Is branched-chain amino acid nutritional supplementation beneficial or detrimental in heart failure?

Table 1 Outcomes of branched-chain amino acid administration in clinical trials

Ref.	Study design	Sample size	Subjects	Dose	Length	Outcome
Chang et al[8]	Double-blind, randomized	22	Well-trained handball players	0.17 g/kg BCAA and 0.04 g/kg arginine together	1 d	Improve the performance in intermittent sprint
Watson et al[11]	Double-blind, randomized	8	Healthy male	12 g/L BCAA	Every 15 mins during exercise	Exercise capacity change observed between subjects in response to BCAA ingestion
Coombes and McNaughton [12]	Prospective, assigned to one of two groups	16	Males	12 g/d BCAA	14 d	Supplementary BCAA decreased serum concentrations of the intramuscular enzymes
Ko et al [13]	Quasi-experimental single-arm intervention	33	Middle-aged and elderly	Leucine 0.54 g, isoleucine 0.43 g, valine 0.36 g, glutamine 0.65 g, arginine 0.61 g and other amino acids 1.01 g	Twice daily for 5 wk	Short-term positive effects on sarcopenic parameters
Komar et al[15]	Systematic review and meta-analysis	999	-	Each reference	Each reference	Beneficial effects on body weight, body mass index, and lean body mass in older persons
Murphy et al[16]	Randomized, single-blind, parallel-group, placebo-controlled crossover study	20	Men, 65-85 yr of age, BMI (in kg/m2) from 20 to 35, nonsmokers, and generally healthy	Higher protein intake group (1.2 g/kg/d) or lower protein intake group (0.8 g/kg/d)	9 d	Enhances the anabolic effect of resistance exercise
Glynn et al[17]	Prospective	14	Young participants (6 men, 8 women)	10 g essential amino acids	180 min post ingestion	Induce a maximal skeletal muscle protein anabolic response
Nichols et al[19]	Systematic review and meta-analysis	167	-	Each reference	Each reference	Increase lean body mass and 6-minute walk test distance in patients with heart failure
Uchino et al[21]	Randomized, controlled trial	18	In-hospital heart failure patients with serum albumin < 3.5 g/dL	One pack of BCAA granules containing 1144 mg of l-valine, 1904 mg of l-leucine, and 952 mg of l-isoleucine	28 d, 3 time a day	Increased serum albumin and decreased ctr in-hospital hf patients with hypoalbuminemia

BCAA: Branched-chain amino acid.