BCAA’s Build Muscle…and Brain?!
As I’m sitting here eating my favorite breakfast recipe (High-Protein Blueberry Pancakes) and sipping on a double strength cup of Green Tea, I’m perusing the internet for the latest fitness news, and I just came across a headline that reads With Amino Acid Diet, Mice Improve After Brain Injury.
After checking it out I saw that the “amino acid diet” they’re referring to was essentially the ingestion of Branched Chained Amino Acid powder in water. My interest is now piqued – no doubt!
Now we’ve known for quite some time that Branched Chained Amino Acids (BCAA’s) offer numerous benefits for those of us who do resistance training. But it seems that the benefits of BCAA’s (leucine, isoleucine, and valine) are even more numerous than we thought.
This latest study showed that the BCAA’s offer tremendous benefits to mice who have suffered from Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
Lead researcher, Dr. A. Cohen said, “We have shown in an animal model that dietary intervention can restore a proper balance of neurochemicals in the injured part of the brain, and simultaneously improves cognitive performance.”
The “dietary intervention” the doc is referring is the oral administration of BCAA’s. In other words, brain-injured mice who drank BCAA supplements recovered from recovered their learning ability… and in just one week!
Apparently the Branched Chained Amino Acids helped restore normal neutransmitter levels in the hippocampus, an area of the brain often affected by Traumatic Brain Injury.
Though more studies need to be done, this is exciting stuff, indeed!
Although I’m not all that big on supplements so-to-speak, it certainly appears via mounting evidence that adding BCAA’s to your supplement regime is probably a good idea, especially if you train with weights and want to maximize your training efforts.
Yours in health & fitness,
Dr Clay
PS – Here are a couple BCAA supplements that I can confidently recommend. There are other good BCAA products, but these are currently my favorite two in terms of taste (plain BCAA’s taste bad), quality, and price.
BCAA Power by Labrada
Xtend by Scivation
Dr. Clay,
I am a bit confused on the topic of BCAA’s. Alan Aragon has often written that adding supplemental BCAA’s to an already high-protein diet won’t have any impact at all (other than on your wallet) under most circumstances. And yet others tout various bits of research that would seem to indicate extra supplementation can have benefits. And while anecdotal evidence is not science, it is awfully hard to ignore a rather lengthy list of people who get results who happen to supplement with them………….now while that may just be an association as opposed to cause and effect, it still gets your attention.
Do you think this is another area where there may be more than meets the eye and a whole lot we don’t fully know or understand yet? (and by association that higher doses from supplementation may have a number of legitimate benefits?)
Dr. Clay,
If one does choose to supplement with BCAA, is there any real advantage in powders or pills (like the BCAAs from Biotest), or is it more a matter of cost and personal choice ?
Also, I’ve read that one should consume supplemental BCAAs on an empty stomach. Is that your view as well?
Thanks.
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Andrew, BCAA pills offer no advantage at all over powder. But since it (obviously) costs money to put a powder in a capsule (or press it into pill form), BCAA powder is practically always cheaper.
Yes, to get the “therapeutic effect” of individual amino acids (like arginine), it’s typically best to consume them on an empty stomach, otherwise the supplemental amino has to compete for absorption with other amino acids and/or food. I don’t think it’s as critical that BCAA’s are consumed on an empty stomach, but I do suspect it’s a bit better.
Best,
Dr Clay
Jack, now that’s a very good question!
For starters, I do think we (the collective “we”) have a LOT more to learn about BCAA’s, that’s for sure!
Although I used to lean toward what Alan is saying about supplemental BCAA’s, my hunch now (based on new studies) is that most weight-trainees would still benefit from BCAA consumption, especially in the peri-workout period.
While I feel Alan is often a bit too conservative, I feel guys like Charles Poliquin are often a bit too extreme. Along those lines, I do NOT recommend consuming (IMO) ridiculously large amounts (like 40-50g) at one time. My (more middle of the road) train of thought is that such a high intake will have at least some adverse effects, if not just being a waste. Then, lo and behold, a study comes out that showed that extremely high BCAA intake may reduce endurance/performance (whereas moderate amounts do the opposite). I have to admit I got a chuckle out of that study.
So, I’m going with the moderate road and using roughly 5-15g BCAA’s per dose, 2 or 3 doses per day. If and when I find that a different dosing protocol is superior, I’ll gladly make the switch…and I’ll let you know, too.
Best,
Dr Clay