BCAA

Branched chain amino acids (BCAA) are essential amino acids whose carbon structure is marked by a branch point

Branched chain amino acids (BCAA) are essential amino acids whose carbon structure is
marked by a branch point. These three amino acids are critical to human life and are
particularly involved in stress, energy and muscle metabolism.
BCAA supplementation as therapy, both oral and intravenous, in human health and disease
holds great promise. 'BCAA' denotes valine, isoleucine and leucine which are branched
chain essential amino acids. Despite their structural similarities, the branched amino
acids have different metabolic routes, with valine going solely to carbohydrates,
leucine solely to fats and isoleucine to both.