BCAAs for performance and body composition 💪⚡️
A worthwhile investment for athletes?
The Effect of Oral Pure Branched-Chain Amino Acid Supplementation on Exercise Performance and Body Composition: A Systematic Review
Study Details
This new systematic review compiled data from 22 studies (511 participants) to establish the viability of BCAA supplements in healthy participants 🔍
Here are the key findings ⬇️
Key Findings
🏋️ 11 studies had trained athletes
🙋♂️ 11 studies had untrained individuals
💊 Daily doses ranged from 1.5 - 82.0 g
🗓️ Study length ranged from 1 day - 6 months
A total of 13 studies found BCAAs to have significant benefits for…
🫁 Endurance
💪 Strength
🔋 Muscle recovery
⏱️ Speed
🫀 Fitness
Although there were inconsistent findings across the total data set 🤷♂️
However, there were consistent findings for BCAAs reducing muscle soreness 💥
Conclusion
Overall, BCAAs are likely to help reduce post-exercise muscle soreness which may have downstream benefits for training intensity / load ✅
There isn’t enough evidence currently to definitively support benefits for performance and body composition ❎
It may be worth investigating on an n=1 basis and let your wallet factor into this equation too 💰
Reference
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41346907/
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