating a tablespoon of Fenugreek seeds.

Sweat was collected over a 24 hour period and given to a panel of eight odor assessors

to get their take. The experts describe what they smelled in those armpits as

cocoa, roast beef, carrots, spicy gravy, but then honey rose and lilac peach like

raspberry. I guess it could have been worse. There was one assessor who described one of the

Fenugreek odor compounds as musty sweet onion socks. Another greed but thought it was more like

...