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The effect of HMB supplementation on body composition, fitness, hormonal and inflammatory mediators in elite adolescent volleyball players: a prospective randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study

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Abstract

The use of ergogenic nutritional supplements is becoming inseparable from competitive sports. β-Hydroxy-β-Methylbutyric acid (HMB) has recently been suggested to promote fat-free mass (FFM) and strength gains during resistance training in adults. In this prospective randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, we studied the effect of HMB (3 g/day) supplementation on body composition, muscle strength, anaerobic and aerobic capacity, anabolic/catabolic hormones and inflammatory mediators in elite, national team level adolescent volleyball players (13.5–18 years, 14 males, 14 females, Tanner stage 4–5) during the first 7 weeks of the training season. HMB led to a significant greater increase in FFM by skinfold thickness (56.4 ± 10.2 to 56.3 ± 8.6 vs. 59.3 ±  11.3 to 61.6 ± 11.3 kg in the control and HMB group, respectively, p < 0.001). HMB led to a significant greater increase in both dominant and non-dominant knee flexion isokinetic force/FFM, measured at fast (180°/sec) and slow (60°/sec) angle speeds, but had no significant effect on knee extension and elbow flexion and extension. HMB led to a significant greater increase in peak and mean anaerobic power determined by the Wingate anaerobic test (peak power: 15.5 ± 1.6 to 16.2 ± 1.2 vs. 15.4 ± 1.6 to 17.2 ± 1.2 watts/FFM, mean power: 10.6 ± 0.9 to 10.8 ± 1.1 vs. 10.7 ± 0.8 to 11.8 ± 1.0 watts/FFM in control and HMB group, respectively, p < 0.01), with no effect on fatigue index. HMB had no significant effect on aerobic fitness or on anabolic (growth hormone, IGF-I, testosterone), catabolic (cortisol) and inflammatory mediators (IL-6 and IL-1 receptor antagonist). HMB supplementation was associated with greater increases in muscle mass, muscle strength and anaerobic properties with no effect on aerobic capacity suggesting some advantage for its use in elite adolescent volleyball players during the initial phases of the training season. These effects were not accompanied by hormonal and inflammatory mediator changes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Nutritional Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel

    Shawn Portal & Zvi Zadik

  2. Ribstein Center for Sport Medicine Sciences and Research, Wingate Institute, Netanya, Israel

    Shawn Portal, Ruty Pilz-Burstein & Dana Adler-Portal

  3. School of Social Work, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel

    Jonathan Rabinowitz

  4. Zinman College of Physical Education and Sport Sciences at the Wingate Institute, Netanya, Israel

    Yoav Meckel

  5. Pediatric Department, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    Dan M. Cooper

  6. Pediatric Department, Child Health and Sport Center, Meir Medical Center, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel

    Alon Eliakim & Dan Nemet

Authors
  1. Shawn Portal
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  2. Zvi Zadik
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  3. Jonathan Rabinowitz
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  4. Ruty Pilz-Burstein
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  5. Dana Adler-Portal
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  6. Yoav Meckel
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  7. Dan M. Cooper
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  8. Alon Eliakim
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  9. Dan Nemet
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dan Nemet.

Additional information

Communicated by William J. Kraemer.

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Portal, S., Zadik, Z., Rabinowitz, J. et al. The effect of HMB supplementation on body composition, fitness, hormonal and inflammatory mediators in elite adolescent volleyball players: a prospective randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Eur J Appl Physiol 111, 2261–2269 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-011-1855-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-011-1855-x

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