Effects of Oral Branched‐Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) Intake on Muscular and Central Fatigue During an Incremental Exercise

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of oral branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) intake on muscular (creatine kinase and myoglobin) and central (serotonin) fatigue during an incremental exercise protocol and to determine the time to exhaustion. Sixteen male long-distance runners (25.7 ± 2.0 yrs) performed two trials, 14 days apart. Using a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised crossover design, participants ingested either 20 g of BCAAs (BCAA trial) or a placebo 1 hour prior to performing an incremental exercise session on a treadmill. The starting speed was 8 km/h and this was increased by 1 km/h every 5 minutes until volitional exhaustion. Blood analysis indicated that plasma levels of serotonin were lower in the BCAA trial (259.3 ± 13.5 ng/ml) than the placebo trial (289.1 ± 14.5 ng/ml) (p < 0.05). There was a similar pattern of results for free fatty acid (p < 0.05). The creatine kinase level was higher in the BCAA trial (346.1 ± 33.7 U/L) than the placebo trial (307.3 ± 30.2 U/L). No significant difference between trials was observed regarding the level of myoglobin (p = 0.139). Time to exhaustion was longer in the BCAA trial (50.4 ± 2.3 min) than the placebo trial (46.6 ± 3.2 min). In conclusion, oral intake of 20 g of BCAAs 1 hour prior to an incremental treadmill exercise session increased time to exhaustion, probably due to the reduction in serotonin concentration. As myoglobin levels were within the normal range in both trials, we conclude that the participants did not reach muscular fatigue.

Pre-Exercise Carbohydrate or Protein Ingestion Influences Substrate Oxidation but Not Performance or Hunger Compared with Cycling in the Fasted State

“…Factors that influence central fatigue may be important during short-duration exercise, which is not limited by glycogen depletion. Central fatigue may be reduced by ingesting CHO [ 43 ] or branched-chain amino acids [ 44 ]. In our study work capacity was not influenced by pre-exercise CHO or protein ingestion, but it is possible that longer-duration exercise would have revealed differences between treatments.…”

Anti-fatigue Effects of Santé Premium Silver Perch Essence on Exhaustive Swimming Exercise Performance in Rats

“…Moreover, according to the findings in our measured biomarkers, we were not able to provide the explanation for our observations that only 1X and 5X doses were efficient at improving time to exhaustion but not 2X dose. Still, we could not exclude the possible benefits of this BCAA-enriched SPSPE on reducing the central fatigue state (AbuMoh'd et al, 2020), thus the role of central fatigue in this observation is needed to investigate for better understanding about the possible underlying mechanisms. Furthermore, it has to be noted that we here used a more conservative statistical analysis to compare the mean among groups when performing multiple tests (i.e., Kruksal-Walis with a Bonferroni correction).…”

“…But another possibility may also be due to the supplement of SPSPE before the exhaustive exercise. Since branched-chain amino acids are the main components in the SPSPE, it may help reduce the central fatigue state of experimental animals (AbuMoh'd et al, 2020 ). Previous reports have shown that there is no decline in the submaximal or maximal cycling performance after caloric restriction for 3 weeks combined with overnight fasting (Ferguson et al, 2009 ), suggesting that overnight fasting before our swimming test should not affect outcome measurements of this study.…”

“…Moreover, some fish tissues contain fat-soluble vitamins and numerous fish products are rich in water-soluble vitamins (Ludorff and Meyer, 1973 ). Since previous studies have previously shown that protein or amino acid supplementation can significantly reduce exercise-induced fatigue, suppress muscle soreness, and promote recovery from high-intensity exercise (Cooke et al, 2010 ; Fouré and Bendahan, 2017 ; Wei et al, 2019 ; AbuMoh'd et al, 2020 ); furthermore, certain fat- and water-soluble vitamins have been reported to have antioxidant effects and be capable of reducing the degree of exercise-induced muscle damage (Evans, 2000 ; Thompson et al, 2001 ; Taghiyar et al, 2013 ). Although our nutrient analyses did not perform vitamin analyses, we speculated that the SPSPE supplementation reduces exercise-induced fatigue and muscle protective effects possibly mediated through the above possible benefits of fish-containing nutrients.…”

“…Besides, a meta-analysis indicated that taking a BCAA-based supplement daily (>200 mg/kg of weight/day) for 10 days in a row can effectively alleviate mild and moderate muscular damage induced by exercise; this effect is particularly notable when the supplement is taken before highintensity training (Fouré and Bendahan, 2017). Another recent study also reported that taking BCAA-based supplements 1 h before incremental treadmill exercise delays the occurrence of exhaustion (AbuMoh'd et al, 2020). However, few studies have explored the effects of fish extracts on exercise performance and fatigue, and relevant physiological mechanisms have yet to be fully clarified.…”