Boost muscle synthesis with leucine
Research suggests that drinking a leucine-enriched protein drink while you’re taking part in endurance exercise may boost muscle synthesis by up to a third
A team of researchers from the United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Tufts University and the Louisiana State University System gave eight volunteers 10 grams of a protein drink containing either 1.87 grams or 3.5 grams of leucine during a cycling test.
Those who got the drink enriched with 3.5 grams of leucine had a 33 percent increase in muscle synthesis over what the subjects who got 1.87 grams of leucine experienced.
“These data indicate that increasing leucine availability during steady-state exercise promotes skeletal muscle protein anabolism and spares endogenous protein,” write the authors. “Our findings indicate that increasing the leucine content of protein supplements provided for those populations susceptible to muscle loss, including proteolytic conditions—such as cachexia, sarcopenia and calorie deprivation—may warrant further exploration.”
Pasiakos, S.M., et al. (2011). Leucine-enriched essential amino acid supplementation during moderate steady state exercise enhances postexercise muscle protein synthesis. Am J Clin Nutr. 94:809-818.
—Dr. Bob Goldman www.WorldHealth.net.
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