BCAAs vs EAAs: why three amino acids are not enough.

If you have read that amino acid supplements do not work, you have probably read about BCAAs. Fair enough. Here is why that research does not apply to a full essential amino acid blend.

Three versus nine

BCAAs are three amino acids: leucine, isoleucine and valine. They are essential, and leucine is the one that signals muscle to start building. But a signal is not a supply. Muscle builds protein from a full set of amino acids, and the ones your body cannot make have to arrive together.

Robert Wolfe's 2017 review put it plainly: BCAAs alone cannot support an increase in muscle protein synthesis, because the other essential amino acids are not there to build with. A full complement of essential amino acids is required (PubMed).

What a full blend does

In a 2015 study of women with a mean age of 66, 3 grams of leucine-rich essential amino acids stimulated muscle protein synthesis comparably to 20 grams of whey protein (PubMed). A follow-up in 2017 found 1.5 grams of the same blend already produced a robust response, with negligible extra benefit from 6 grams, or from 40 grams of whey (PubMed).

That is the difference. A BCAA drink sends the signal and then has nothing to build with. A full essential amino acid serving sends the signal and brings the materials.

What is in a Rejuvenate stick

Eight essential amino acids plus arginine, in a leucine-rich blend, with 1,000 IU of Vitamin D3. Five calories. Contains no protein. One serving activates muscle comparable to 20g of protein†.

See the 12-Week Supply →

Sources

1. Wolfe RR. Branched-chain amino acids and muscle protein synthesis in humans: myth or reality? J Int Soc Sports Nutr 2017. PubMed
2. Bukhari SSI et al. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 2015. PubMed
3. Bukhari SSI et al. 2017. PubMed

† These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Rejuvenate contains no protein.