I know, you hate the taste. I know, you hate the smell. I know, I know, you can't even stand the sight of it but your mother was right all along. In fact she was " more right " than any of us knew. Liver is not just good for you it might be the single healthiest  food on the planet and one that, according to an experiment conducted in 1951, imparts great strength and endurance to those who consume it on a regular basis.

For thousands of years liver has been prized for its ability to impart health, power and vigor to those who eat it. Hunters throughout history and even today have been known to eat it raw. Health researcher Weston A. Price who travelled the globe in the 1930s to study the diets of the worlds healthiest people even reports that some hunters would eat the liver raw right off of their spears without ever touching it with their hands as it was considered sacred. Old time body builders and strongmen would eat liver and some took it in tablet form  before steroids appeared on the scene. 

An Experiment conducted by Dr. B.H Ershoff on behalf of the US Army in 1951 highlights the benefits of liver. It was long known that liver posessed an amazing " anti-fatigue factor". This experiment was designed to determine  whether the B vitamins in liver was the reason for this anti-fatigue affect.  Dr Ershoff divided rats into three groups. Group A he fed a basic diet plus some basic vitamin supplements. Group B he fed the same diet and supplements plus an additional B complex vitamin. Group C he fed the same basic diet and basic supplements but instead of the B complex vitamins they were fed desiccated liver powder as 10% of their diet. After 12 weeks on these diets the groups were placed into separate tubs of water from which they could not escape, it was literally sink or swim.

How did each group fare? Group A swam for an average of 13.3 minutes before going under.  Group B swam for an average of 13.4 minutes. Group C absolutely blew the other 2 groups away. While 3 of the rats "only" lasted 63, 83 and 87 minutes the rest were still swimming vigorously after two hours! 

Discovering the source of this great stamina was the purpose of this experiment but there was another obvious affect of this regular liver consumption. The rats that consumed the liver were much larger and more heavily muscled than the other two groups. Group A weighed an average of 215.4 grams. Group B weighed an average of 228.8 grams. Group C the Liver fed group weighed a whopping 247.7 grams on average.

Liver contains lots of high quality protein, a highly absorbable form of iron (an extremely important mineral for muscle building) and other minerals as well, the full spectrum of B vitamins. Liver also provides this mysterious anti-fatigue element which may benefit you in the gym or when doing body-weight exercises in terms of doing more reps and shorter recovery time. So listen to your mother and eat your liver but cheat a little by eating it in the form of desiccated liver tablets.