Clinical trial NCT03766815: Effect of Branched-chain Amino Acid Supplementation on Muscle Damage
Official title: Effect of Branched-chain Amino Acid Supplementation on Muscle Damage in Recreational Athletes
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: UNKNOWN
Phase: NA
Conditions: Muscle Damage
Lead sponsor: Western University, Canada
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2018-12-06
Enrollment: 78
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 40
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: Participants will be supplemented for 18 days with either 200mg BCAA/kg/day, 400mg BCAA/kg/day or placebo (fiber supplement) in jelly in a single-blind fashion. Followed by a muscle damaging exercise and subsequent MVC and blood sample for force and metabolite measurements.
Primary purpose: OTHER

Brief summary: Seventy-eight recreational athletes who never resistance trained will be randomly assigned into three groups of twenty-six. Branched-chain amino acid will be supplemented for 18days at 0, 200 or 400 mg/body weight(kg)/day in jelly. Participants will be asked to perform elbow flexions on the 12th day of supplementation. Maximum voluntary contractions will be measured before, during and after the supplementation period to compare the effects of different doses of branched-chain amino acid has on muscle damage markers.

Detailed description: Previous studies have not been able to show consistent effects due to various reasons. The major limitations are the lack of enough data on the amount and duration of branched-chain amino acid supplementation, and the level of muscle damage for branched-chain amino acid to be effective. Based on a recent meta-analysis, it has been suggested that to be effective, branched-chain amino acid should be supplemented more than 200mg/kg/day before a low-to-moderate intensity exercise bout. Therefore, this study is designed based on the above suggestions and to compare the effect of different doses of branched-chain amino acid on muscle damage markers in healthy recreational active individuals.

Three treatment groups (n=26) will be randomly assigned to be supplemented with either 200mg BCAA/kg/day (BCAA200), 400mg BCAA/kg/day (BCAA400) or placebo (fiber supplement; PL). Supplements will be provided in jelly in a single blind fashion to be ingested 1hour after each of the three main daily meals for 18days. Anthropometric measurements (body weight, lean mass, height), body temperature, ultrasound (US), strength assessment (maximal voluntary contraction, MVC), resting metabolic rate (RMR), rate of perceived exertion (RPE), delayed onset of muscle soreness (DOMS) and blood samples (duplicates; myoglobin; BCAA) will be collected before, during and after the supplementation period at different time points (see appendix for the above tables). Repeated-bout effect (RBE) on both arms will be measured 7 days after the damage inducing session.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Healthy males and females at the age of 18-40
* Endurance trained athletes
* Weekly exercise duration is less than 150minutes but more than 30 minutes

Exclusion Criteria:

* Individuals who cannot endure three days for not eating meat
* Diabetic
* Have been performing resistance trainings
* Have been taking protein supplement
* Have been consuming a high level of protein in the regular diet
* Have been taking omega-three and vitamin E supplements
* Have been taking anabolic Steroids
* Have been taking regular medications
* Have cardiovascular Disease
* Have a history of joint \& Muscle Injuries
* Females with irregular Menstrual Cycle

Primary outcomes:
measure: Change in maximum voluntary contraction (MVC)
timeFrame: baseline (before supplementation) and at 1,3,24,48,72,96,120,144 hours after muscle damage
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Change in blood myoglobin
timeFrame: 10 min before muscle damaging exercise and at each of 1,3,24,48,72,96,120,144 hours after muscle damage
measure: Change in 3-methyl-histidine
timeFrame: 10 min before muscle damaging exercise and at each of 1,3,24,48,72,96,120,144 hours after muscle damage
measure: Changes in insulin
timeFrame: 10 min before muscle damaging exercise and at each of 1,3,24,48,72,96,120,144 hours after muscle damage
measure: Change in muscle soreness
timeFrame: 10 min before muscle damaging exercise and at each of 1,3,24,48,72,96,120,144 hours after muscle damage
measure: Change in ultrasound images of the arm muscles
timeFrame: 10 min before muscle damaging exercise and at each of 1,3,24,48,72,96,120,144 hours after muscle damage
measure: Change in limb girth
timeFrame: 10 min before muscle damaging exercise and at each of 1,3,24,48,72,96,120,144 hours after muscle damage
measure: Change in body temperature
timeFrame: 20 min before muscle damaging exercise and at each of 1,3,24,48,72,96,120,144 hours after muscle damage
measure: Change in resting metabolic rate
timeFrame: 20 min before muscle damaging exercise and at each of 1,3,24,48,72,96,120,144 hours after muscle damage
measure: Change in range of motion
timeFrame: 20 min before muscle damaging exercise and at each of 1,3,24,48,72,96,120,144 hours after muscle damage
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: London
country: Canada
facility: Exercise Nutrition Laboratory (Western University)
state: Ontario
Study officials:
affiliation: Western University
name: Peter Lemon, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: