A Beginner's Guide to Essential Amino Acids

Amino acid supplements have been commonplace in the fitness industry for well over a decade, primarily in the form of BCAA supplements.

But recently, the industry has seen a turning of the tide as the much beloved BCAA supplement is slowly being replaced by a more complete option -- the essential amino acid (EAA) supplement.

“What’s the reason for the transition?” You might wonder.

We’ll answer that question and more as we present a brief overview of essential amino acids: what they are, how they’re different from BCAA, and what benefits they can offer.

What are Essential Amino Acids?

Essential amino acids, as the name implies, are amino acids that are essential to life as they are required for the synthesis of protein. The body cannot produce EAAs, which means they must be obtained in the diet, either from food or an essential amino acid supplement.

EAA vs BCAA

Most of you are familiar with the three BCAA (leucine, isoleucine, and valine) and are probably wondering how they are different from the essential amino acids.

Well, the BCAA are a special subcategory of the EAA family. There are a total of nine essential amino acids:

• Leucine
• Isoleucine
• Valine
• Lysine
• Phenylalanine
• Threonine
• Tryptophan
• Histidine
• Methionine

Now, the reason the BCAA get all of the attention is that they (mostly leucine) serve as a powerful stimulator of mTOR -- a cellular signaling pathway that drives protein synthesis and ultimately, muscle growth.

But here’s the catch, in order to complete protein construction, the body requires all nine essential amino acids be present in sufficient quantities. Supplementing with only the three BCAA can limit protein synthesis in that it doesn’t provide adequate amounts of the other EAAs.

This is why Performax Labs created EAmino Max.

EAmino Max is a complete essential amino acid supplement supplying quality doses of all nine EAAs the body requires (including 3g of mTOR-stimulating leucine) for protein synthesis, muscle recovery, and growth. But that’s not all, EAmino Max also includes valuable muscle repair and hydration agents in HICA, L-Carnitine L-Tartrate, and coconut water to create an amino acid supplement that has more to offer than just the nine EAAs.