Branched Chain Amino Acid Plus Glucose Supplement Reduces Exercise-Induced Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness in College Females

University of Vermont

Status: Completed

Conditions: Exercise-induced Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness

Treatments: Dietary Supplement: Placebo; Dietary Supplement: Branched Chain Amino Acid drink supplement

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01781910

CHRMS M12-101

Details and patient eligibility

About

The purpose of this study is to determine if a dietary supplement containing branched chain amino acids will reduce the muscle soreness that sometimes occurs in the days following exercise.

Full description

Supplementation with branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) has been used to stimulate muscle protein synthesis following exercise. The purpose of this study was to determine if supplementation with BCAAs in combination with glucose would reduce exercise-induced delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Using a double-blind crossover design, 20 subjects (11 females, 9 males) were randomly assigned to either BCAA (n=10) or placebo (n=10) groups. Subjects performed a squatting exercise to elicit DOMS and rated their muscle soreness every 24 hours for four days following exercise while continuing to consume the BCAA or placebo. Following a three-week recovery period, subjects returned and received the alternate BCAA or placebo treatment, repeating the same exercise and DOMS rating protocol for the next four days. BCAA supplementation in female subjects resulted in a significant decrease in DOMS versus placebo at 24 hours following exercise (p = 0.018). No significant effect of BCAA supplementation versus placebo was noted in male subjects, nor when male and female results were analyzed together. This gender difference may be related to dose per body weight differences between male and female subjects.

Enrollment: 20 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 25 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Men (n=9) and women (n=11) aged 18-25 who engaged in no more than one hour of light to moderate intensity physical activity per week were recruited from the Greater Burlington, Vermont area.

Exclusion criteria

• individuals who engaged in more than one hour per week of light to moderate physical activity
• had been involved in strict athletic competition or weight training in the past six months
• were pregnant or nursing, had a known muscular disease, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and/or were currently taking a protein-based dietary supplement

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Crossover Assignment

Masking: Triple Blind

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20 participants in 2 patient groups, including a placebo group

Branch Chain Amino Acid supplement

Experimental group

Description:

A drink supplement containing 1.22 grams of branched chain amino acids, plus glucose.

Treatment:

Dietary Supplement: Branched Chain Amino Acid drink supplement

Placebo supplement

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

The placebo was formulated to match both the taste and color of the test supplement. Crystal Light Lemonade powder (Kraft Foods, Northfield, IL, USA) was mixed with 5.6g of powdered dextrose (Now Foods, Bloomingdale, IL, USA) to match the amount of dextrose present in the BCAA supplement.

Treatment:

Dietary Supplement: Placebo