Among the most beneficial and effective supplements in any sports nutrition program are branched chain amino acids. These are the essential aminos leucine, isoleucine and valine.

Although these supplements have been around for a long time and the scientific understanding in the exercise performance benefits of BCAA supplementation is rich, many people don't know exactly how they exert their effects, or how and when to use them properly.

You probably know amino acids are the building blocks of protein. When you eat a protein food, it gets digested by the stomach and intestine into individual amino acids and short chains of amino acids that are small enough to be absorbed into the bloodstream. These amino acids have many positive effects in the body from building and repairing tissues, to producing chemicals that enable our brains to function optimally.

What Is The Difference Between Essential and Non-Essential Amino Acids?

The body cannot make essential amino acids. You must get them from complete protein foods or combinations of incomplete vegetable foods. There are 8 essential amino acids: threonine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, tryptophan and valine. Your body can make non-essential amino acids by itself from vitamins and other amino acids.

The term "non-essential" can be misleading since all amino acids are essential for proper metabolism and certain non-essential amino acids, such as glutamine, become very essential during illness or trauma. The 12 non-essential amino acids are: histidine (essential in infants), alanine, arginine, asparagine, aspartic acid, cysteine, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, proline, serine, and tyrosine. The essential branched chain amino acids (BCAA's) are of special importance for athletes because they are metabolized in the muscle, rather than in the liver. Here's how this works: After digestion protein is broken down into individual amino acids these aminos can either be used to build new proteins or be burnt as fuel to produce energy.

Ingredients:

Serving Size 3.5gm (one level 5ml teaspoon)

L-Leucine 1750mg

L-Isoleucine 875mg

L-Valine 875mg

71 serves per container