Macro partitioning
Essential Amino Acid (EAA) supplementation (4-8 g daily) improves peak VO2 and functional capacity in patients with HFrEF, whereas Branched-Chain Amino Acids (BCAA) do not provide additional benefit over exercise training alone.
If you have heart failure, talk to your doctor about Essential Amino Acids (EAA) rather than just BCAAs. Small doses (4-8g) of EAAs taken twice daily may help improve your exercise capacity. BCAAs, often marketed for muscle building, did not show extra benefits in heart failure patients in this study.
In a randomized control trial of 66 individuals with HFrEF, subjects were assigned to either 5 g of branched chain AA (BCAA) twice a day plus resistance ET or resistance ET alone... At 3 months, there were increases in peak VO2... in both groups, with no differences between the groups [80].
Why this rating
Based on multiple small RCTs with varying results; one trial showed no difference for BCAAs, while others showed benefits for EAAs.
Source
Lifestyle Interventions with a Focus on Nutritional Strategies to Increase Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Heart Failure, Obesity, Sarcopenia, and Frailty
Hayley Billingsley et al. · Nutrients · 2019
DOI 10.3390/nu11122849
More from this paper
- L-Carnosine supplementation (500 mg daily) improves cardiorespiratory fitness (peak VO2 and anaerobic threshold) in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) by buffering lactic acid and delaying muscular acidosis.Moderate
- High-energy nutritional supplements combined with exercise training improve functional capacity (6MWT) and fat-free mass index in malnourished COPD patients, but do not consistently improve peak VO2.Moderate
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