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Nutrition and Traumatic Brain Injury Improving Acute and Subacute Health Outcomes in Military Personnel (2011) / Chapter Skim
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8 Branched-Chain Amino Acids
Pages 108-114

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From page 108...
... In addition to their function as structural components of proteins, BCAAs also seem to exert regulatory control of protein metabolism. In rodent tissue in vitro, increased concentrations of BCAAs stimulate protein synthesis and inhibit protein catabolism, whereas other amino acid mixtures lacking BCAAs have no such influence.
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From page 109...
... It is, however, difficult to assess whether some of the outcomes that were not regarded as adverse effects would present a concern in a military setting. As an example, after examining one of the studies reporting no adverse effects, the committee concluded that excessive intake of BCAAs may be deleterious; in that study, oral doses of 10, 30, and 60 grams of BCAAs caused small increases in spatial recognition memory latency in healthy human subjects, but no changes in visual information processing or pattern recognition (Gijsman et al., 2002)
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From page 110...
... ; state, 47±24 days no improvement was detected in placebo postinjury group. No adverse effects were mentioned.
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From page 111...
... Tier 2: Observational studies None found Tier 3: Animal studies Cole et al., TBI, lateral Adult male Postinjury, dietary After being treated with BCAA for 5 days 2010 fluid C57BL/ consumption of BCAAs after injury, BCAA level in injured mice (100 μM leucine, percussion J6 mice is not significantly different from sham brain injury isoleucine, and valine) mice.
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From page 112...
... found that valine at 300 mg/kg increased the mean latency time to onset of seizures, the study by Dufour found no such effect for valine. EVIDENCE INDICATING EFFECT ON TREATMENT Human Studies Only one prospective randomized clinical study has investigated the efficacy of BCAAs as an acute treatment for TBI (Ott et al., 1988)
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From page 113...
... A prospective, randomized controlled study of patients undergoing curative hepatic resection found that perioperative oral nutrition including BCAAs resulted in higher serum erythropoietin concentrations than a control diet (for patients who did not have hepatitis)
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From page 114...
... 2008. Branched chain amino acids may improve recovery from a vegetative or minimally conscious state in patients with traumatic brain injury: A pilot study.
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Key Terms

  • amino acid
  • ketogenic diet
  • traumatic brain
  • brain injury
  • chain amino

  • injured mice
  • animal studies
  • hippocampal slices
  • military personnel
  • aromatic amino

  • essential amino
  • intravenous amino
  • specific amino
  • balanced amino
  • acid solution

  • patients undergoing
  • standard intravenous
  • indicating effect
  • sham controls
  • controlled study

  • animal models
  • preinjury nutritional
  • seizure threshold
  • prospective randomized
  • amyotrophic lateral

  • evidence indicating
  • intracranial aneurysm
  • protein synthesis
  • nutritional intake
  • subarachnoid hemorrhage


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