BCAA (branched-chain amino acids) contain amino acids leucine, isoleucine and valine. All three are essential amino acids, which mean that the body can’t synthesize them from other amino acids, but they need to be taken in the form of food or supplementation.
BCAA make 40% of daily needs out of 9 essential amino acids (the rest are: phenylalanune, threonine, tryptophan, methionine, lysine and histidine). Besides that, they make cca 35% of muscle tissue.
In food, of course, we find them in the one that is rich with proteins, and most of all in chicken, veal, salmon, eggs,… Also we find them in the proteins of whey.
As far as the supplementations are concerned, it has special importance for athletes because free form of BCAA evades liver and bowel, so it gets directly into the bloodstream. That is a reason because of which people with liver damage succeeded to maintain muscle mass when they took supplementation BCAA.
BCAA came to the market in supplementation form before some of the much-admired supplements, like creatine and for a long time they didn’t get the attention that they deserve for their quality. Only in lately more researches deal with them, and they discover that BCAA are a lot more than plain forming elements of protein.
Usually when we speak of proteins, we primarily mean their formative, and not their energetic role. However, with BCAA, their energetic role is unavoidable. Unlike other amino acids, BCAA is metabolized inside the muscles, allowing the muscle to use it during the training as energy in the form of ATP. There is a bonus effect as well, because not only that BCAA can be used as energy, but they speed up oxidation (degradation) of fat for athletes whose glycogen reserves are emptied.
One more way in which BCAA enable athletes to train longer and harder is their effect on glycogen reserves. It had shown that BCAA “preserve” glycogen and decrease its consumption up to 25%. In that way a faster recovery after training is possible.
The next useful effect that BCAA have is the one to metabolic hormones: testosterone, insulin and growth hormone. Testosterone normally gets higher under the influence of intensive training, but after it drops. However, it has been established that its level stays high up to a few hours after training if the athlete has taken BCAA before training.
Besides that, BCAA fix the ratio testosterone:cortisol and in that way they contribute to anabolic environment. Leucine showed potential for raising insulin sensitivity, which leads in the direction of handling fat tissue, bigger muscle growth and diabetes defense.
The latest researches reveal the abstract, Sci-Fi, or long-distance activity of the BCAA and its usefulness. It has been revealed that BCAA (especially leucine), has a role of signaling molecule in the body which sends a message to the body: “Build muscle!” and it does that with a special mechanism.
Namely, inside a cell there is a protein molecule mTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin or mechanistic target of rapamycin). For leucine it has been proven that it acts as a trigger to its fraction of mTORC1, which activates a complicated metabolic road which as a result has activation of protein synthesis (=new muscle tissue). Of course, it all functions together if physical activity is present, that shouldn’t even be mentioned.
Leucine, if it is taken after training of an adequate intensity, can increase protein synthesis up to 145%. Protein synthesis after the age of 35 is weakened. That is why in older age leucine is an important link in getting a favorable environment for muscle growth (in this case regarding keeping and saving the muscle tissue that already exists).
Endurance training
BCAA finds its place in endurance training. There are two mechanisms that BCAA help to improve their endurance. Firstly, BCAA can serve as energy and in that way they can enable longer duration of ATP during the training that exhausts glycogen reserves. Also, BCAA make body fat available for energetic purposes. Secondly, BCAA prevent CNS fatigue by inhibiting tryptophan entry into the brain. Triptophane participates in serotonin production in the brain, which increases fatigue.
Also, BCAA reduce DOMS and in that way they enable higher frequency of the training and more intensive training. This effect they achieve no matter if the person is well trained or not. In one study a group that took BCAA had subjectively way lower muscle pain after intensive training so it had lower values of inflammation markers. Also, BCAA group recovered in full strength in shorter period of time than placebo group. That speaks in favor of increased protein synthesis so the function would get back faster.
More or less all of BCAA benefits are related to leucine. So, logical question is why should we supplement all three BCAA, when leucine is the main carrier of their positive traits? The answer is because, if we take only leucine, the concentrations of other two amino acids can be lowered. And it has been proved that best results in protein synthesis are achieved when ratio leucine:isoleucine:valine is=2:1:1. Besides that, isoleucine fixes the tolerance to glucose.
One more thing is good to have in mind: even though BCAA signal for muscle growth, it is important to have a complete spectrum of amino acids as substratum so the protein synthesis in muscle could actually happen.
Dosage
BCAA are taken before, during and after training. It is recommended to take approximately 3-5g before, during and after training. Somewhere we will find a recommendation with larger values.
For athletes that do very intense trainings, the dosage can be calculated with this formula: (total body weight in kg) – (fat tissue weight in kg) X 0,44=number of grams of BCAA to take daily.