HMB may support muscle recovery, says recent study

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A recent study¹ found that supplementation with beta-hydroxy beta-methyl butyrate (HMB) may help alleviate muscle soreness in athletes. In the study, 24 professional soccer players were given either 3 grams of HMB per day or placebo for 12 nights distributed across three meals. Each subject also participated in a training protocol designed to model the movements of a soccer game and has been demonstrated to trigger physiological responses similar to that of a soccer game. Blood samples were taken before and immediately after implementing the training protocol.

Results showed that while there was no difference between groups in the anthropometric measures such as weight, BMI, and VO2Max, subjects taking HMB saw significant changes in the indicators of muscle injury and significantly better perceived recovery rate, compared to placebo. Subjects in the HMB group saw significant reductions in creatine kinase index (CK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) index, which are released after intense exercise, increasing muscle pain, inflammatory markers, as well as decreasing muscle function in individuals.

“Its known mechanism of action is to increase protein synthesis and minimize protein breakdown. This dual mechanism has been known to blunt damage to the muscles, meaning that there’s less energy and time required for your body to recover, and you can get back to training harder and sooner,” explained TSI Group (Missoula, MT) vice president of business development Shawn Baier, MS, MBA, in a press release. TSI manufactures the HMB used in the study.

Reference

1. Rezaeimanesh, D “Response of muscle damage indices to short-term supplementation of HMB-FA in professional soccer players.” Journal of Pharmaceutical Negative Results, vol. 13, no. 1 (2022): 68-74, http://dx.doi.org/10.47750/pnr.2022.13.01.013