Weight Loss and Amino Acids: What Supplements You Should Consider

Amino acids are increasingly popular with athletes. However, more people, especially those who want to lose some weight, have become more attracted to this substance over time as well. This is because amino acids carry a unique characteristic that supports weight reduction.

Amino Acids and Essential Amino Acids: What Are They?

Amino acids are also known as amino carboxylic acids. They are the tiniest components of proteins that connect to create larger protein molecules. Furthermore, most of the time, the best amino acids are also referred to as building blocks of protein.

The body needs twenty amino acids to grow and function. Out of the twenty, eleven are the substances we can metabolize. However, nine must be consumed either through your foods or through taking supplements. These nine are the essential amino acids (EAAs):
Isoleucine
Histidine
Lysine
Leucine
Phenylalanine
Methionine
Threonine
Valine
Tryptophan

On the other hand, the eleven are the non-essential amino acids:
Alanine
Asparagine
Arginine
Cysteine
Aspartic acid
Glutamic acid
Glycine
Glutamine
Serine
Proline
Tyrosine

All animal products such as meat, fish, poultry, eggs, and dairy contain essential amino acids. Moreover, to get all the EAAs needed in a plant-based diet, it is best to eat different foods containing the same number of the nine EAAs. This might include legumes, whole grains, seeds, vegetables, and nuts. However, buckwheat, soy, and quinoa are the only plants that make a complete protein and contain all the EAAs.

Amino acids play a vital role in your body. The following are some of its benefits:
Synthesizing neurotransmitters
Synthesizing hormones
Regulating blood sugar
Regulating immune function
Building structural proteins
Protecting nerve cells
Regulating and producing energy
Absorbing essential minerals

It is not a challenge for most people to get enough amino acids incorporated into their diet. However, many still choose to supplement protein or specific amino acids. Furthermore, you can find many types of supplements for particular amino acids or groups of amino acids like EAAs.
How Can Amino Acids Help Lose Weight?
Many studies might have evaluated the potential of amino acid supplementation in weight loss and muscle development. How these molecules in our body influence weight loss are pretty complicated. However, there are several possible answers:

Might Help Boost Performance
Amino acids might help you lose some weight by boosting your exercise performance. These types of supplements can provide you with more energy, improve recovery time, and relieve fatigue. This maximizes your workouts and helps you burn more calories.

Increasing The Fat Burn
When you take amino acid supplements, there might be a boost in burning fat in your body. This means a greater chance of losing some weight. Moreover, one study showed that taking amino acid supplements every day led to a decrease in body fat percentage in men who are already involved in strength training. The said decrease was very significant compared to those men who use sports drinks or whey protein after workouts.

Might Encourage Muscle Building
The ability of amino acid supplements to boost fat burn might be related to muscle growth. Furthermore, your body’s increased muscle mass has greater potential burning calories and losing fat. This is because muscle tissue uses more energy compared to your body’s fat tissues.

As you build up your muscles, your metabolism improves, and you burn more calories. The vital key here might be to supplement with branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs). Out of the nine essential amino acids mentioned, three contain a structure with branched chains. This includes valine, isoleucine, and leucine (most vital when it comes to muscle growth).

These three EAAs play a considerable role when it comes to muscle building than the other EAAs listed above. That is why BCAA supplements have become more popular. Not only that, but BCAAs can improve your body’s muscle development by awakening particular enzymes after your workout.

Stimulating Growth Hormones
Somatotropin (STH) is considered a growth hormone. The body produces this hormone most at night when you are still sleeping. Moreover, STH stimulates the oxidation of fat and the building of proteins from amino acids.

One way to lose weight and burn fat is through having more of this growth hormone. However, it is not possible for you to get an injection or supplement for it. Instead, what you can do is to use amino acid supplements to encourage the secretion of STH.

Methionine, glutamine, and arginine might promote more secretion of STH. Taking these supplements on an empty stomach before you go to sleep can increase STH secretion. Not only that, but it can also help with fat loss.
The Limitations of BCAAs
BCAAs potential in muscle development is quite strong. In fact, they are one of the most popular supplements for weightlifters. However, three amino acids might not be enough. Moreover, what you really need in your body to support weight loss are the nine essential amino acids.

In 2017, a study was conducted on participants with placebo or BCAA after strength training. With that, the researchers found out that BCAA supplementation is not entirely responsible for muscle growth. However, it has a limit. Furthermore, the researchers concluded that the best way to maximize muscle growth after working out is by taking advantage of all the essential amino acids and not just with BCAAs.

Hence, to get the best results, it will help if you use a supplement that contains all the nine essential amino acids and not just the BCAAs. Moreover, there might be some added advantages in selecting an EAA supplement that contains an additional amount of BCAAs, especially leucine.
The Case of Lessening BCAAs Consumption
The researchers at the University of Wisconsin conducted a study that showed a diet reducing BCAAs consumption might improve weight loss. However, it is vital to note that this was conducted on obese lab mice. Also, results generated from lab animals do not automatically translate to humans.
Conclusion
Amino acids (essential and non-essential) are small molecules that play a vital role in your body for it to function properly. Not only that, but they can also be a great help for your weight loss journey. Furthermore, some amino acids (EAAs) cannot be metabolized and need to be consumed. Hence, it would be best to make sure you get all of them in your diet or through supplements for it to work.