Amino acids are the building blocks of protein, and they help build muscles. They also cause chemical reactions in the body and carry out other functions as well. Amino acids are essential, especially to athletes and other fitness enthusiasts. Currently, there’s a heated debate between BCAA vs EAA. If you are not familiar with what these two are, read on and educate yourself.
Table of Contents
What Is EAA?
You won’t understand BCAA vs EAA without learning about EAA first. EAA means Essential Amino Acid. EAA are 9 amino acids that the body cannot produce naturally. External sources such as diet and supplements augment the body’s need for these EAAs.
The body needs these EAAs to prevent muscle catabolism. The catabolic state breaks down your muscles. It leads to a decrease in mass, which athletes and fitness enthusiasts do not like. EAA also helps build muscles and even promotes mental wellness.
The 9 EAAs are histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. These amino acids can be easily sourced from outside sources. Most often, the quantities provided by external sources are enough for the body’s needs.
The best sources of EAA include meat, poultry, and eggs. The proteins that you consume break down into different amino acids. These are then used by the body to help other functions such as muscle building and immune function.
Benefits of Essential Amino Acids
- Stimulates and helps in muscle build-up
- Can help improve mood, energy, and sleep
- Boosts exercise and athletic performances
- Restricts calories while maintaining muscle mass
- Increases protein turnover
- May aid in weight loss
- Assists in brain function
When Will You Need EAA Supplements?
Essential amino acids are often found in food sources. Hence, some people do not need extra supplements for it aside from natural sources. But, certain lifestyles may require you to take supplemental essential amino acids. This is to help keep up with your body’s needs as you go through your different activities.
You will need EAA supplements if you:
- Do regular exercise
- Are fasting or on a special diet
- Suffered from an injury and recuperating
- Have a stressful lifestyle
Best Essential Amino Acids Supplements
1. NutraBio Alpha EAA
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Alpha EAA contains the right blend of EAAs with an addition of more BCAAs for better muscle growth. It also enhances cognitive function. Components such as vitacholine help in memory recall as well as muscle control. Additionally, it is non-GMO and is free from both gluten and soy. Vegetarians can use this EAA supplement as well.
2. Bulk Supplement Essential Amino Acids
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This powder from EAA improves athletic performance. Along with other supplements, this product is famous among bodybuilders for muscle gains. This further promotes healthy metabolism since EAA regulates glucose. It also gives a hand on lipid metabolism.
3. Double Wood Essential Amino Acids Capsules
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If you do not like the powder form, then you can always choose capsule EAA. Each capsule contains all 9 EEAs blended in 1 gram powder. This blend supports muscle growth and recovery while reducing muscle soreness. Thus, it gives you more endurance when it comes to different physical activities.
What Is BCAA?
BCAA is an acronym for Branch Chain Amino Acid. Three essential amino acids make up the BCAA. These aminos are isoleucine, leucine and valine. Technically, branch chain amino acids are also parts of the 9 essential amino acids.
Just like EAA, you need to get BCAA from outside sources through diet. The foods with the highest concentration of the three BCAA are eggs, chicken, and beef. Salmon and whey protein are also great sources of BCAA.
Athletes often take BCAA as supplements. Freeform BCAA goes directly to the bloodstream without passing in the liver and gut. Thus, it can go directly to the muscle, where it is metabolized as an energy source. The energy derived from BCAA gives athletes the energy they need during exercise. It also prevents premature breakdown of muscles.
Among the three branch chain amino acids, leucine is the most important. It helps in protein synthesis. It is also useful in stopping protein degradation through mTOR.
Benefits of BCAA
- Improves exercise performance
- Decreases soreness of muscles
- Reduces tiredness and fatigue brought about by exercise
- Increases red blood cell count and other blood components
- Helps muscles to recover faster
- Slows down muscle breakdown even during high-intensity workouts
- Beneficial to people with liver disease
What’s Wrong with BCAA?
With all the benefits of branch chain amino acids stated above, what would be so bad about it? And if BCAA are part of EAA, what’s the problem?
Many people have used BCAA for quite a while. However, Robert Wolfe questioned its efficacy in his review. His review states that taking BCAA for muscle protein synthesis is unwarranted. Hence, the fight between BCAA vs EAA arose.
According to Wolfe’s review, no quantified studies were conducted on human subjects about the body’s response to oral BCAA. He also said that there were only two studies that assessed the effect of intravenous BCAA. These two studies yield results of decreased muscle protein turnover.
The studies showed that intravenous BCAA actually decreased muscle protein synthesis and protein breakdown. According to the study, the catabolic state exceeded the rate of the protein synthesis of muscles during the infusion. Thus, he finds it unjustifiable to use BCAA for muscle protein synthesis.
Technically speaking, you consume EAA when you consume BAAs. However, you only get a part of these essential amino acids rather than the whole. That is why BAAs are not as potent as EAA in giving the muscles much-needed protein and energy for growth.
EAA are crucial in growing muscles. The body needs EAA to synthesize new protein for muscle development. The availability of EAA is the deal-breaker of muscle protein synthesis. All 9 EAA are essential in muscle building. If you only take BCAA, you missed the other 6 essential amino acids. Thus, you cannot get the optimal benefit that you want from these amino acids.
Is BCAA Totally Useless?
Given the points raised earlier, you might think that EAA is clearly the winner between BCAA vs EAA. But that’s where you are wrong. BCAA still has unique uses that only they can provide.
The main purpose of BCAA supplements during training is to spare the muscle proteins. Muscles make and break proteins constantly. Muscle protein synthesis refers to the making of protein.
Meanwhile, the muscle protein breakdown refers to the breaking of protein. When the muscle is at a steady state, the level of synthesis and breakdown are the same. Muscle growth occurs when the balance shifts and gears towards muscle protein synthesis.
Here comes BCAA to the rescue.
BCAA may have the ability to trick the body. It can make the body think that protein breakdown is not needed by the muscle tissue anymore. Thus, saving the muscle proteins from being broken down during exercises and training. Additionally, BCAA help in decreasing muscle soreness.
Best Branched Chain Amino Acid Supplement
1. MuscleTech Amino Build
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MuscleTech’s Amino Build has a muscle-enhancing and performance-booster formula. This BCAA supplementation gives your body the needed BCAA for muscle strength and recovery. With this formula, you can build up to 3.75 lbs of lean muscle in just 6 weeks! Rest assured that this BCAA supplement blend is scientifically validated by a study. It further boosts your endurance while replenishing electrolytes lost during exercise.
2. XTend Sport BCAA
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XTend Sport contains 7 grams of BCAA. This makes a great post-workout drink to help the tired muscles to recover. Moreover, it promotes muscle growth among athletes and fitness enthusiasts. The added electrolytes on this powder blend improve hydration and muscle recovery. It is also NSF Certified for Sport, which is recognized by the United States Anti-Doping Agency. The Canadian Football League and Major League Baseball also trust this brand. That is why you can truly rely on this BCAA powder as well.
3. Sascha BCAA + Glutamine Powder
- It helps increase muscle mass and support fat loss: it prevents muscle mass break down, increases protein synthesis and it also will help your body use more fat for energy.
- Enhances performance and Accelerates recovery: HMB improves exercise performance, strength and endurance by supporting muscle cell repair and adaptation.
- Improves energy levels: Your body will have more amino acids available during training.
- Improves body composition: it helps you gain more muscle and speed metabolism.
- Lowers Cortisol: BCAA’s helps decrease cortisol levels.
The mixture of BCAA and glutamine improves muscle endurance and recovery. It also helps the digestive and immune systems to cope up with stress.
Glutamine is known as the energy source of the immune and gut cells. Through this BCAA and glutamine blend, you gain more muscle and speed up metabolism. It also increases muscle mass while supporting fat loss.
Takeaway
Both BCAA vs EAA have their specific functions and contributions to muscle growth. While it is true that BCAA is only part of EAA, they are still essential to our body’s muscle development. The best way to take BCAA is with the rest of EAA.
And why do you need to take BCAA when you’re already taking EAA? The answer to that is very simple. BCAA supplements EAA. The three essential amino acids of BCAA are needed by the body to promote endurance and recovery. While you can get them from EAA, you still need to supplement EAA with more BCAA for a better effect.
In a nutshell, BCAA vs EAA should be used simultaneously to maximize the benefits of essential amino acids.
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