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Do You Need Amino Acids?

Adam Bornstein — Sat, 07 Oct 2017 19:02:58 +0000

Editors Note: This is Part 4 of the Ultimate Protein Guide. In this version, the minds at Examine.com (where brilliance is everywhere) tackle the question of amino acids. In particular, we review branched chain amino acids (BCAAs), essential amino acids (EAAs), and glutamine, and consider their role in muscle building and muscle recovery.

The information below is a purely scientific analysis of the benefits you receive from different types of amino acids. In general, if you receive enough protein in your diet, you probably don’t “need” to supplement with additional aminos.

I’ve experienced (non-scientific) benefits from taking additional BCAAs, whether it’s with recovery or muscle growth. Therefore, they are typically part of my training routine, especially when following an Alpha-style diet, such as the one prescribed in Man 2.0.

Did you know: glutamine for the purpose of building muscle tissue in healthy people is wholly unsupported.

To determine if you should add amino acids to your diet, read this and decide for yourself. -AB

Do You Need To Supplement with Amino Acids?

By Kurtis Frank and Sol Orwell

Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs)

Branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) are a collection of three amino acids with a side chain that is branched. They are leucine, isoleucine, and valine (usually in a 2:1:1 ratio).

They are marketed mostly to athletes during periods of caloric deprivation, as these BCAAs are found in all protein sources. Their niche lays in the fact that sometimes you only want these three amino acids and all the others merely add unwanted calories.

Leucine itself is known to be an anabolic factor and signal for muscle protein synthesis, and in the presence of inadequate nutrition (you’re eating less than normal) this anabolic signal appears to stall muscle cell loss.

This anabolic effect does, however, extend to most cell types rather than just muscle. While BCAAs tend to be high in leucine, all complete protein sources contain enough leucine to provide a benefit.

When looking at studies, comparing BCAAs to no protein intake makes it appear that BCAAs do benefit you. However, the limited studies comparing BCAAs to another protein source showed that BCAAs were no better.

While the nutritional label on BCAAs may not list any calories, this is because the FDA allows anything under 5 calories (per serving) to be listed as 0 calories.

BCAAs may have a role in preserving skeletal muscle mass during periods of severe caloric deprivation, but that is not something most people experience (and again, can be mitigated by consuming protein). The decision to use BCAAs may come down to a decision between 30 calories and 120 calories.

The bottom line: BCAAs will save you some calories, but their benefits over other protein sources is marginal, at best.

Essential Amino Acids (EAAs)

Essential amino acids are in a grey area between BCAAs and whole protein sources, and rather than giving only the three BCAAs they give all amino acids that have the aforementioned essential status.

The most practical usage of essential amino acids would be to supplement the diet of a vegan who generally under-consumes protein and is not otherwise using protein supplementation. Additionally, they confer the same benefits as BCAAs, although with a slightly higher caloric content.

Practically speaking, however, the previous choice between 30 and 120 calories has now become a pedantic 80 calories and 120 calories. Practical situations in which EAAs are useful are highly limited to times where every calorie becomes critical.

The bottom line: EAAs are useful if you have no source of protein. Otherwise, hard to see any additional benefit.

Glutamine

Glutamine gets special mention here due to its popularity as a standalone supplement.

When looking at isolated muscle cells, glutamine introduction above normal levels appears to cause dose-dependent increases in muscle protein synthesis. It is from this information, as well as the clinical usage of glutamine in burn victims (to aid in tissue regeneration) that glutamine is marketed as a muscle building agent.

At this moment in time, glutamine for the purpose of building muscle tissue in healthy people is wholly unsupported. (Sorry supplement industry.) Glutamine deficiency, the prerequisite for glutamine actually building muscle, is probably more uncommon in nonclinical settings than scurvy.

That being said, because the intestines sequester glutamine so much the supplement does indeed make a good intestinal health supplement (which can also just be mimicked by protein sources with a high glutamine content such as casein).

The bottom line: Do not bother with a glutamine supplement. You will get enough via protein sources. However, it might help with intestinal health and your immune system.

Want to know more about Protein?

The following articles will tell you:

How much protein you really need.
The best sources of protein for your body.
How to decide what protein supplement to purchase.

Adam Bornstein

Adam Bornstein is a New York Times bestselling author and the author of You Can’t Screw This Up. He is the founder of Born Fitness, and the co-founder of Arnold’s Pump Club (with Arnold Schwarzenegger) and Pen Name Consulting. An award-winning writer and editor, Bornstein was previously the Chief Nutrition Officer for Ladder, the Fitness and Nutrition editor for Men’s Health, Editorial Director at LIVESTRONG.com, and a columnist for SHAPE, Men’s Fitness, and Muscle & Fitness. He’s also a nutrition and fitness advisor for LeBron James, Cindy Crawford, Lindsey Vonn, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. According to The Huffington Post, Bornstein is “one of the most inspiring sources in all of health and fitness.” His work has been featured in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Fast Company, ESPN, and GQ, and he’s appeared on Good Morning America, The Today Show, and E! News.

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3 Overrated Supplements

Adam Bornstein — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 18:59:01 +0000

The supplement industry is a lot like gambling in Vegas: Lots of promise, hope, and big dreams, but the end result is usually disappointment and a big financial loss.

The parallels could go on and on. Las Vegas looks the way it does for a reason (lots of lost money), and the supplement industry—all $32 billion in 2012—has sucked dry (the wallets and hopes of) many individuals with great intentions of becoming healthier, losing fat, and gaining muscle.

That said, not all supplements are bad. While few fat loss supplements are actually fat burners, and creatine might be the only real muscle building supplement, that doesn’t mean everything is a waste of your money. Many have benefits, but reading through all the research to discover what you should buy can be difficult and confusing.

To save you time, I teamed with the supplement experts at Examine.com to uncover three supplements that frequently pop up as “must buys,” but are more hype than help for you fitness and nutrition goals.

Three Overrated Supplements

Research By Examine.com

Raspberry Ketones

There are quite a few supplements, almost all of them fat-burners, that people take simply because of one man’s recommendation: Dr. Oz. These include raspberry ketones, green coffee extract, African mango (irvingia gabonensis), and 5-HTP (there are many more, but these seem to be the most popular).

While green coffee extract and 5-HTP may actually have a role in supplementation (though not really as fat-burners), and African mango seems to be pretty ineffective but not too popular, raspberry ketones is unique in the sense that is both incredibly popular yet has no evidence to support its usage.

There are currently no human studies using raspberry ketones in isolation in humans. There are a few studies that super-loading in rats worked minimally as a fat burner, but the equivalent dosage would be 1000 times higher than what you find in most pills as a modest estimate. In fact, the only way to reach such a dosage would likely be via injections!

Resources

Morimoto C, et al. Anti-obese action of raspberry ketone. Life Sci. (2005)

Glutamine

Glutamine was one of the first amino acids to be recommended to athletes for the purpose of enhancing performance, recovery, and muscle building. The concept was pretty basic: the more glutamine a muscle cell gets, the more it builds muscle; a simple dose-dependent relationship that many people thought would result in more and more muscle.

Unfortunately, this did not pan out in human studies where glutamine supplementation failed to outperform placebo in building muscle. It wasn’t just one failure either; when tested glutamine failed over and over again.

It was later discovered that the intestines and liver really love glutamine, and they act to regulate the exposure of glutamine to the rest of the body, by sequestering its levels and feeding it to intestinal and immune cells.

While glutamine still has a role in states of a relative glutamine deficiency (burn victims, possibly vegans, and endurance exercise over 2 hours in length), it has no role as a super-loading supplement due to its inability to get to muscles in sufficient levels.

That doesn’t mean glutamine is without benefits. It can help your immune system, but in terms of fitness goals (beyond staying healthy), you won’t see any benefit. Most importantly to the marketing hype, your body tightly regulates the amount of glutamine your muscles actually get. Thus, glutamine does not induce increased muscle protein synthesis.

Resources:

Wilkinson SB, et al. Addition of glutamine to essential amino acids and carbohydrate does not enhance anabolism in young human males following exercise. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. (2006)
Candow DG, et al. Effect of glutamine supplementation combined with resistance training in young adults. Eur J Appl Physiol. (2001)

Glucosamine

Glucosamine is one of the most used supplements in the western world, and has a position where its reputation is nearly untouchable; it is apparently the ‘go-to’ joint health supplement.

That said, there are many issues with the research surrounding this product, including:

It is not a ‘joint health’ supplement, it is an “anti-osteoarthritis” supplement. While the difference is not a concern for people with osteoarthritis, this is a completely different issue for an athlete who wants to reduce joint pain or post-workout soreness
Glucosamine does not have any evidence for its efficacy following oral ingestion. Glucosamine sulfate does, and glucosamine hydrochloride paired with chondroitin sulfate does, but glucosamine hydrochloride does not.
In regards to the selective italicization just now, it seems the benefits associated with glucosamine supplementation may actually be due to the previously thought to be inactive stabilizer of glucosamine (the sulfate).

Sulfur deficiencies are known to cause osteoarthritic symptoms, and many supplement that provide dietary sulfur (MSM, N-acetylcysteine, SAMe) are used to reduce symptoms of joint pain. Even glucosamine’s anti-osteoarthritic benefits are extremely unreliable, working in some people, and not in others.

The unreliability of the supplement fits well with the hypothesis that sulfur supplementation in response to a deficiency alleviates its symptoms (with no inherent effect on persons with adequate sulfur intake).

Bottom line: Glucosamine actually has no good evidence to support its usage, but another ingredient that has been slipped into the supplement (sulfate) may be effective. Even then, it’s only good for combating osteoarthritic pain, not joint pain.

Resources

McAlindon TE, et al. Glucosamine and chondroitin for treatment of osteoarthritis: a systematic quality assessment and meta-analysis. JAMA. (2000)
Richy F, et al. Structural and symptomatic efficacy of glucosamine and chondroitin in knee osteoarthritis: a comprehensive meta-analysis. Arch Intern Med. (2003)
Clegg DO, et al. Glucosamine, chondroitin sulfate, and the two in combination for painful knee osteoarthritis. N Engl J Med. (2006)

Your Personalized Supplement Plan

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Adam Bornstein

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