Do Amino Acids Really Help You Exercise Or Are Nutrition Supplement Companies Pulling A Fast One On You? It seems these days that the building blocks of proteins, affectionally known as “amino acids”, are tiny little gold nuggets that bestow superhuman powers upon anyone lucky enough to stumble upon them in a sports gel, capsule, fizzy drink or cocktail. After all, these little guys are starting to get put by nutrition supplement manufacturers into just about everything, from your engineered pre- workout snack, to your during workout beverage, to your post- workout smoothie mix. But why are amino acids so prevalent now? And more importantly, do amino acids actually work?
BCAA (Branched Chain Amino Acids) BCAA Powder by BulkSupplements.com – FREE Shipping. Read Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA) Nutritional Information and Reviews. Taking them before and after the workout session is crucial for supporting optimum results.* This is when the muscle tissues require amino acids the most, feed those.
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Do Amino Acids Really Help You Exercise Or Are Nutrition Supplement Companies Pulling A Fast One On You? You're about to find out, and have a bit of fun in the process. Back in biology class, it was convenient to think of a muscle like a big Lego castle (or Lego pirate ship, depending on your tastes), and amino acids as all the little legos that made up the giant Lego structure (your muscle). Convenient, yes. Complete, no. The role of amino acids goes beyond building blocks – they are essential for the synthesis of proteins, enzymes, hormones, neurotransmitters, metabolic pathways, mental stabilization, and just about every function that takes place within the human body. So using the Legos- are- amino- acids example, a more appropriate analogy would be that you dump all the Legos out of the box and they self- assemble in a magic pirate ship, then float into the air and fly around the room shooting miniature cannon balls. In other words, the function of amino acids goes far beyond simple “building blocks”.
In the nutrition supplement industry (when I use that word, it seems to denote big fat guys in black suits sitting around an oak conference table, but in reality, most of these folks are skinny athletes in white shoes and shorts), amino acid supplements fall into two basic categories: Essential Amino Acids (EAA's) and Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA's). In Part 1 of this two- part amino acids series, let's review the first category: the EAA's (do not pronounce this like a donkey “heehaw”. Just say the letters.)Essential Amino Acids. Essential amino acids, as the name implies, are essential because they can't be made by our bodies, like all the other amino acids.
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Instead, we have to get them from our diet. Have you ever heard of Private Tim Hall, AKA Pvt. If you're a biology or chemistry geek, you probably have, because he's the pneumonic commonly used to remember the essential amino acids, which are Phenylanine, Valine, Threonine, Tryptophan, Isoleucine, Histidine, Arginine,Leucine and Lysine.
BCAAs (Branched Chain Amino Acids – Leucine, Valine and Isoleucine) are one of the most effective supplements you can buy. BCAAs improve and maintain your muscle. Amino acids are organic compounds containing amine (-NH 2) and carboxyl (-COOH) functional groups, along with a side chain (R group) specific to each amino acid. Branched-chain amino acids are essential nutrients that the body obtains from proteins found in food, especially meat, dairy products, and legumes. TOP 10 BCAAS (BRANCHED CHAIN AMINO ACIDS) See our 24 product reports. Back to all rankings.
Thanks Tim, we'll send you a check if we ever win money in Biology Trivial Pursuit. Anyways, let's take a look at why the heck Pvt.
Tim might do us good during exercise, starting with P. Phenylalanine is traditionally marketed for it's analgesic (pain- killing) and antidepressant effect, and is a precursor to the synthesis of norepinephrine and dopamine, two “feel- good” brain chemicals. This could be good because elevated brain levels of norepinephrine and dopamine may actually lower your “RPE” or Rating of Perceived Exertion During Exercise, which means you could be happier when you're suffering hallway through a killer workout session or Ironman bike ride. Valine, along with Isoleucine and Leucine, is a real player, because it is BOTH an Essential Amino Acid and a Branched Chain Amino Acid.
Valine is an essential amino acid. It can help to prevent muscle proteins from breaking down during exercise. This means that if you take Valine during exercise, you could recover faster because you'd have less muscle damage. More details on that in the Part 2 of this article, which will focus on BCAA's.
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Threonine research is a bit scant. I personally couldn't find much at all that explained why threonine could assist with exercise performance, but would hazard a guess that it is included in essential amino acid supplements because it is just that: essential. And many of the studies done on EAA's just basically use all of them, rather than isolating one, like Threonine.
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For example, and this is a bit interesting for people who are masochistic enough to like working out starved, there is a significant muscle- preserving effect of an EAA + Carbohydrate solution ingested during training in a fasted state, and decreased indicators of muscle damage and inflammation. This basically means that if you popped some essential amino acids, even if you didn't eat anything, you might not “cannibalize” as much lean muscle during a fasted workout session. OK, sorry, I got sidetracked there. Tryptophan is an interesting one. It is a precursor for serotonin, a brain neurotransmitter that can suppress pain, and if you're taking some before bed at night, even induce a bit of sleepiness. The main reason to take tryptophan would be to increase tolerance to pain during hard workouts, games or races.
But studies to this point go back and forth on whether or not that actually improves performance. Isoleucine, another BCAA/EAA combo, has some of the same advantages of Valine. More on BCAA's Part 2. Histidine, as the name implies, is a precursor to histamine, and actually has some antioxidant properties and plays a key role in carnosine synthesis.
Looking back, that sentence I just wrote is not very user- friendly, and is pretty much just geek speak. Here's a clarification: histamine could help you fight off the cell damaging free radicals you produce during exercise, and carnosine helps you get rid of muscle burn more quickly, and helps turn lactic acid back into useable muscle fuel.
So hooray for histidine, it gets a gold star sticker. Next is arginine, and if you're reading this and you're an old man who has relied on a little blue sill to have a happier time in the sac, you can thank arginine. Arginine helps with nitric oxide synthesis, and nitric oxide is a vasodilator that increases blood flow and could help with exercise capacity (in the case of the blue pill, for one specific body part). Most of the studies on arginine show that it really helps folks with cardiovascular disease improve exercise capacity, and like tryptophan, the studies go back and forth on whether it really helps with the athletic population – but it has a great deal of promise.
Leucine is yet another BCAA/EAA combo. Yes, we will get to BCAA's in Part 2. Lysine is something my Mom used to take to help cold sores that she got from eating citrusy foods. That's basically because it helps heal mouth tissue. But more importantly for exercising individuals, lysine may actual assist with growth- hormone release, which could vastly improve muscle repair and recovery, although if you take lysine in it's isolated form, the amount you'd have to take to increase growth hormone release would cause gastrointestinal distress, or as I like to it, sad poopies. But combined with all the other essential amino acids, there may be a growth hormone response in smaller doses, and there is some clinical evidence that essential amino acid supplementation could stimulate growth hormone releasing factors. That about wraps it up for essential amino acids.
The only thing I didn't mention is that the EAA's have a bit of an insulin and cortisol increasing effect. Before you draw back in shock and go flush all your essential amino acids down the toilet because you heard insulin and cortisol make you fat, remember that both insulin and cortisol are crucial (in smaller amounts) for the “anabolic process”, or the growth, repair and recovery of lean muscle tissue.
The amount you get in essential amino acids is far different than the stress and insulin/cortisol response you get from eating a pint of ice cream while you drink whisky and work on an all- night project for work. Not that I eat ice cream and drink whisky that often. But for now, I'll put aside the chocolatey spoon and shot glass, stop writing, and let you sit back and absorb the information I've presented in this article. Don't you feel all warm and geeky?
Questions so far? Leave them below! Unless you think I made a glaring scientific error, in which case you can shove it. Just kidding, leave your comments below, including the critical ones. Part 2 coming Friday.
Benefits . They are particularly well known in body- building and other sports requiring growth of strong muscle tissue. They cannot be synthesised by the body and therefore have to be supplemented via foods containing protein and are therefore classed as essential amino acids. BCAAs play a pivotal role in human metabolism and are actively used in the treatment against cirrhosis of the liver and in intensive care with great success. Best Seller BCAAs on amazon.
The branched- chain amino acid L- Valine has industrial applications in the fermentation of alcoholic beverages and is a central building block of many important enzymes. It assists in the human body’s energy provisioning processes and therefore plays an important role in building physical strength and muscle mass. Foods containing large amounts of L- Valine are very popular with athletes and especially body builders, who attempt to accelerate muscle hypertrophy (growth) in order to gain strength, power and speed. L- Leucine plays a central role in the metabolism of muscle tissue therefore contributing to both its generation and preservation. It is an important building block for many proteins and therefore supports various healing processes.
Adults should consume 1. L- Leucine per kilo body weight. A deficiency, however, can also be caused by an undersupply of Vitamin B6. Best Seller BCAAs on amazon.
In a similar fashion, the BCAA L- Isoleucine plays a pivotal role in the energy supply of muscle tissue, which is particularly critical during periods of extensive exercise or in acute hunger periods. Unless present in sufficient quantity in the blood, the body will access its storage reserves, which will inevitably lead to a reduction of L- Leucine and muscle mass. This effect must be avoided by athletes trying to build muscle mass. BCAAs enhance muscle protein synthesis for greater muscle hypertrophy (growth) and maintenance of lean muscle mass during non- training periods such as recovery from injury. This happens especially when consumed with a pool of amino acids consisting of alanine, aspartate and glutamate.
Leucine- enriched BCAAs mixtures enhance muscle building for older trainees who aim to put on muscle. The most effective ratio for muscle growth is thought to be 4: 1 of Leucine to Valine and Isoleucine. BCAAs increase fat burning (Leucine) and glucose tolerance (Isoleucine) for a leaner body composition. During training periods for fat loss, the athlete should increase food and supplements with a high BCAA content.
BCAAs improve hormone balance for greater strength, power and endurance by increasing testosterone and decreasing cortisol in addition to reducing inflammation. BCAAs may improve strength development with training when more than 4g per day of Leucine is consumed, because of effective increases neuromuscular coordination. BCAAs enhance strength endurance and decrease fatigue, because BCAAs can be burned as energy to replenish ATP (Adenosine Tri- Phosphate) levels, the prime energy molecule in the human body. They also delay fatigue and tiredness by inhibiting Tryptophan receptors in the brain. BCAAs preserve the integrity of muscle fibres.
This decreases muscle soreness and allows you to train more frequently helping you to reach your full athletic potential more efficiently and effectively. BCAAs reduces muscle catabolism (degradation) by protecting lean muscle tissue. This also prevents muscle mass reduction in endurance sports, where BCAA levels in blood plasma can drop significantly. BCAAs improves insulin health and metabolic rate for an advantageous body composition. Insulin sensitivity may also reduce the risk of diabetes.
BCAAs have anti- ageing properties, because they are used in cancer and liver disease treatment strategies. They increase the formation of new mitochondria and thus reduce age related muscle loss. BCAAs improve cognition, because of their enhancing effect on neurotransmitters and glutamate synthesis , .
Branched chain amino acids are contained mainly in protein rich foods and make up three out of the eight essential amino acids. With a balanced and healthy diet it should be no problem to cover the body’s daily minimum requirements. Certain factors, however, can radically increase this minimum requirement to the extend that supplementation becomes necessary.
Best Seller BCAAs on amazon. The Flash Diet for example drastically reduces the body’s BCAA depots and the body will require urgent replenishment to avoid the breaking down of muscle tissue to source BCAAs for maintenance or muscle repair elsewhere. Liver conditions and high intensity exercise will also increase the requirement of Leucine, Valine und Isoleucine. Athletes and patients should therefore consumer extra amounts regularly.
Foods particularly rich in L- Leucine are beef (approx. L- Valine und L- Isoleucine are also included in significant amounts in meat and other animal produce.
Dried peas (approx. BCAA concentration. Meat eaters will get large amounts of their minimum daily requirement from chicken breast (approx.
A healthy adults needs about 1. If you exercise regularly it is worth considering taking either a dedicated BCAA supplement or consuming them with whey protein powder. The aminoacidstudies team has compared the top 7 whey protein powders to help you find which one is right for you. Best Seller BCAAs on amazon.
Unlike most amino acids, BCAAs are predominantly metabolised in the muscles and not in the liver. This demonstrates their extraordinary importance in the energy supply of muscle tissue. They are also useful in treating protein tissue reducing conditions such as tumors, because they reduce the natural amino acid catabolism or break down. In chronic liver conditions a sufficient supply of BCAAs is critical, because it can stop the transfer of potential harmful substances from the blood to the brain. L- Leucine in particular plays a vital role in the generation and preservation of muscle tissue by supporting protein synthesis in the muscle and liver and blocking the breakdown of muscle tissue.
It also regulates the energy supply of the body and plays a part in the synthesis of glucose. It is therefore advised to supplement it during low carbohydrate diets. L- Valine is important in the biosynthesis of protein and the proper conversion of food into energy. This means it is an important muscle nutrient and is regularly supplemented by professional athletes.
Another important property of this nutrient is the stimulation of insuline production which controls the blood sugar and accelerates the absorption of amino acids in muscle and liver. Supplying the body with too little L- Valine can result in disruptive growth and reduction of muscle tissue. Best Seller BCAAs on amazon. The third BCAA L- Isoleucine is also a crucial building block for protein synthesis and can significantly aid the energy supply of the mitochondria, the power plants inside each cell. Other important functions of BCAAs are the stimulation of insuline production and consistent maintenance of nitrogen levels inside the body. This is particularly important for the generation of new tissue and makes possible healthy growth especially in children and adolescents.
In the very rare case of an overdose, this amino acid is easily excreted by the body via urine and therefore does not cause any side effects in the body. BCAAs can be used to effectively treat certain illnesses, because they play such an important role in many crucial metabolic processes. L- Leucine and L- Valine are particularly important, wich has been shown by many scientific studies in the past. The effect of L- Leucine supplementation on protein synthesis in senile patients was investigated recently. The group was given four grams of L- Leucine per day with their meals.
It was then confirmed that an improved protein synthesis and parallel phosphorylation of particular dietary neurotransmitters important in nutrition was a direct result of the regular consumption of Leucine via the dietary supplements. Specifically it was shown that a high BCAA concentration BCAA correlates with a low occurrence of adipositas (fatty heart) and an appropriate supplementation will have an extremely positive effect on the subject’s general health. BCAAs and amino acids in general play important role in healthy, sustainable weight loss. Furthermore, it has been shown that an insufficient supply of BCAAs can contribute to causing diabetes . The same researchers showed that an additional supplementation of L- Leucine, L- Valine and L- Isoleucine can stimulate the production of insuline in existing cases of diabetes and therefore contributes to improving the general condition of patients.
Similar results have been found in studies looking at links between L- Arginine und L- Carnitine and diabetes. Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAA) are essential to the human body and critical for muscle hypertrophy (growth) and maintenance. They have a significant positive effect on the generation of various tissues, healing and metabolic processes via the protein synthesis in the liver. Walnuts and mais flower as plant- based sources and meat, milk and eggs are most appropriate to cover the recommended daily allowance. If the body does not receive a minimum amount of L- Valine, L- Leucine und L- Isoleucine, which can easily happen in professional athletes the shortage can easily compensated by consuming dietary supplements, which are also beneficial in the prevention and treatment of certain illnesses such as diabetes.
Supplementation is recommended especially during periods of highly intensive exercise which will promote the growth of muscle tissue. BCAAs should also be supplemented to complement food during weight- loss diets to counteract muscle atrophy as the body may significantly lack certain nutrients.