Effects of branched-chain amino acid supplementation on serum creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase after prolonged exercise

J. S. Coombes, L. R. McNaughton

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159 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background. The aim of ­this ­study was to exam­ine the ­effects of ­branched-­chain ami­no ­acid (­BCAA) sup­ple­men­ta­tion on ser­um indi­ca­tors of mus­cle dam­age ­after pro­longed exer­cise. We hypoth­e­sized ­that ­BCAA sup­ple­men­ta­tion ­would ­reduce the ser­um activ­ities of intra­mus­cu­lar ­enzymes asso­ciat­ed ­with mus­cle dam­age.
Methods. To ­test ­this hypoth­e­sis, six­teen ­male sub­jects ­were ­assigned to one of two ­groups: the sup­ple­men­tal ­group (con­sum­ing 12 g·d-1 ­BCAA for 14 d in addi­tion to ­their nor­mal ­diet) or the con­trol ­group (nor­mal ­diet ­only). Baseline ser­um crea­tine ­kinase (CK) and lac­tate dehy­drog­e­nase (LDH), ­shown to be accu­rate indi­ca­tors of mus­cle dam­age, ­were deter­mined dur­ing the ­week ­before the exer­cise ­test. The exer­cise ­test was admin­is­tered on day sev­en and ­required the sub­jects to ­cycle for 120 min on an ergom­e­ter at approx­i­mate­ly 70% .VO2max. Blood sam­ples ­were tak­en ­prior to and imme­di­ate­ly fol­low­ing exer­cise and at 1 hr, 2 hrs, 3 hrs, 4 hrs, 1 d, 3 d, 5 d and 7 d ­postexer­cise. All sub­jects ­were ­required ­have ­their ­diets ana­lyzed dai­ly dur­ing the 14 d.
Results. Dietary anal­y­ses indi­cat­ed ­that all sub­jects con­sumed the rec­om­mend­ed dai­ly ­intake of ­BCAA (0.64 g.kg-1) in ­their nor­mal ­diets. Baseline ser­um val­ues for CK and LDH ­were not dif­fer­ent ­between ­groups in the 7 d ­prior to the ­test (p>0.05). However ­there ­were sig­nif­i­cant increas­es (pConclusions. These ­results indi­cate ­that sup­ple­men­tary ­BCAA ­decreased ser­um con­cen­tra­tions of the intra­mus­cu­lar ­enzymes CK and LDH fol­low­ing pro­longed exer­cise, ­even ­when the rec­om­mend­ed ­intake of ­BCAA was ­being con­sumed. This obser­va­tion sug­gests ­that ­BCAA sup­ple­men­ta­tion may ­reduce the mus­cle dam­age asso­ciat­ed ­with endu­rance exer­cise.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)240-246
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness
Volume40
Issue number3
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2000

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