Amino acids are the fundamental units of proteins, essential for synthesizing various macromolecular proteins necessary for life. These include enzymes vital for physiological processes, hormones that regulate metabolism, immunoglobulins that boost immunity, and myoproteins involved in muscle synthesis. Essential amino acids refer to those that the human body cannot synthesize or produce in sufficient quantities to meet its needs and thus need to be obtained from food. For adults, there are eight essential amino acids: lysine, tryptophan, phenylalanine, methionine, threonine, isoleucine, leucine, and valine. Among them, leucine, valine, and isoleucine all have branched-chain structures, so they are also called branched-chain amino acids (BCAA). Since the American Medical Association first announced the recommended daily intake of BCAA in 2002, BCAA has become a big hit in the field of nutrition, especially in sports nutrition. Nowadays, BCAA has become the core functional component of sports nutrition products, especially protein powders.

Branched-Chain Amino Acids and Leucine

BCAA makes up 35% of all essential amino acids in the human body and 14% of the total amino acids found in muscle. These amino acids promote anabolic processes and muscle growth through two unique mechanisms: stimulating insulin secretion and promoting the release of growth hormone^[1]. Studies have shown that among BCAA, leucine mainly plays a regulatory role in protein metabolism, and its metabolites can inhibit the breakdown of muscle proteins by regulating hormone levels without affecting protein synthesis^[2]. Moreover, unlike other amino acids, BCAA can be rapidly absorbed by skeletal muscles without going through liver metabolism, and among them, leucine promotes the synthesis of muscle proteins most significantly through metabolism^[3]. In addition, BCAA also has the functions of providing energy for the body, maintaining the body's nitrogen balance, improving the body's oxidative metabolic capacity, alleviating exercise fatigue, and promoting lactic acid metabolism^[4].

The Value of Yeast Protein in Sports Nutrition

BCAA is often perceived as remarkable, even mysterious. In fact, in daily life, when people consume protein-rich foods such as meat, eggs, and milk, the intake of these three essential amino acids is inevitable.

Table 1 Composition of Branched-Chain Amino Acids in Different Proteins

When the amino acid composition of a certain protein is close to the ideal pattern of FAO/WHO, a higher ratio indicates greater nutritional value. It can be seen from Table 1^[5] that except for the valine content in soybean protein being lower than that of the FAO/WHO pattern, the levels of branched-chain amino acids in other proteins are all higher than that of the FAO/WHO pattern. Among them, the levels of isoleucine and valine in yeast protein are higher than those in whey protein and soybean protein, and the level of leucine is higher than those in egg protein and soybean protein. These findings underscore the broad potential of yeast protein in sports nutrition.

References

[1] Zhu Jinghua, Cong Lin. A Brief Discussion on the Efficacy and Use of Branched-Chain Amino Acids [J]. Track and Field, 2022(005):000.
[2] Wu Sainan, Liu Xize, Zhen Yuguo, et al. Research Progress on the Characteristics and Biological Actions of Branched-Chain Amino Acids [J]. Journal of Economic Animals, 2023.
[3] Hormoznejad R, Javid A Z, Mansoori A. Effect of BCAA supplementation on central fatigue, energy metabolism substrate and muscle damage to the exercise: a systematic review with meta-analysis [J]. Sport Sciences for Health, 2019: 1-15.
[4] Wang Liangxia, Liu Ruoying, Lin Fuhong, et al. Research Progress on the Role of Branched-Chain Amino Acids in Exercise [J]. Amino Acids and Biological Resources, 2015(1):6.
[5] Chen Zhixian, Zhang Haibo, Zhang Shuangqing, et al. Amino Acid Composition and in vitro Dynamic Digestion of Three Different Sources of Proteins [J]. Journal of Henan University of Technology: Natural Science Edition, 2016(2):7.

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