Member-only story
In recent years, there’s been an ongoing debate about whether branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) or essential amino acids (EAAs) are the better supplement when it comes to muscle growth, performance, and recovery.
While BCAAs have been around for some time now, EAAs have only recently emerged as a popular dietary supplement, which begs the obvious question, “What’s the difference between the two and which one should you take if you want the best results?”
In order to weigh in on the BCAA vs EAA debate, we’re going over all of the main things that set each supplement apart, however, before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s first discuss what amino acids are and why your body needs them.
The Importance of Amino Acids
Amino acids play a number of different roles in the human body. In addition to functioning as cell signaling molecules and gene expression regulators, they also serve as important precursors in the synthesis of a number of different hormones (and other substances) which help to maintain balance and stability across all of the body’s major systems.(1)
What amino acids are perhaps best known for, however, is their role in the maintenance of muscle tissue. Amino acids are known as the building blocks of protein because…
