Whey Protein Plus EAA's and BCAA's?

[BadassBlues]

Just curious if anyone adds aminos to their protein shakes. Whey protein has aminos, but enough, or should you supplement with BCAA's, or EAA's?

This is a good article that claims that whey alone does not give enough leucine.

While whey protein is one of the richest sources of BCAAs, a scoop of most whey proteins does not have a full 3 grams of leucine.​

Whey protein provides about 2 grams of leucine, 1 gram of valine and a little over 1 gram of isoleucine per 20 grams. It would take about 30 grams of whey to get just enough leucine. And it would take about 35 grams of casein. Since you should be using a mixed protein of whey and casein, you would need closer to 40 grams of protein to get the minimum amount of leucine you need to really boost muscle protein synthesis. That's about what you should be consuming after workouts. But do you really want to trust minumum amounts of leucine to be adequate for you? No you don't. That's just one reason why taking extra BCAAs with your protein shake is a good idea. Plus, taking BCAAs gets them to your muscles even faster than the BCAAs from the whey. That's because the leucine, isleucine, and valine in whey are bound up in long protein chains that need to be broken apart.

Any thoughts?

 

[t_spacemonkey]

I do use hydrolyzed whey protein, 52g per shake. (2 scoops). that will have over 4.5g leucine. i think most BCAA are a waste

 

[BadassBlues]

Here is another good article

Digestion of Whey Protein vs. BCAA ​

BCAAs are unique in that they get metabolized directly in muscle tissue, providing instant energy to the muscle rather than being metabolized in the liver like other amino acids. The digestion of whey protein happens in the intestines and not directly in the muscles, meaning amino acids have to travel to the muscles.

 

[BadassBlues]

I do use hydrolyzed whey protein, 52g per shake. (2 scoops). that will have over 4.5g leucine. i think most BCAA are a waste

Looks like a good product.

 

[Guided_by_Voices]

I carry Leucine caps with me and when I have a meal that has a significant amount of lower quality protein such as pasta or a lot of plant matter, I add leucine to hopefully make the protein more effective. I am slightly allergic to whey. I use EAAs pre and intra workout. It's hard to say how much any of this helps but the logic seems reasonable. I would be more concerned about upgrading low quality protein that making whey better.