Branched Chain Amino Acids better known as BCAAs are some of the most revered ingredients in the supplement industry - thanks largely to their excellent ability to support exercise performance, boost muscle growth and decrease fatigue. Consisting of 3 essential amino acids, the BCAAs include Leucine, Isoleucine and Valine. BCAA supplements are some of the safest around, however many people are worried about any potential side effects. Here we take a look at some of the more common concerns and help separate fact from fiction. Before we take a look at the potential side effects of BCAA supplementation, let’s examine why BCAAs are considered some of the most effective and popular supplements around. Found naturally in animal products, BCAA supplements are commonly used as an intra-workout supplement as well as a recovery supplement. The most famous BCAA; Leucine is known for its ability to signal a protein called mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), which stimulates muscle protein synthesis1.
This makes Leucine one of the key amino acids supporting muscle hypertrophy or muscle growth. Isoleucine is another important amino acid which has been shown to support glucose uptake in muscles2, which has ramifications for blood glucose control. Lastly, evidence suggests Valine supports muscle glycogen synthesis3; ideal for exercise performance. All-in-all BCAA supplementation is a great way to help boost performance during exercise and help support the results and recovery capacity you’re after. There are many proposed side effects from the use of BCAA supplements, some of which appear to be more far fetched than others. Let’s take a look at four of the most commonly suggested side effects of BCAA supplementation and whether or not they hold true. A common misconception, BCAA supplements may actually help to prevent hair loss. A recent theory on hair loss is that men and women who experience some hair loss tend to have deficiencies in their hair follicle’s potassium ion channels4.
These potassium ion channels are seen as crucial for maintaining a hair follicle’s full biological activity and function. BCAA supplementation (at least topically) have shown promise in boosting synthesis of these potassium ion channels and therefore help to improve the effectiveness of many of the hair loss medications around. In addition, hair is mostly protein; a large percentage of which consists of BCAAs – so it would make sense that maintaining our bodies level of BCAAs is important for hair growth and health. Acne is a common skin disease which is said to affect up to 9% of the entire population. Most of us would have suffered through our acne prone teenage years with a sense of anguish and hope that it would never occur again in our adult lives. But could supplementing with BCAAs lead to a return of the dreaded skin condition? There has been research to suggest that high protein intakes and dairy consumption could be associated with acne development5,6, with leucine being the main amino acid culprit due to its ability to activate lipid production.
More research does need to be conducted, however if you do experience a flare up, you can minimize acne development through a reduction in overall dairy intake and by having a lower glycaemic diet. A few BCAA supplement users have complained about stomach and gastro issues such as increased gas and cramps, however there is no evidence to suggest this is due to any of the branched chain amino acids. Often times, it is an increased intake of carbohydrates or other flatulence increasing foods that are the culprit. If you have eliminated this as an offender, you may just be one of the few people who have issues digesting branched chain amino acids. If you do find yourself in this boat, a few dietary changes may be able to help including increased intake of probiotics (such as yoghurt), certain spices such as cumin, curcumin (tumeric) and coriander as well as use of digestive enzymes. There has been speculation that BCAA supplementation may lead to such serious mental health issues such as depression due to certain nutrient interactions.
Branched chain amino acids tend to compete with tryptophan in crossing the blood brain barrier. There has been evidence that lowered tryptophan to BCAA ratios are linked to depressive symptoms7. There haven’t been any actual studies linking BCAA supplementation with depression, just a plausible mechanism. You can reduce the ratio of BCAAs to tryptophan by supplementing during periods which increase the absorption of these amino acids into the muscle, such as with increased carbohydrate intake and with physical activity. In general though, depression has a much more complicated set of causes than simply supplementing with BCAAs. Over the years there has been a ensuing debate about whether higher protein diets can damage kidney function, however there hasn’t been any evidence linking the two. For people with healthy kidneys, higher intakes of up to 2.8g/kg of bodyweight of protein seem to not affect kidney function8. It is only with damaged kidneys or people with initial stages of kidney problems that dietary protein becomes an issue.
In fact, BCAA supplementation for people with kidney disease is a viable way of ensuring you have adequate essential amino acids without increasing your protein intake. There is little to no evidence that BCAA supplementation can result in liver damage and in fact BCAAs a routine supplement given to people with liver damage9. While there are plenty of other proposed side effects of BCAA supplementation such as headaches, rashes, diarrhea and tingling, there really isn’t any basis to these claims. The only other side effects may be fatigue and loss of motor coordination, but this only occurs in people with pre-existing medical conditions. In general, supplementing with BCAAs are a great way to improve your training and maximise your results and their benefits definitely outweigh the small chance of negligible side effects.As anyone who is involved in the bodybuilding industry will tell you, phenomenon’s come and go. Something that is certainly on its way back in at the moment is BCAAs and if you are looking to protect your muscles whilst dieting, branched-chain amino acids could be right up your street.
One word which is on the tip of everyone’s tongue at the moment is dieting. Unfortunately, while slimming down is something that everyone wants to achieve, dieting can have some unwanted muscle-related side effects. As our dieting progresses, our body will start to shed muscle mass instead of fat. Ultimately, that hard body has soon been quashed. This is where BCAAs step in. They are able to increase your rate of protein synthesis and as anyone who is involved in the bodybuilding industry will tell you, this is an essential process of building muscle. As well as this, they will reduce the rate that protein is broken down. Ultimately, you are able to break protein down at a much slower rate, whilst build muscle at an even quicker pace. For those of you who like to deal with equations, let’s look at BCAAs from a slightly different perspective. The muscle mass equation can be broken down into the rate of protein synthesis minus the rate that we break down protein.
As BCAAs are able to increase the former, but reduce the latter, immediately we are left with more muscle mass. As we have just highlighted, BCAAs are absolutely ideal for anyone who wants to retain muscle mass whilst embarking on a diet. By using them you are able to make your body turn to burning fat rather than muscle, and create that shredded appearance that every man desires. While protein synthesis is one of the primary reasons why athletes are turning to BCAAs, this isn’t necessarily the only reason. It’s also been found that a lot of these supplements are able to make you train harder. This is for the simple reason that they are able to convert tryptophan into serotonin, which is then able to disguise fatigue levels to our brain. In the end, you are just able to work harder through gym sessions and reap the results because of this. Most advice suggests that you should take one dose half an hour before your workout, while another thirty minutes afterwards.
As well as this, try and take a dose as soon as you wake up to stop muscle-breakdown in its tracks following your sleep. Finally, most people will take BCAAs with their last meal to prevent hunger occurring late in the day. As some athletes get more used to BCAAs, they will also start to take them in-between meals. However, for the beginner at least, four doses a day is sufficient. In terms of the size of this dose, you should start with just 1-2g per dose to get your body used to them. Then, as things progress, steadily increase this amount to 5-10g to give your body the maximum impact from the supplement. If we turn to methods of consumption, BCAAs arrive in both powder form as well as capsules. Neither is regarded as being more beneficial than the other and is entirely down to personal preference. It’s also worth mentioning that BCAAs that arrive in supplement form (regardless of being powder or tablet-based) don’t require any digestion and are therefore absorbed into the bloodstream almost immediately.
This means that the effects occur so much more quickly and will make muscle-building easier than ever before. Note that Bcaa does not enhance the athletic performance, it only improves the muscle recovery, and can also affect the immune system. Following on from the above, it hardly comes as a surprise to hear that BCAAs are absolutely huge at the moment and anyone who is serious about fine-tuning their beach body is right on top of them. It means that more and more supplements are entering the market although at the present time, it’s BPI Best BCAA and BCAA 1500 which are grabbing the headlines and are the current leaders. Here, we break down the two products in further detail. Learn more & Buy BPI best BCAA from The AmazingBody Store Learn more & Buy BCAA 1500 From MyProtein Store Sign up for our Newsletter & Get These Ebooks For Free ! Sign up for our newsletter, Get the latest tips on fitness, workout, style, dating and a lot more! Also, by signing up you will receive these ebooks as a welcome gift: