Reduced muscular fatigue after a 12-week leucine-rich amino acid supplementation combined with moderate training in elderly: a randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial

Abstract

BackgroundAge-related muscle loss is characterised by a progressing decrease in muscle mass, strength and function. Besides resistance training and physical activity, appropriate nutrition that is rich in protein, especially branched-chain amino acids, is very important to support training effects and positively influence the protein synthesis to degradation ratio.AimThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of a 12-week leucine-rich amino acid supplementation in combination with moderate training.MethodsForty-eight healthy subjects exercised for 30 min three times per week and received either a leucine-rich amino acid supplementation or a placebo. Before and after supplementation, volunteers performed an exhaustive eccentric exercise protocol. Maximal concentric strength, muscle soreness, creatine kinase (CK), type II collagen collagenase cleavage neoepitope (C2C), C propeptide of type II procollagen (CP2) and safety assessments were performed before exercise and after 3, 24, 48 and 72 hours.ResultsThe supplementation with leucine resulted in reduced loss of strength at 0 and 3 hours after downhill walking compared with the placebo (p=0.0439). The reduction of C2C/CP2 ratio deflection was significantly increased (p=0.038) due to leucine compared with the placebo. The same tendency could be observed for the recovery phase. No significant supplement effects for muscle soreness and CK could be observed.ConclusionThe principle findings show that leucine-rich amino acid supplementation can counteract the negative effects of eccentric exercise. The treatment resulted in a reduction of exercise-induced strength loss.

Leucine Supplementation Improves Effort Tolerance of Rats With Hyperthyroidism

“…This effect was ameliorated by leucine supplementation, which decreased CK-MB concentration and suggested a protective role of leucine. This protection may be linked to anabolic or anti-catabolic effects on protein metabolism, as reported in previous studies ( Canedo et al, 2010 ; Murphy et al, 2016 ; Reule et al, 2017 ).…”

“…Despite not finding differences in CK concentrations, Reule et al (2017) observed greater effort tolerance and strength maintenance in a group of aged, untrained, leucine-supplemented elderly subjects subjected to a fatigue protocol through exercise when compared to the placebo group. These results agree with the findings of the present study, since the group of rats supplemented with leucine did not show decreased performance even in experimental hyperthyroidism, which according to Silva ( Argov et al, 1988 ), can simulate the muscular damage caused by physical exercise.…”

A Moderate Supplementation of Native Whey Protein Promotes Better Muscle Training and Recovery Adaptations Than Standard Whey Protein – A 12-Week Electrical Stimulation and Plyometrics Training Study

“…However, CK and DOMS were not differentially affected by the supplementation. Although some studies demonstrated reduced CK after a damaging exercise in groups supplemented with proteins ( Jackman et al, 2010 ; Howatson et al, 2012 ), most of the reports available in the literature show no difference between placebo- and protein-fed groups after exercise ( Eddens et al, 2017 ; Reule et al, 2017 ), which is consistent with the present results.…”

“…The differential effects of the supplements were particularly clear when considering the recovery kinetics of the concentric power, which were accelerated in the participants supplemented with proteins, and especially NW, which promoted short-term recovery. NW is a leucine-rich supplement and interestingly, Reule et al (2017) recently reported that a leucine-rich amino-acid supplementation, combined to moderate training, improved short-term recovery after a damaging exercise at the end of a training period. Similarly, two studies demonstrated that NW reduced exercise-induced fatigability when combined with a training program in young ( Babault et al, 2014 ) or elderly men ( Gryson et al, 2014 ).…”

Evaluation and Validation of a Joint Stress Test to Induce Activity-Related Knee Joint Discomfort — a Prospective Case-Control Study

“…Therefore, stress models (joint or muscle related) have been used in the past to induce standardized load on physical structures to be able to observe changes on perceived stress as accurately as possible [ 8 – 10 ]. For the observation of knee joint function, different joint bearing movements are qualified to be used during a stress model.…”