Confused About Amino Acids? I Was Too

BCAAs and EAAs

What’s the deal?

Let’s start with what amino acids are in the first place. Amino acids are, basically, the building blocks of our body. They are leftover after your body breaks down and digests protein. Not only are they a huge factor in building muscle, but they also work to carry and store nutrients and influence and improve the function of all your major organs.

In total, there are 20 amino acids in your body’s various proteins, but 9 of them are called essential because your body can’t make them on its own, so they need to be taken in through diet or supplements. The 9 essential amino acids are required for efficient function of your body's different tissues and processes; while the average person might get enough of these, someone with higher level of physical activity is going to need more due to the amount of muscle breakdown that happens from lifting weights or strenuous exercise, and even high levels of stress can have an effect; in this case, a supplement would be a good idea to keep those EAAs high and your body functioning properly.

Okay, so now that we have a basic understanding of amino acids and the essentials, let’s talk about branch chain amino acids. The 3 branch chain amino acids are 3 of the 9 essential amino acids, but those 3 in particular are a bit different. Normally, amino acids get processed by the liver, but these 3 go into the bloodstream and straight into your muscles to be processed and used. What makes BCAAs so popular amongst athletes and gym goers are that they are the 3 amino acids that trigger your body to repair muscles damaged from exercise, prevent loss of muscle during exercise (especially long cardio sessions), and they can even help keep your energy levels up if you’re trying to lose weight and are restricting calories. BCAA supplements and powders usually contain B vitamins as well to help you keep your energy up as you work out.

Dialing in the proper amount of amino acids a person should take on a daily basis is quite tricky; there are so many individual factors that contribute such as genetics, the amount of exercise one does, how hard a person exercises, the food a person eats on a daily basis, and so on. The daily diet part of that list is probably the biggest factor, if a person eats a variety of vegetables (emphasis on VARIETY, focusing on leafy greens) and animal proteins (which are the best source of whole food amino acids), it's most likely that they have enough amino acids for the proper functioning of their body, but if you throw in stress and moderate to high intensity exercise, those levels will drop as your body uses the amino acids to build and repair all the damaged tissues caused from your hectic lifestyle! Supplementing can be a great idea especially if you're short on time (aren't we all?) and feel as though you rush everywhere. Amino acid supplements are relatively cheap if you get the essential amino acids in pill form, they are usually carried in grocery stores in the vitamin section. Getting a branch chain amino acid supplement will be a bit more expensive due to marketing and mark up, also because they are a staple in most habitual gym goers supplement stack and the companies know this, so up goes the price!

On a final note, amino acids are critical for your body, period. If you eat a balanced diet of animal protein and a variety of vegetables you are more than likely fine, but if you love hitting the gym or doing a sport you will most definitely notice a difference in your ability to go harder for longer, especially if you splurge and get a branch chain amino acid; like I mentioned above, they are usually complemented with B vitamins for better energy sustainability.