Additional Effects of Taurine on the Bene fi ts of BCAA Intake for the Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness and Muscle Damage Induced by High-Intensity Eccentric Exercise - Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology - page 171

Fig. 18.3 Muscle soreness and areas under the curve (AUC) of VAS in the period from before exer-
cise to following 4 days. DOMS was subjectively determined from VAS scores following the exten-
sion of the exercised arm. Abbreviations : DOSS delayed-onset muscle soreness, AUC area under the
curve of VAS during the experimental period, Before before exercise, PLCB placebo supplement
group, BCAA BCAA supplement group, TAU taurine supplement group, AdTB addition of taurine
with BCAA supplement group. Values are expressed in mean ± S.E.* P < 0.05 and ** P < 0.01 vs.
Before (repeated measures ANOVA followed by the Dunnett's multiple comparison post hoc test ).
‡ P < 0.05 vs. PLCB (one-way ANOVA multiple comparison and nonparametric Wilcoxon tests)

18.4 Discussion

In the present study, the additional effect of TAU with BCAA supplementations on
the DOMS and muscle damages induced by ECC was investigated in a randomized,
placebo-controlled, double-blind study. Our findings were that the combination of
TAU (6 g/day) and BCAA (9.6 g/day) supplementation throughout from 2 weeks
before and following 4 days after exercise attenuated DOMS and muscle damages
after high-intensity ECC.
Although the previous studies have already shown that BCAA intake attenu-
ated DOMS, the present study suggests that supplementation of TAU and BCAA
would be a more active ingredient for DOMS attenuation. Interestingly, the
combination of BCAA with other amino acids, but not TAU, has been reported
to have no effect on the DOMS (Nosaka et al. 2006 ; White et al. 2008 ) . Because
of many physiological and pharmacological roles including anti-oxidation
(Silva et al. 2011 ), TAU might have many effects to enhance the BCAA action
for attenuation of DOMS.
In addition, the supplemental amount of BCAA per muscle mass might be a cru-
cial factor for DOMS attenuation. In the present study, single supplementation of
BCAA for 18 days decreased the DOMS and muscle damages, but not significantly.
Similarly, some previous studies (Nosaka et al. 2006 ; White et al. 2008 ) also reported
that the BCAA supplements with only one or two occasions showed no significant