BENEFITS OF AMINO ACIDS: ESSENTIAL AMINO ACIDS & BRANCHED-CHAIN AMINO ACIDS
Ready to build muscle, supercharge strength, boost endurance, reduce post-exercise muscle soreness, and shortcut recovery… without spending long hours at the gym or in your physio’s office?
If you are interested in health, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of amino acids. Maybe that’s why you’re here: in search of a better option. But have you ever thought deeply about why these essential amino acids are crucial?
Amino Acids are the building blocks of protein, or more precisely, Branch Chain Amino Acids are the building blocks of life.
Yes, they form the contractile elements that allow you to lift, move, and craft a fantastic body.
But they also speed up most chemical reactions in your cells, provide structure and strength, act like biological glue to hold tissues together, transport nourishment from outside to inside your cells, protect you from infection, form hormones, and control gene expression.
So, if you want to stay well, build and maintain a strong, robust, and resilient body, you must consume sufficient protein. However, many people don’t (and this worsens as we age).
Not all amino acids are the same; some are non-essential, others are essential. The body can manufacture the former, so supplementation is not necessary. The essential amino acids are crucial (more on this in a moment) and are divided into essential amino acids and branched-chain amino acids.
Essential Amino Acids
Essential Amino Acids, or EAAs, are indispensable. Humans are unable to manufacture EAAs, so we must consume them in our diets. There are nine essential amino acids necessary for human health: histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine.
Main essential amino acids. Image Credit: Chromatos / Shutterstock
Single complete proteins contain all nine Essential Amino Acids. Other than soy, its food sources are animal-based. The recommended daily intake is different for each amino acid. While it is entirely possible to consume incomplete proteins to meet your daily requirement, it is harder for vegetarians and vegans to ensure sufficiency.
The Benefits of Essential Amino Acids
What are the benefits of Essential Amino Acids, particularly when it comes to staying fit and healthy?
Muscle Growth
The presence of Essential Amino Acid within cells controls the anabolic — or muscle growth — response. In essence, to build bulk, you must have adequate essential amino acids.
A study published in the journal, Nutrients found, increasing the concentration of EAAs by 100% improved the rate of muscle protein synthesis by a staggering 34%. Healthy levels of essential amino acids are required to “drive a robust increase in muscle and whole-body protein synthesis,” as well as protecting against muscle damage.
In essence, if you aim to build bulk effectively, you must consume all nine essential amino acids and in sufficient quantities.
Increased Strength
As muscle grows, it makes sense that they become stronger. But can essential amino acids boost this result?
A study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology investigated this topic.
Essential Amino Acid supplements were assessed in the early phase of a heavy-load training program and compared to placebo. The authors found that ingestion of EAAs resulted in more significant changes in building muscle. They noted that “EAA supplementation has a positive effect on muscle hypertrophy and architecture.” The well-structured muscles grew in size and strength.
A second study, Essential amino acid and muscle protein recovery from resistance exercise said, “Although net muscle protein balance is generally improved after resistance exercise, it remains negative. Therefore, nutrient intake is necessary to achieve positive net muscle protein balance.” In short, to supercharge muscle bulk and strength, an essential amino acid is required.
Branched-chain Amino Acids
Branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) are also essential; we must get them through our diet. They are known as “branched” because they each contain a molecular structure that features a branched element. There are three types of Branched Chain Amino Acids: leucine, isoleucine, and valine.
BCAA Benefits: A Review of Branched-Chain Amino Acids. Image Credit: Healthline
BCAAs also offer the building blocks to achieve a healthier, more muscular body.
The Benefits of Branched-chain Amino Acids
BCAAs come with a range of benefits, including enhanced recovery, protection against muscle damage, and reduced soreness post-exercise.
Enhanced Recovery
It’s one thing to build size and strength, but another to recover rapidly. Yet being able to quickly bounce back amps up results and reduces injury risk. This begs a different question; can amino acids aid recovery?
Supplemental branched-chain amino acid appears to reduce the skeletal muscle tissue damage triggered by training, enhance performance rebound, and importantly exert an anti-catabolic effect; that is, they help stop the breakdown of muscle tissue.
Protection Against Injury
One of the most important ways to achieve great results is to limit or avoid muscle damage. When you’re pushing your body hard, this can be easier said than done.
Yet, support may be found in supplementing your amino acid intake.
The review article, Is Branched-Chain Amino Acid Supplementation an Efficient Nutritional Strategy to Alleviate Skeletal Muscle Damage? A Systematic Review found that supplementing with BCAAs can reduce exercise-induced muscle damage.
The provisos? That muscle damage is not severe, and that supplementation included high BCAA levels and was taken for more than 10 days. Protection against injury was particularly adequate when consumed before the damaging exercise.
Reduced Post-exercise Muscle Soreness
Everyone who trains knows the discomfort of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). It’s an uncomfortable hazard that can negatively impact training and just plain hurts.
Yet BCAAs can calm muscle soreness. 9.6 grams per day, especially before training, has been shown to decrease discomfort significantly on the days following exercise.
The Takeaway
Consuming high-quality amino acid supplements rich in essential amino acids and branched-chain amino acids aids muscle growth and strength, enhances recovery, and protects against low-to-moderate skeletal muscle injury and delayed onset muscle soreness.
These benefits are why our customers love AminoLoad! It’s why this supplement was designed.
With histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine, AminoLoad is formulated with EAAs, BCAAs, and other nutrients to amp up performance and results. Blend one scoop in a glass of water to ensure the nutrients you need to build a strong, muscular, healthy body.
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