Comparison of an Antioxidant Source and Antioxidant Plus BCAA on Athletic Performance and Post Exercise Recovery of Horses.
Authors: Kent Emily, Coleman Stephen, Bruemmer Jason, Casagrande Regan R, Levihn Christine, Romo Grace, Herkelman Kevin, Hess Tanja
Journal: Journal of equine veterinary science
Summary
# Editorial Summary Whilst antioxidant supplementation is widely used to mitigate exercise-induced oxidative stress in equine athletes, concern exists that aggressive antioxidant provision may paradoxically suppress the adaptive muscle protein synthesis response necessary for training gains. This 2023 study evaluated whether combining branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) with antioxidants could deliver the benefits of oxidative stress reduction without compromising this critical adaptation mechanism. Over 30 days, 18 polo horses received either a control diet, high-antioxidant supplementation, or high-antioxidant plus BCAA supplementation, with blood markers of oxidative stress (glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, malondialdehyde) and muscle biopsy gene expression analysis conducted before and after lactate threshold tests. Oxidative stress declined progressively over the supplementation period (P < 0.05), and key metabolic and myogenic genes—including CD36, CPT1, PDK4, MYF5 and MYOG—showed robust upregulation following exercise across all groups, with only MYOD1 and MYF6 showing modest treatment-specific responses that favoured the antioxidant-only group. The findings suggest that practitioners need not fear compromised muscle adaptation when using antioxidants in training programmes, though the addition of BCAAs offered no measurable advantage over antioxidant supplementation alone in this cohort.
Read the full abstract on PubMed
Practical Takeaways
- •Adding branched-chain amino acids to antioxidant supplements does not provide additional recovery benefits beyond antioxidants alone in exercising horses
- •Antioxidant supplementation alone appears sufficient to manage postexercise oxidative stress; practitioners need not invest in more expensive combination products for this purpose
- •Exercise itself drives muscle protein synthesis gene expression; supplementation choices should focus on oxidative stress management rather than assuming combination formulas enhance adaptation
Key Findings
- •Oxidative stress decreased over time from day 0 to day 30 (P < 0.05) across all treatment groups
- •Muscle protein synthesis genes (CD36, CPT1, PDK4, MYF5, MYOG) were upregulated post-exercise without differences between treatment groups
- •High antioxidant (AO) supplementation showed greater MYOD1 transcript upregulation post-exercise compared to control and BCAA+antioxidant groups (P = 0.0041)
- •BCAA supplementation provided no additional benefit to antioxidant-alone supplementation for reducing oxidative stress or enhancing protein synthesis