When revolving in bodybuilding circles, one off hears that people are consuming BCAA’s (leucine, valine and isoleucine) before or during workouts for muscle protein synthesis e.g. growth.
However recent suggestions have been made that they do not help.
This data has been further investigated and in a recent study it was concluded that “that consumption of dietary BCAAs stimulates muscle protein synthesis or produces an anabolic response in human subjects is unwarranted”.
It also stated that “An extensive search of the literature has revealed no studies in human subjects in which the response of muscle protein synthesis to orally-ingested BCAAs alone was quantified, and only two studies in which the effect of intravenously infused BCAAs alone was assessed. Both of these intravenous infusion studies found that BCAAs decreased muscle protein synthesis as well as protein breakdown, meaning a decrease in muscle protein turnover.”
In short, save your money. BCAA’s do NOT help build muscle when consumed alone.
See the study HERE.
