BCAAs (branched-chain amino acids) and soreness

What 2 graded rows on bcaas (branched-chain amino acids) agree on for soreness, and where they differ. Counted side by side, never averaged.

Consensus finder Rows from the BCAAs (branched-chain amino acids) page, reviewed Oct 21, 2026 How it decides

What the rows agree on

Each block and row is one graded row from the BCAAs (branched-chain amino acids) page, with its PubMed record.

Supplement

BCAAs (branched-chain amino acids) Choose another

2 rows · 392 people

They agree: both rows found an improvement.

No difference

Improved

Each block is one evidence row, sized by how many people it enrolled, with its grade inside.

From the rows

The best-graded row, grade B, is a meta-analysis of 331 people (2024) and found an improvement.

The rows run from 61 to 331 people, published from 2019 to 2024: 2 pooled reviews and 0 single studies.

2 improved

Grade BMuscle damage marker (creatine kinase) and soreness after damaging exercise · Improved
Meta-analysis, 18 studies · n 331 · 2024 · Healthy active adults in 18 RCTs
3.15 to 29.3 g/day (full text) · 1 to 28 days (full text)
Creatine kinase was lower than placebo immediately (g = −0.44) and at 72 h (g = −0.99), but not at 24, 48 or 96 h; soreness was lower at 24, 48, 72 and 96 h (g = −1.82 to −0.82); lactate dehydrogenase did not change.
Row on the BCAAs (branched-chain amino acids) page · PubMed 38625669 (opens PubMed)
Grade CDelayed-onset muscle soreness · Improved
Meta-analysis, 8 studies · n 61 · 2019 · Adults after an acute bout of exercise in 8 placebo-controlled studies
Varied across trials · Single exercise bouts
Soreness after exercise was lower than with placebo (effect size 0.73), based on 61 participants across 8 small studies.
Row on the BCAAs (branched-chain amino acids) page · PubMed 30938579 (opens PubMed)