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BCAA Benefits & When To Take BCAAs | Nutritionist Explains... | Myprotein
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Jan 30, 2025
Not sure about the benefits of BCAAs or whether they should be part of your supplement routine? In this video, our expert nutritionist explains everything you need to know about branched-chain amino acids, including what they are, when to take BCAA supplements and the potential benefits of BCAA supplements. Richie Kirwan is a nutritional consultant and PhD Researcher, making him the perfect person to cut through the noise and provide you with science-approved, evidence-based facts. Watch this video now to find out whether BCAA supplements are a good fit for your training goals. Still got questions? Let us know in the comments below! *** Chapters: 00:00 - Intro 00:53 - What are BCAAs? 03:42 - Why would you need BCAAs? 04:57 - BCAA round up 05:34 - Remember to like and subscribe *** *********************************
View Video Transcript
0:00
Branch chain amino acids. You've seen them everywhere from supplements to energy drinks
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But what are they and do they actually do anything? In this video, I'm going to tell you
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what this well-known supplement can and can't do. How's it going guys? My name's Richie Kerwin and I'm a nutritionist and nutrition
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researcher at Liverpool John Moore's University and you're watching the My Protein YouTube channel
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This is the channel that brings you need to know info on how to fuel your body and train to be your
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strongest self. BCAAs are probably one of the most common supplements sold on the market today
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Some people swear by them, some people think they're garbage. But what does the science actually
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say? Today we'll talk about BCAAs, what they are, how do you get them, how do they work
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and are they even necessary and should you be adding them to your shopping cart? We'll also talk about
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a use for BCAs that you might not have thought of before. Everyone knows that protein is made from amino acids, right? Of the 20 amino acids
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acids, nine are essential, meaning we can't make them from other amino acids in our bodies
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and we have to get them from our diet. Of those, three are called branched chain amino acids
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because of their branched carbon structure. Those amino acids are valine, isolucine, and the most well-known
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Lucy. And they have very important roles to play in protein metabolism, neural function, and insulin
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regulation Most people know that protein is essential for building muscle but people don actually know why Think of your body as a building that has two processes going on at the same time Building up and tearing down
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If you want to maintain the building, you need to keep the two processes in balance
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If you don't do as much building up compared to tearing down, the building gets smaller
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Think of your muscles shrinking. On the other hand, if you do more building up than normal, the building, or your muscles
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gets bigger over time. This building up process is called muscle protein synthesis, and the tearing down process is
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called muscle protein breakdown. Both happen all the time in our bodies, but there are a couple of
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things that we can do to stimulate muscle protein synthesis. The first is exercise, especially resistance
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exercise. This is the most important signal for starting muscle protein synthesis. Think of it as
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opening the gates of a construction site. Without the signal from exercise, muscle growth doesn't really
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happen. The other way we can increase MPS is by eating protein. Specifically, the BCAA lucein, which is a key
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trigger for starting the muscle building process. Think of leucine as the format that calls all the
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other amino acids to the construction yard. Remember this example of the format for a little later
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This is why foods like weight protein that are high in BCAAs and especially lucine are really
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useful for stimulating muscle growth, especially after exercise. If a protein has a lot of lucine
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it'll probably stimulate MPS really well. And in research, studies often match the leucine content
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of proteins to compare different protein sources Here the thing While BC The EPA helped to signal the start of NPS You still need all the other essential amino acids to keep the muscle building process going Think of the format we mentioned earlier On a building site without any bricks not a lot of building is going to get done
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Those bricks are the other essential amino acids you need to build muscle
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That's why if building muscle is your goal, you should really make sure you're getting a lot of high quality protein when you need it
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So if you eat plenty of meat, fish, eggs, dairy products like weight, you probably don't need any BCA's
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at all. By plenty, I mean around 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight per day or more. So for a 70
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kilogram person, that works out at least 112 grams of protein a day. That should be spread pretty
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evenly between meals. So if you have four meals a day, that's 28 grams of protein minimum at
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each meal. So why would anyone need BCAs at all? Well, if someone has a hard time getting enough
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total protein in their diet, or specifically in each meal, adding some BCAs could help to stimulate
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MPS. But you could argue if you could get some BCAs, you should be able to get some weight protein
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And the truth is, that would probably be a lot better. Another time when BCAs may be useful is if
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the protein you eat is lower quality. And by that, I mean lower in BCAs or Lucein, like some
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vegan diets, for example. So for example, if you eat plant-based protein sources like beans
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quinoa, soy, these are lower in the BCA lucine and might not stimulate muscle growth as well
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as the same amount of animal protein Adding some BCAs like three grams of of leucine could help stimulate muscle growth better Eating more protein even if it slightly lower quality could also help Finally here a use for BCAAs that you might not have thought of
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Endurance training. Yep. A concept most gym gores are terrified of. Anything to do with cardio
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Adding BCAAs to your carbohydrate drink during and after endurance events, like marathons
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might actually reduce muscle damage and feelings of muscle soreness, although it's probably not going to improve endurance performance
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So if you do a lot of endurance training and want to feel more recovered after your sessions
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taking a carbohydrate drink with added BCAAs could be a good option
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So remember, BCAAs have a definite function in your diet, but BCAA supplements are just a way of supplementing a diet that's either too low in protein
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or has a low protein quality. Your best option would be to try and increase the amount of protein you eat
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Weigh is a great supplement to improve that. Or try and improve the quality of the proteins you eat on a vegan diet
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using soy or rice or pea protein blend or just eat more of them. That said, branched chain amino
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acids can help give plant-based proteins that little kick that they might need for optimal
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muscle protein synthesis. If you can't or don't want to eat more protein. So did that answer your
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questions? As always, if you have any more, let me know in the comments below and remember to
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like and subscribe to the My Protein YouTube channel for more great evidence-based information
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