The Unspeakable Truth About Black Genetics for Sports — Transcript

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1. 0:00It's commonly believed that Black African individuals are genetically gifted
2. 0:04for sports and muscularity. To see if this is true,
3. 0:07a group of researchers walked right into this political minefield.
4. 0:10This video can be seen as my own attempt at YouTube Harakiri.
5. 0:14The study is still in preprint, but it comes from a reputable lab,
6. 0:17so I don't expect major changes after peer review.
7. 0:22The researchers took a group of untrained individuals and performed genetic testing
8. 0:26on them to classify them as either African or European in terms of their ancestry.
9. 0:31Then they subjected them to a 9 week supervised training program
10. 0:35to see who made the better gains.
11. 0:37Even before they had touched a weight, though,
12. 0:39there were already striking differences between the groups.
13. 0:42The African group had on average 8.5 kilos more fat free mass.
14. 0:47That's 19 pounds in freedom units.
15. 0:49The African group also had 9 to 23% bigger limb
16. 0:53muscle thickness at a similar body fat percentage as measured by
17. 0:57bio electrical impedance analysis, which is not super reliable,
18. 1:00but as a group average it's fine.
19. 1:02The African group was also stronger, more powerful, and they had better endurance,
20. 1:07although the performance metrics varied
21. 1:08a lot more than the body composition metrics.
22. 1:10Despite the striking differences at baseline,
23. 1:13there were essentially no differences between the groups in their gains,
24. 1:16not in relative terms and also not in absolute terms.
25. 1:19Median differences in the gains
26. 1:21in muscle size and strength were approximately zero.
27. 1:24This discrepancy between how muscular someone naturally is
28. 1:27before they start lifting weights, and how fast they can gain muscle
29. 1:30when they start lifting weights is also seen in other research.
30. 1:33It's very counterintuitive, but there doesn't seem to be
31. 1:36a super consistent relationship between how muscular someone is
32. 1:39before they start training and how easily they will gain muscle with training.
33. 1:43So even if you're very small before you start lifting,
34. 1:46that doesn't necessarily mean you're a hard gainer.
35. 1:48However, there were multiple notable limitations.
36. 1:51For one, the African group had a lower protein intake of 0.9g/kg
37. 1:56compared to 1.3g/kg in the European group.
38. 1:59Also, recruitment was limited to individuals who self-identified
39. 2:03as non-Hispanic Black with a capital B or White with a capital W.
40. 2:08However, self-id matched genetic testing of ancestry in all cases
41. 2:12except 2 White persons who were actually African in terms of their ancestry.
42. 2:17Interestingly, the researchers also had to exclude one individual after genetic
43. 2:21testing showed that he wasn't actually biologically male.
44. 2:24And last but certainly not least, Africa and Europe are massive places.
45. 2:28So 40 students from the Bronx are a limited representation.
46. 2:32There is massive genetic variants in both of these continents, especially Africa.
47. 2:37Researchers generally, therefore see race as a social construct.
48. 2:42That doesn't mean it's just complete wishy washy, but it means that it's
49. 2:45a gross oversimplification of a lot of traits fit together
50. 2:49that we visually identify largely by phenotype, not genotype.
51. 2:53So we look at somebody and we infer what their genetics might be.
52. 2:58Modern researchers therefore generally talk more about clines rather than races.
53. 3:03Clines are gradients in certain traits.
54. 3:06So in a certain area, people might have a certain skin color, or certain nose shape,
55. 3:11or any other trait that is biologically determined to a certain degree.
56. 3:15As you expand, say, westward, or any other direction, due to differences
57. 3:19in the climate and the environment, the trait shifts due to differences
58. 3:23in evolutionary adaptations, rather than being a fixed black versus white.
59. 3:28Exercise science in this field is still in its infancy,
60. 3:31likely due to the social stigma and the difficulty
61. 3:33of getting funding for this type of research.
62. 3:35We have only 2 other studies in this field, both of which
63. 3:38compared Europeans or Caucasians with South Asians.
64. 3:42Both studies found some trends for the European group
65. 3:45to make better gains in strength and performance compared to the Asians,
66. 3:48but there were no significant differences
67. 3:50in muscle growth or muscle protein synthesis.
68. 3:53If we zoom out beyond exercise science, research is very clear that clines,
69. 3:57even when informally grouped together as a races, explain far
70. 4:01less genetic variance than there is within these populations to begin with.
71. 4:04There are average genetic differences across clines,
72. 4:07but these differences are small compared to the genetic diversity
73. 4:10within each group.
74. 4:11So all on Earth are more different than our differences.
75. 4:15Wait, what?
76. 4:18And you,
77. 4:19my dear viewer, are surely the most special snowflake of them all.
78. 4:23And if you want a customized training
79. 4:25and nutrition program based on your specifics,
80. 4:27check out the link in the description for a two week free trial
81. 4:30to my training and nutrition app.
82. 4:31Also, if you're interested in evidence based fitness information, seeking
83. 4:35the truth no matter how politically incorrect or uncomfortable it may be,
84. 4:39check out my Online PT Course in the description.
85. 4:42See you next time.