Insights[]
In the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, distance runner Naoko Takahashi of Japan (also known as JPN) 
set a record during the women’s marathon. A year later, she set a new world record at the Berlin Marathon. Her secret? Vomit from the larvae of giant hornets.
According to Stephanie Strom at The New York Times, a researcher named Takashi Abe at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research uncovered an amino acid produced by the larva of Vespa mandarinia, the Asian giant hornet. That insect supposedly can travel up to 60 miles at 25 miles per hour while hunting. Abe was able to synthetically synthesize the amino acid, which was added to an energy drink called VAAM (Vespa amino acid mixture), which Takahashi and other Japanese runners credited for their performance.
According to Charlie Norton at Vice, the amino acids are supposed to kick up metabolism and burn fat while also giving a little extra stamina. At least one study shows ingesting VAAM does increase oxygen intake and decreases fat in older women. However, this study, and others like it, have had too small of sampling groups to draw any definitive conclusions. There’s no word on whether anyone at the Olympics is pounding hornet vomit this time around, but it’s commercially available in products like VAAM, Hornet Juice and Vespa.