The findings, published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, shows how supplements with a mix of BCAAs and carbohydrates stimulated muscle building after weight-lifting exercises. However, a treatment with all nine essential AAs will promote a muscle building response that is twice as strong as the BCAA supplements.

Our results show that the common practice of taking combined BCAA plus CHO supplements will not result in maximal stimulation of muscle synthesis. Instead, a sufficient amount of the full complement of amino acids is necessary for maximal stimulation of muscle protein synthesis following exercise.

Athletes interested in enhancing muscle growth with training should not rely on combined BCAA and carbohydrate supplements alone. This article contains all the most important information about branched-chain amino acids and their benefits.

These amino acids are grouped together because they are the only three amino acids to have a chain that branches off to one side.

Like all amino acids, BCAAs are building blocks your body uses to make proteins. BCAAs are considered essential because, unlike nonessential amino acids, your body cannot make them.

Therefore, it is essential to get them from your diet. The three BCAAs are leucine, isoleucine, and valine. All have a branched molecular structure and are considered essential to the human body.

Contrary to most other amino acids, BCAAs are mostly broken down in the muscle, rather than in the liver. Because of this, they are thought to play a role in energy production during exercise 2. First, your body can use them as building blocks for protein and muscle 3 , 4 , 5.

They may also be involved in regulating your blood sugar levels by preserving liver and muscle sugar stores and stimulating your cells to take in sugar from your bloodstream 6 , 7 , 8 , 9. Meanwhile, isoleucine and valine seem more effective at producing energy and regulating your blood sugar levels 6 , Your body can use BCAAs to build muscle protein and produce energy.

They may also have an effect on your brain that reduces fatigue. A study reports that consuming 20 grams of BCAA dissolved in mL of water and mL of strawberry juice 1 hour before working out increases time to exhaustion in participants However, not all studies found that decreased fatigue caused improvements in physical performance 14 , 16 , In some people, BCAAs may help reduce exercise fatigue.

Whether this improves exercise performance is still up for debate. One way they may do so is by lowering blood levels of the enzymes creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase, which are involved in muscle damage. This may improve recovery and provide some protection against muscle damage Various studies asked participants to rate their muscle soreness levels after performing certain strength-training exercises.

However, effects may vary based on your gender or the total protein content of your diet 19 , BCAAs taken before or after strength training may reduce muscle soreness following your workout. However, the effects may vary from one person to another.

After all, research shows that BCAAs do activate enzymes responsible for building muscle Some studies also show that BCAA supplements may be effective at increasing muscle mass, especially if they contain a higher proportion of leucine than isoleucine and valine 25 , In fact, studies show that taking supplements with whole protein may, at least in some cases, be better for muscle growth than taking supplements with individual amino acids Getting enough BCAAs may boost muscle growth.

You can get them from high protein foods in your diet or through supplements. Leucine and isoleucine are thought to increase insulin secretion and cause your muscles to take in more sugar from your blood, thereby decreasing your blood sugar levels 28 , However, in practice, not all studies back up these effects 30 , In fact, some even report potential rises in blood sugar levels, depending on the type of diet participants followed.

For instance, when BCAAs are combined with a high fat diet, consuming them in supplement form may lead to insulin resistance 32 , That said, many of these studies were done on animals or cells, which means that their results may not be totally applicable to humans.

For example, in one recent study participants with liver disease were given In 10 participants, blood sugar levels were reduced, while 17 participants experienced no effects BCAAs may help promote blood sugar management, at least in some cases.

However, more studies are needed to confirm their effects. Competitive wrestlers consuming a high protein, calorie-restricted diet supplemented with BCAAs lost 3.

The BCAA group also lost 0. The BCAA group also gained 4. See an earlier blog on the limitations of relying on molecular data to make recommendations about nutrition.

So, the question is, how effective is BCAA supplementation for stimulation of MPS so that muscle growth is enhanced? Unfortunately, despite the potential for BCAA to enhance muscle hypertrophy and the available evidence from cell and animal studies, there is a distinct lack of convincing data from studies in healthy, young weight lifters.

The problem with BCAA supplements alone, i. without the other essential amino acids, is that all of the necessary building blocks to make new proteins are not available for maximal stimulation of MPS. We recently demonstrated that post exercise MPS was increased with ingestion of BCAA 1 , but the stimulation was only about half of that measured following ingestion of intact whey protein, i.

all of the essential amino acids. The explanation for this result is that the BCAA stimulate the system, but that there are insufficient EAA to supply the substrate to sustain MPS. Thus, it can be said that BCAA stimulate MPS following resistance exercise, but the response is much better with ingestion of an intact protein that provides all the EAA necessary to sustain maximal MPS.

In addition to stimulation of MPS, BCAA supplements are touted as ergogenic agents for a number of other reasons. One prominent rationale for use of BCAA supplements is to alleviate muscle damage.

There is some evidence for this claim, including a study we published a few years ago 2 showing that BCAA supplementation reduced muscle soreness following damaging exercise.

However, there was no discernible impact on muscle function in that study. So, with a relatively modest decrease in muscle soreness and no impact on muscle function, it is not clear how practically useful BCAA supplements would be for recovery from intense, damaging exercise.

Moreover, other studies have not been able to demonstrate effectiveness of BCAA supplementation for reducing symptoms of muscle damage. So, at best we must consider the use of BCAA supplements to reduce muscle damage as equivocal.

In summary, overall, based on the available evidence, the best nutritional recommendation to optimize adaptations to training, including muscle hypertrophy and enhanced oxidative metabolism, would still be to eat sufficient high-quality protein that naturally includes BCAA, of course in the context of meals.

At present, we do not believe there is sufficient evidence to recommend BCAA supplements for enhancing muscle anabolism or alleviating muscle damage or, for that matter, for any other reason. Jackman SR, Witard OC, Philp A, Wallis GA, Baar K, Tipton KD. Branched-Chain Amino Acid Ingestion Stimulates Muscle Myofibrillar Protein Synthesis following Resistance Exercise in Humans.

Front Physiol. Jackman SR, Witard OC, Jeukendrup AE, Tipton KD. Branched-chain amino acid ingestion can ameliorate soreness from eccentric exercise.

The BCAA supplement Myprotein, Cheshire, UK contained a ratio of leucine, isoleucine and valine, respectively. Artificial sweetener rather than a carbohydrate-based placebo was used to prevent a rise in insulin that may have altered protein metabolism [ 22 ].

In accordance with previous work [ 21 ], all participants were strongly advised to maintain regular dietary habits and avoid taking additional protein or any supplements for the duration of the study. In an attempt to control for diet, participants were asked to record food intake in the loading phase of the trial and replicate this diet as closely as possible following the damaging protocol.

Participants performed a total of drop-jumps from a height of 0. Upon landing, participants were encouraged to immediately jump vertically with maximal force. This protocol has been previously shown to cause significant elevations in muscle damage indices [ 19 , 27 , 28 ]. Plasma CK was determined from an earlobe capillary blood sample.

The sample was analysed immediately using an automated, dry slide photospectrometer Reflotron Plus, Bio Stat Ltd. Stockport, UK. Similarly to previous work [ 5 , 11 , 27 ], participants were seated on a plinth where the strain gauge was assembled. The strain gauge was attached to the ankle, immediately above the malleoli.

Each MVC was performed at a knee joint angle of 90 0. The joint angle was assessed prior to each repetition with a goniometer Bodycare Products, Warwickshire, UK at the lateral condyle of the femur.

Each participant was familiarised with the test procedure and received strong verbal encouragement for each attempt. Three MVCs were recorded and the maximum value was used for data analysis. To account for inter-subject variability, MVC was expressed as a percentage of pre-damage MVC.

Vertical jump VJ performance was assessed using the Vertec instrument Sports Imports, Columbus Ohio. Participants performed a counter movement jump in which, on command from a standing position, they descended rapidly to approximately a 90° knee angle and performed a maximal vertical jump, tapping the device with the dominant arm [ 30 ].

Each participant was familiarised with the test procedure prior to the recorded efforts and received strong verbal encouragement for each attempt. Mid-thigh and calf circumference was assessed as a measure of limb swelling using an anthropometric tape measure Bodycare Products, Warwickshire, UK.

Both measures were obtained with the participant in a standing position. The calf measurement was made at the widest part of the calf, whereas the mid-thigh measure was determined as the mid-point between the inguinal crease and superior aspect of the patella.

Both sites were marked with semi-permanent ink to ensure consistent measurements between days [ 27 ]. Detection of differences were determined using a 2-way, repeated measures ANOVA group, 2; time, 5. Significant interactions were followed-up using LSD post-hoc , pair-wise comparisons.

L -1 , respectively , which equated to a 3 to 4-fold increase above baseline. The initial aim of the present study was to examine the effects of BCAA supplementation on indices of muscle damage in resistance-trained volunteers.

The principle findings show BCAA can reduce the negative effects of damaging exercise by attenuating CK efflux, reducing residual muscle soreness and improving recovery of muscle function to a greater extent than a placebo control.

The protocol successfully induced muscle damage, which was evident from the significant time effects for all dependent variables. This supports the efficacy of the protocol as a model to induce muscle damage in a sport specific manner [ 27 , 28 ].

Additionally, the data presented here support previous literature suggesting BCAA as an effective intervention to reduce the negative effects of damaging exercise [ 15 — 18 ] and more specifically from damaging resistance exercise [ 14 , 20 , 21 ].

The novel information offered by these data demonstrate that BCAA can be used as an effective intervention to ameliorate the negative effects EIMD precipitated from a sport specific damaging bout of resistance exercise in trained participants.

However, the cell membrane is likely to have undergone some degree of lipolysis as a result of an imbalance in calcium homeostasis [ 4 ], almost certainly from the exercise insult. The damage literature often shows a high degree of inter-subject variability in CK and other cytosolic markers of EIMD, however, variability in the current study was relatively small, partly attributable to the trained status of the volunteers.

The greater conditioning of these participants has almost certainly led to a repeated bout effect [ 31 ], whereby, a conditioning bout of exercise in this case prior training leads to a decrease in damage indices on subsequent bouts [ 4 , 31 , 32 ].

This is further supported by the low CK response seen in both groups following the exercise, when compared to the damage responses seen in untrained volunteers [ 19 , 20 ]. Despite this relative homogeneity, the CK response was less in the BCAA group suggesting the membrane integrity was maintained to greater extent than the placebo group.

The damage response is known to be bi-phasic in nature; a primary response caused by the mechanical stress of the exercise, followed by a secondary, transient inflammatory response over the following hours and days [ 4 ].

Although we cannot definitively support this postulate, it seems plausible that the greater bioavailability provided by BCAA facilitated this response and thereby decreased secondary damage to the muscle.

Furthermore, the group effects support previous data [ 20 , 21 , 34 ] showing a reduction in muscle soreness following a damaging bout of exercise with BCAA supplementation. Although the mechanism surrounding muscle soreness following a damaging bout of exercise is not well understood, it seems likely to be related to inflammation, particularly to the connective tissue elements [ 35 ] that sensitise nociceptors in muscle and hence increase sensations of pain [ 36 ].

However, previous work [ 20 ] demonstrating a reduction in soreness following BCAA supplementation also measured the acute inflammatory response interleukin-6, a pro-inflammatory cytokine and showed no difference between the BCAA and placebo groups.

Jackman et al. Although this idea is somewhat speculative and has no supporting evidence or proposed mechanism, we show similar trends in our data, but it is not possible to support or refute this theory. Based on the reductions in CK, it makes the expectation tenable that the secondary damage phase is reduced by the aforementioned uptake of BCAA for protein synthesis, thus, limiting the extent of damage and hence reducing the precipitation of soreness.

Whilst there was no difference in vertical jump performance and limb girth, the most notable finding is that reductions in MVC were attenuated and recovery of MVC was accelerated following BCAA supplementation. This study demonstrated an effect on function and is in contrast to other work [ 20 ] that used untrained participants in a similar experimental design showing no benefits in the recovery of force production with BCAA.

Interestingly, other studies [ 21 , 37 ] using non-resistance-trained student populations have shown some benefit in the recovery of muscle function. These data should be treated with caution however, as both studies [ 21 , 37 ] used a cross-over design which suffers the limitation of the repeated bout effect RBE.

The RBE refers to a protective effect or attenuation of damage indices when the exercise is repeated [4,31,32]. It would seem that differences between our findings and those of Jackman et al. The other obvious difference between the current investigation and previous literature is the amount of BCAA administered.

Interestingly, Jackman et al. Previous work [ 39 ] has shown that timing of a protein based recovery strategy is important and immediately following a damaging bout of exercise can be most beneficial in accelerating recovery.

Whist Jackman et al. This is somewhat conjectural and would serve as an interesting question for future research to ascertain the optimal strategy for BCAA supplementation.

Regardless of whether the loading phase and timing of the supplementation post-exercise was effective in increasing the bioavailability of BCAA, there is still a stark difference in the total supplementation volume 88 vs.

The larger quantity of BCAA we provided might partly account for the difference between studies in damage indices MVC and CK. We based our supplementation regimen on previous work that showed a positive effect [ 16 , 26 ] and propose that positive effects beyond attenuation of muscle soreness i.

There are two limitations from the study, which need to be acknowledged. Firstly the lack of specific dietary control might have led to discrepancies in caloric and, more specifically, protein ingestion between the groups. Although we attempted to control this by asking participants to record food intake during the loading phase and replicate this following the damaging exercise, an approach that has been previous used [ 11 , 21 ], there was no specific control between groups.

Conceivably discrepancies in protein intake can affect the bioavailability of the substrate and hence affect protein turnover and ultimately influence the outcome of these data.

Although the current investigation has a good degree of external validity, future research might like to consider more rigorous dietary control measures such as; 1 asking participants to weigh food and accurately log food intake; or 2 providing a pre-determined menu for the participants to ensure no discrepancies between and within groups, although this still relies on participant adherence outside the laboratory.

Finally, 3 although difficult to facilitate, participants could be housed in an environment where dietary behavior can be imposed and thereby strictly controlled. In summary, these data offer novel information on the application of BCAA supplementation.

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The BCAA also modifies the pattern of exercise-related cytokine production, leading to a diversion of the lymphocyte immune response towards a Th1 type. According to these findings, it is possible to consider the BCAA as a useful supplement for muscle recovery and immune regulation for sports events.

Abstract Since the 's there has been high interest in branched-chain amino acids BCAA by sports nutrition scientists. Publication types Review.

Substances Amino Acids, Branched-Chain.