ROLE OF BRANCH CHAINED AMINO CIDS IN MUSCLE GROWTH AND ATHLETIC PERFOMANCE

Darrell Miller

01/20/14

Date: January 20, 2014 09:06 AM
Author: Darrell Miller (dm@vitanetonline.com)
Subject: ROLE OF BRANCH CHAINED AMINO CIDS IN MUSCLE GROWTH AND ATHLETIC PERFOMANCE

Amino Acid

Essential amino acids are amino acids that cannot be synthesized by the body and must be ingested from plant and animal sources. There are ten essential amino acids needed by humans plus an extra two essential amino acids needed by infants. For athletes, a large amount of essential amino acids of all types is needed to help repair, grow and maintain muscle. This iis where 3 essential amino acids come into play .These are leucine, isoleucine and valine.

BCAA - Branched Chained essential Amino Acids

Leucine, Isoleucine and Valine are Branched Chained essential Amino Acids(BCAA). These three amino acids account for 35% of the essential amino acids in muscle protein and 40% of the essential amino acids required by humans. Due to their importance, dietary supplementation of these amino acids has become quite common due to their beneficial effects. BCAAs help burn patients to recover faster as the amino acids in high concentration provide the material for the cells to repair themselves at a faster rate. At the same time, BCAAs help in managing diabetes
As mentioned earlier, the main sources of these three essential amino acids are both plant and animal in nature. However, animal sources such as beef, chicken and eggs are richer sources of BCAAs than plant sources. For vegetarians ,dried peas and walnuts have the highest concentration of BCAAs amongst plant sources.

Dietary supplements containing leucine, isoleucine and valine

Are very popular due to their many functions in the body of an athlete. This is because unlike other amino acids, it is metabolized in muscle tissue, not in the liver thus it has a more direct effect on the muscles than other amino acids.

These functions include:
Synthesis of Muscle tissue.
Leucine supports the the synthesis of protein tissue while preventing the breakdown of muscle tissue thus helping muscle tissue grow.. Leucine also participates in the synthesis of glucose thus BCAA supplements can be consumed even on a low carbohydrate diet.
Valine helps accelerate muscle entropy by helping cells convert glucose into energy more efficiently. It also acts as a source of energy itself thus enabling weight lifters to work out more as the glucose in the blood is not depleted quickly since the valine is being used as a substitute thus valine improves athletic performance. Isoleucine works by building lean muscle cells and also reduces the number of fat cells in the body thus helping in giving muscles more definition.
The effects of these three Branch chained amino acids shows their importance to the building of muscle in athletes and thus should be consumed both from food and from supplements so that athletes improve their performance in a natural way while building their strength and muscle.