Are BCAA Supplements Safe?
People who are new to the world of sports nutrition supplements often ask are BCAA supplements safe to use? The simple answer is yes.
BCAA supplements can be consumed by both men and women as BCAA has an excellent safety profile.
If you want to build muscle tissue protein and build solid muscle mass, branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) can be an excellent choice for you.
One of the biggest benefits of BCAA supplements is that they help you elevate your gym performance and recover quickly after intense workouts. Moreover, they inhibit protein breakdown and promote protein synthesis so it becomes easier for you to build muscle and strength.
BCAA supplements are highly useful to promote muscle growth. This is primarily because BCAA leucine can activate pathways in the human body that stimulate muscle protein synthesis.
Moreover, BCAAs are known to enhance muscle recovery after strenuous workouts while reducing muscle damage to minimize delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS).
Furthermore, BCAAs reduce protein breakdown during workouts and minimize levels of creatine kinase which is an indicator of muscle damage.
In addition to these advantages, BCAA supplements can help you in different ways such as:
- Preventing muscle wasting
- Providing explosive energy to your muscles
- Stimulating the synthesis of leptin hormone
- Improving the supply of blood in the body
- Delaying both physical and mental fatigue
- Preventing muscle loss and protein breakdown
- Preventing muscle tissue loss
- Releasing fat cells
- Reducing muscle soreness, damage, and fatigue
- Improving muscle mass, size, and definition
- Getting rid of stubborn abdominal and visceral fat
- Boosting your appetite and metabolism
- Easing symptoms of hepatic encephalopathy and tardive dyskinesia
- Improving mental function in people with phenylketonuria
Risks And Side Effects Of Branched-Chain Amino Acids
The abuse or overdosing on BCAA supplements can lead to side effects such as pain, headache, and nausea in rare cases.
BCAA supplements are not recommended to children and pregnant, breastfeeding, and lactating women unless otherwise recommended by a medical practitioner.
Oral BCAA supplements are not recommended to individuals who are diagnosed with severe and debilitating health conditions such as chronic alcoholism or branched-chain ketoaciduria.
Overdosing of BCAA supplements can lead to a hike in the levels of blood branched-chain amino acids. This can lead to a BCAA competing for brain transportation with tryptophan.
When both amino acids make initiatives to access the brain, this can lead to different effects thus causing the reduced synthesis of serotonin that may affect your mood. In rare cases, low serotonin levels can lead to obesity.
You should seek medical advice before using BCAA supplements if you are consuming corticosteroids, diabetes medications, Proglycem (diazoxide), or Parkinson's medications.
In case you have accidentally missed out on a dose of BCAA supplement and the time for the next dose has come, you should avoid the missed dose and take only the next dose.
All in all, premium-grade BCAA supplements are considered safe for healthy people. In case you are diagnosed with a health condition, you should always check with your doctor first before supplementing with BCAAs.