Save Your Money: This Popular “Muscle Building” Supplement Is A Dud!

 By Tom Venuto, from the “Burn The Fat, Feed the Muscle” e-zine

Did you ever wonder about amino acid supplements for building muscle? Many people do because you hear about them all the time. The reason you hear about this so often in bodybuilding and fitness is because amino acids are the building blocks of protein - including muscle protein. 

Out of the 20-some amino acids, 9 of them are called essential, because your body can't make them, and so you have to get them from your food (protein foods). Research has found that 3 of these essential amino acids are especially important for building muscle - leucine, isoleucine, and valine. These are known as the branched chain amino acids or BCAAs.

Out of these 3 BCAAs, research has discovered that leucine is especially important in the muscle building process. Some people even call leucine an "anabolic trigger." All of these are facts. BCAAs are important, and leucine is especially important.

For this reason, enterprising companies began selling BCAA supplements, and highlighting the leucine content, claiming that it would help increase muscle growth and or retain muscle better on calorie restricted diets. BCAA supplements were hugely popular and became a big moneymaker for the supplement companies.  

Then research started saying that the evidence for taking isolated BCAAs was weak, and perhaps didn't do anything to increase muscle, only to shrink your wallet. How could this be so, if BCAAs really are so important in the muscle building process? The answer is simple:  You already get BCAAs from the protein foods you eat!

If you get enough total protein every day, and you get it from high quality sources, you'll automatically get the BCAAs you require, without any need to spend extra money on BCAAs in supplemental form.

It's true, there are some studies showing that BCAAs play a role in preserving lean mass in a hypocaloric diet, increasing immune function, improving recovery, reducing soreness and promoting protein synthesis, and advocates continue to cite this information to promote BCAAs to this day.

Many of the older studies on BCAA were done on elderly and untrained subjects. In the most recent study, the case against BCAA / leucine supplementation was strengthened further and expanded to people who lift - in this case, young resistance trained males.
In this case, 25 trained subjects were consuming an adequate amount of protein - approximately 1.8g/kg per day. Half the subjects were randomly assigned to get 10 grams of free leucine or alanine.  Note that 2 grams twice a day (10g) was considered a high dose of leucine, so if it were going to have any benefit, it should have shown up at that dose. Older studies may have been criticized for under-dosing. 

After a 12-week lifting program, high-dose leucine did not enhance gains in muscle strength or muscle mass.  The primary reason given was that adequate protein was already being consumed from the regular food in the diet, so all amino acid needs were already met. 

This study adds to the growing body of evidence that supports the following conclusion: Don't waste your money on any BCAA supplements.