Table 3.

Characteristics of the main review articles on BCAA supplementation in cirrhosis.

Study, Year	Study Type	Number of Studies Included	Population	BCAA Intervention	Comparison	Measurements	Main Findings
Konstantis et al., 2022 [37]	Meta-analysis	20	Adults with cirrhosis, including HCC	Hypo- or hyper- caloric formulas	Diet, snacks, M-DXT, L-ALB & casein	SMI and/or MAMC	Slight significant increase in BCAA group compared to control group
						Tricipital skinfold	Decreasing trend in the BCAA group, without differences with the control
						BMI	Significant increase in the BCAA compared to control
Ismaiel et al., 2022 [36]	Meta-analysis	17	Adults with cirrhosis, excluding HCC	Hypo- or hyper- caloric formulas	M-DXT, diet, L-ALB & No group of comparison	SMI and/or MAMC	Significant increase in BCAA group, without differences compared to control
						Handgrip strength	Non-significant increase at the end of BCAA therapy and compared to control
						Tricipital skinfold	Non-significant decrease with BCAA vs control therapy
Ooi et al., 2018 [35]	Systematic review	40	Children & adults with cirrhosis or hepatic failure, including HCC	Hypo- or hyper- caloric formulas	Diet, casein, etc & No group of comparison	Fat free mass	No variation in 75% of studies
						Muscular strength	Increased in 75% of studies
						Fat mass	No variation in 75% of studies
						Body weight	No variation in 76% of studies

HCC: hepatocellular carcinoma, M-DXT; maltodextrins, L-ALB: lactalbumin, SMI: skeletal muscle index, MAMC: mid-arm muscle circumference, BMI: body mass index.