For all the billions of dollars that companies and government spend on the development of new drugs and supplements it is always surprising how natural agents which have been used for thousands of years to treat various ailments and diseases are often rejected by the professionals of modern medicine and pharmacology. One natural product which these professionals have been overlooking is the velvet of the various species of deer which has been used in ancient Asian medicines for well over 2,000 years. The velvet of the deer which is ingested in various forms (powder, tablet, sliced etc…) has been used to increase immune system function, greatly improve muscle mass and strength, speed up the metabolism of fat, enhance sexual function in both men and women, and used to help with problems of the joints such as arthritis.
Velvet deer antler is named after the soft, velvet-like covering that deer antlers have before they turn bony. Antlers are organs of bone which regenerate each year from the heads of male deer. In addition to bone, support tissues such as nerves also regenerate. Nerves grow up to 1 cm each day. Deer antler velvet contains many substances including amino acids, minerals, proteins, anti-inflammatory peptides, hormones, gangliosides and glycosaminoglycans, and Insulin-like Growth Factor-1.
Evidence for the effectiveness of the deer antler velvet has been discovered in various ancient Chinese documents dating back as far as 1,500 years ago. However, modern science has begun to experiment with the ingredient in a variety of functions such as to improve the efficiency of the immune system and as well to see the improvement in athletic performance in terms of muscle strength and endurance specifically.
For instance, New Zealand scientists have now proved what oriental medicine has known for more than 2,000 years - that deer velvet is good for you. Research results show that velvet stimulates the body's immune system, which wards off infections. Antler velvet stimulated the immune system, as measured by increased production of white blood cells. This means velvet could be used both for a preventative treatment in its own right and to support some remedial treatments by strengthening the body's own immune system. There are many conditions where boosting the body's immune system would make a huge difference to the success of other treatments. For example, research is presently being undertaken in Korea into velvet's effectiveness when used to build up the strength and resilience of patients undergoing cancer treatment.

Further, a study conducted in the late 1990’s found an interesting correlation between using deer antler velvet as a supplement and physical conditioning. The 10 week project was conducted at Otego University and medically supervised by Dr. David Gerrard, sports physician, the result while not staggering showed some encouraging trends towards fat loss and muscle gain. The athletes were also tested for changes in body composition using a sophisticated DEXA scanner. Although all subjects lost body fat as a percentage of their body weight, the group taking deer velvet lost more body fat than the control group.

These studies have begun to shed light towards proving scientifically that the benefits of deer antler velvet seen by those using the ancient natural medicine protocols and furthermore the initial findings leave much to be desired by the modern day scientists. For those people however looking for a safe and effective supplement to help with increasing physical performance including fat loss and muscle gain; then deer antler supplement is something to consider.