XTEND Original BCAA Blue Raspberry Ice | Branched Chain Amino Acids Supplement | 7g BCAAs + Muscle Supplements | Electrolytes for Recovery | Amino Energy Post-Workout | 30 Servings

Product Information

How you use bcaa is fairly simple. Most bcaa supplements come either in the pill format or powder form. The term bcaas stands for branched-chain amino acids. That term refers to the chemical structure of these amino acids. We won’t get geeky here and start blabbing about the actual chemical structure of these amino acids because it is not an absolute necessity. Leave that to the food biochemists. This action of insulin drives the amino acids into the cells where they are needed for muscle tissue synthesis. The findings from that experiment led the researchers to conclude that bcaa supplementation is beneficial in sports and exercise in general. The BCAA leucine activates a certain pathway in the body that stimulates muscle protein synthesis, which is the process of making muscle ( 1).

However, if you have liver disease, please speak with your healthcare team about using BCAA supplements before starting them. Summary These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. ReferencesI also really like that the BCAA powder contains electrolytes. It is incredibly important to stay hydrated, and few people are actually getting enough fluid. One study found that nearly 32% of athletes started training in a dehydrated state. And serious athletes are people who should know better! The only thing that I really don’t like about Optimum Nutrition is that they use propriety blends of amino acids, meaning we don’t know how much of each amino acid is in the formula. In one 2010 study, people who supplemented with BCAAs before a squat exercise experienced reduced DOMS and muscle fatigue compared to the placebo group ( 11).

You will be needing the protein to fix these wear and tear events. Amino acids make up protein. Hence you will be needing these essential amino acids in BCAA and of course the non-essential ones as well.These fatigue-resistance properties of BCAAs are supported by recent studies showing that BCAA supplementation increases exercise capacity and endurance performance in prolonged physical activity carried to exhaustion,” says Iafelice. “However, since other studies showed negative results, the ergogenic effects of BCAAs remain open to question.”

My Favorite Flavor: Lemon lime is good. Grape and fruit punch are also okay, but I wasn’t too impressed with the other flavors. But it’s still pretty pleasant and certainly more enjoyable than Scivation’s Blue Raspberry flavor, which is overwhelmingly sweet. A word of caution: simply dilute your BCAAs in at least a cup and a half of water to avoid the extreme sweetness that a lot of people complain about.

Pros and Cons of BCAAs

A 2014 review suggests that in patients with liver disease, BCAA supplements may be more beneficial than other supplements at reducing the severity of HE ( 40). Church DD, Hirsch KR, Park S, et al. Essential Amino Acids and Protein Synthesis: Insights into Maximizing the Muscle and Whole-Body Response to Feeding. Nutrients. 2020;12(12):3717. Published 2020 Dec 2. doi:10.3390/nu12123717 The main reason being bcaas will provide energy support during your workout. BCAAs are also good for muscle metabolism during and after your workout session. Alani Nu products are not third-party tested, which is something to keep in mind when choosing your supplement. Additionally, this does come in a little higher in price than other options.

There are 6 amino acids that the muscle likes to utilize for energy production. They are isoleucine, leucine, valine (the BCAAs); along with alanine, glutamate and aspartate. Well, bcaas are available in a lot of foods even including some carbohydrate foods. Below I share food sources of bcaa. If you look at the list, you may deduce some vegan sources of bcaa from it. The list is a mixture of both animal sources and vegan sources of bcaas. This is because your body just doesn’t make these amino acids. Failure to provide these amino acids through food or via supplementation would lead to deficiency. And deficiency state is a No No…far from ideal.

My Favorite Flavor: Watermelon also wins as the best flavor for this BCAA powder. For whatever reason, watermelon flavor disguises the bitterness of BCAAs very well! Blue Raz and dragonfruit are also good. Some people don’t like that Optimum Nutrition Amino Energy contains 10 calories and 2 grams of carbs per serving. But, honestly, if you are working out hard enough, you shouldn’t be worried about this low amount of calories and carbs. BCAAs being a nutritional supplement actually means they have calorific value. BCAAs are catabolised during exercise. When something is catabolised, it releases energy as a result of that catabolic event. Of the 6 amino acids above, the muscle cell seems to have a preference for the branched-chain amino acids. This is because the myocyte (muscle cell) has the necessary enzymes needed for bcaa oxidation process readily available inside it.