Table 1

Studies investigating the effects of BCAA supplementation of RE-based muscle damage in humans

Study

Exercise Protocol

Supplementation Protocol

Results

Shimomura et al. [29]

Squat (7 sets of 20 repetitions)

5.5 g of BCAA within 1.0 g of green tea 15 min before exercise

Attenuation of exercise-induced serum BCAA oxidation.

Shimomura et al. [30]

Squat (7 sets of 20 repetitions)

5.0 g of BCAA 15 min before exercise

Reduction of peak time of muscle soreness induced by exercise.

Nosaka et al.[3]

900 actions (30 min) of arm curl with 1.80 to 3.44 kg of range of workload

BCAA-enriched amino acid mixture (60% of the essential amino acids)

Reduction of serum CK, myoglobin, and muscle soreness. No differences in isometric MVC.

Sharp & Pearson [31]

Whole body RE (3 sets of 8 RM, 8 exercises)

BCAA (1.8 g of leucine, 0.75 g of isoleucine, and 0.75 g of valine) 3 weeks before and 1 week during exercise protocol

Reduction of serum CK.

Jackman et al. [32]

Eccentric exercise (12 sets of 10 repetitions at 120% of concentric 1RM)

~ 7.0 g of BCAA/day (divided in 4 doses) on the following 2 days after exercise

No differences in serum CK and myoglobin; Attenuation in exercise-induced muscle soreness.

BCAA = branched-chain amino acids; CK = creatine kinase; MVC = maximal voluntary contraction; RE = resistance exercise; RM = repetition maximum.

da Luz et al. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 2011 8:23   doi:10.1186/1550-2783-8-23