Leucine: the strongest of the BCAAs, is responsible for the regulation of blood sugar levels, the growth and repair of tissues in skin, bones and skeletal muscle.
It’s a strong potentiator to Human Growth Hormone (HGH). It helps in healing wounds, regulating energy and assists in preventing the breakdown of muscle tissue.
Medically it helps in the prevention of muscle-wasting in states of deprivation.
It’s found in nearly all protein sources including brown rice, beans, nuts, and whole wheat.
Isoleucine: is very similar to leucine in most every way. Isoleucine promotes muscle recovery, regulates the blood-sugar levels and stimulates HGH release. But isoleucine holds its own in terms of wound healing. It helps in the formation of haemoglobin and is strongly involved in the formation of blood-clots, the body’s primary defense against infection through open wounds and is medically used in wound healing.
Found in chicken, cashews, fish, almonds, eggs, lentils, liver and meat.
Valine: helps the repair and growth of muscle tissue, as commonly attributed to BCAAs. It maintains the nitrogen balance and preserves the use of glucose. Medically it is not used separately.
Found in dairy, meat, grain, mushrooms, soy and peanuts.
Threonine: is an essential amino acid that is not manufactured within the body. Since its main sources are animal (dairy and meat) this doesn’t bode well to vegans. It’s found in heart, skeletal muscle and nerve tissue in the central nervous system. Threonin is used to form the body’s two most important binding substances – collagen and elastin. It is also essential to maintain proper protein balance. Threonine is involved in liver functions, lipotropic functions (when combined with aspartic acid and methionine) and in the maintenance of the immune system by helping in the production of antibodies and promoting growth and activity of the thymus. But perhaps its most useful property of all is that it allows better absorption of other nutrients, so protein sources containing threonine are more bio-available than others. Used for treatment in mental health and found in meat, dairy and eggs.
Next week we will talk about the most important non-essential amino acids.
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