Vegan BCAAs: Don't Eat Human Hair and Duck Feathers

Ah yes, workout supplements. They make you strong and sexy. 

The supplement in today's topic are BCAAs. Most are made out of human hair or duck feathers. R

A BCAA is an amino acid having aliphatic side-chains with a branch (a central carbon atom bound to three or more carbon atoms). Among the proteinogenic amino acids, there are three BCAAs: leucine, isoleucine and valine. R

Degradation of branched-chain amino acids involves the branched-chain alpha-keto acid dehydrogenase complex (BCKDH). Degradation of branched-chain amino acids involves the branched-chain alpha-keto acid dehydrogenase complex (BCKDH). R

1. Triggers Muscle Protein Synthesis

Leucine, one of the amino acids in BCAAs, can active the mTOR pathway. R 

mTORC1 activation is required for myofibrillar muscle protein synthesis and skeletal muscle hypertrophy in response to both physical exercise and ingestion of certain amino acids or amino acid derivatives. R R

So after a hard workout, supplementing with Leucine may increase your muscle mass...word. 

2. Increases Exhaustion Time

In untrained or lightly train individuals, the time to get to exhaustion was longer when supplementing BCAAs. R R R R

Valine and Isoleucine can be converted into glucose in the body, if needed. R

Leucine can hinder cellular glucose uptake through activaiton of mTOR signaling, which can suppress AMPK signaling. R RR R

mTOR hinders IRS-1 (Insulin receptor substrate 1) signaling, through the activation of S6K1 (Ribosomal protein S6 kinase beta-1). R R

Valine (30 minutes) is faster than Leucine (90 minutes) at inhibiting glucose uptake into muscle cells. R

Isoleucine does not increase glycogen synthesis. R

BCAAs preserve hepatic and skeletal muslce glygoen stores after exercise. R R

Insulin Resistance

Leucine, in theory, can exacerbate insulin resistance. R

In rats, leucine deprivation and high leucine feeing improves insulin resistance. R R

Consumption of BCAAs may be unnecessary and possibly harmful. R

It may increase fat oxidation. R R R

Ammonia

It may increase ammonia in the brain. R

Ammonia is a possible promoter of muscle breakdown induced fatigue. R R

In rats R

• Increasing BCAAs to 3.57% for 6 weeks improved exercise by reducing ammonia production  by 37%. 
• Increasing BCAAs to 100% reversed this, impairing exercise and increasing ammonia production by 43%. 

In my interview with Geoff Palmer, we talked about how BCAA's are made of human hair and duck feathers. Here are some that aren't:

• BCAA Capsules - Vegan
• CLEAN BCAA (use code LHECMA for 20% off) - This one is vegan
• TrueNutrition - Also vegan

Cannabalism is bad.

Gabrielle Lyon, DO, recommends to start an exercise with a high amount of carbs, then after the workout (when your muscles are primed) to tkae BCAAs (or leucine). Since the proteins are primed, you can use less protein. The more older you are, the more protein you need. 

• Intermittent mTOR activation in prefrontal neurons by β-hydroxy β-methylbutyrate inhibits age-related cognitive decline associated with dendritic pruning in animals, which is a phenomenon also observed in humans. R
• During soccer, BCAA may help with reaction time. R