REVIEW: Effects of Amino Acid Derivativeson, Physical, Mental and Physiological Activities.

This is a useful review of five ergogenic amino acid supplements (creatine, tyrosine, carnitine, HMB, and taurine) used frequently to enhance exercise performance, mental activity as well as body strength and composition.

Creatine, carnitine, HMB, and taurine are reported to delay the onset of fatigue, improve exercise performance, and body strength. Tyrosine has been proved to be very effective in fighting stress, improving mood and cognitive performance particularly in sleep-deprived subjects. Creatine is the most examined supplement with proven results, carnitine and taurine needs more comprehensive researches to provide evidence for their ergogenic role.

Download full PDF text: Effects of Amino Acid Derivativeson Physical, Mental, and Physiological Activities. (Feby Luckose , Mohan Chandra Pandey & Kolpe Radhakrishna a Freeze Drying and Animal Products Technology, Defence Food Research Laboratory, Mysore, India Accepted author version posted online: 26 Nov 2013.)

Table 1: Ergogenic action, type of exercise performed, and recommended dosage of the four amino acid derivatives

Supplements	Ergogenic action	Type of exercise	Recommended dosage
Creatine	Increased muscle mass, strength, fat free mass and fatigue resistance	Short term endurance exercise, resistance exercise, anaerobic exercise	20 g/day-acute dose 3–5 g/day- chronic dose
Tyrosine	Improved cognitive performance, accelerated neurotransmitter synthesis, stress resistance	Stress related tasks	Up to 100 mg/kg body weight
Carnitine	Increased fat metabolism, energy production and fatigue resistance	Long term endurance exercise	2 g/day
HMB	Increased body strength, fat free mass, muscle mass, body fat loss and reduced muscle damage	Resistance training, anaerobic exercise	3 g/day
Taurine	Antihypertensive, increased maximal performance, reduced oxidative stress and body weight	Endurance exercise	3 g/day