(Although I feel this experiment was not carried out as I would have conducted it (abdominal work should have been excluded) I still feel that anyone can expect the following results which I consider minimal.)

Dear Vince:

You mentioned in an article sometime ago that you would like to hear from people who had duplicated your experiment with desiccated liver. I carried out the experiment for two months. The first month I took thirty desiccated liver tablets each day (10 at each meal). I made the following gains:

Arm .......... ¼"
Chest ........ ½"
Thigh ........ ½"
Calf ......... 1/8"

The second month I took two 7½ grain liver tablets as you suggested. At first it was hard to remember to take the tablets every hour, but by the end of the month I had gained the following:

Arm .......... 3/8"
Chest ........ ½"
Thigh ........ 3/8"
Calf ......... 5/8"

I used six sets of six reps for each muscle group with the exception of squats which I worked three sets of fifteen reps. I followed the same exercise program both months except the second month I followed each set of squats with dumbbell pullovers for the chest. I hope the information will prove useful.

While researching a paper for school I came across some interesting facts. An article dealing with steroids and strength building mentioned an experiment conducted in 1953. The researchers found the optimum protein intake was 18.7 per cent. Some subjects were given up to 40 per cent of the calories in their diet as protein, but it was concluded that any amount over 18.7 per cent was wasted. This would mean that a person eating 3,000 calories would get 561 calories from protein and at four calories for each gram of protein, this would work out at 140 grams of protein. These test subjects were on steroids so perhaps the non-steroid user would need less because steroids are known to aid nitrogen retention. This seems to debunk the idea that bodybuilders need 300-400 grams of protein daily.

Sincerely,

Dave Simmons

(IronMan Magazine Jan 1976 Vol. 35 No. 2)