What are the benefits of Isoleucine? Isoleucine cannot be made in the human body, and it is essential for the health of your body. Isoleucine plays a key role in forming proteins while breaking down food and providing energy while helping with the healing processes. It is considered an essential amino acid that your body needs to function as its optimal level.
What are the benefits of isoleucine? iStock-photo credit: Andrii Dodonov
The isoleucine structure is part of the three-branch chain amino acids which are leucine, isoleucine and valine. These three BCAA’s are part of the nine essential amino acids.
So now that we know that isoleucine is part of the essential amino acids that are associated with BCAA’s, what are the benefits to this?
The Benefits
One of the benefits of this is reducing muscle damage and soreness. A systemic review that was published in 2017 in the Nutrient journal revealed that BCAA supplementation can reduce exercise induced muscle damage.
It also revealed that the results are successful when they experience moderate to low muscle damage if the supplement was taken before they exercised.
Lowering Glucose
A research study that was published in the Journal of Nutrition found that taking oral administration of isoleucine resulted in a significant decline in plasma glucose levels.
And another study showed taking one dose of isoleucine reduced plasma glucose levels in animal subjects. What was interesting about that study is that taking leucine and valine did not produce a significant decrease in plasma glucose levels.
Some of the best foods that contain isoleucine are the following:
- Turkey
- Black Beans
- Chicken
- Lamb
- Pinto Beans
- Sunflower Seeds
- Sesame Seeds
- Cottage Cheese
Some of the potential side effects of taking BCAA’s are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, stomach bloating, fatigue, etc. We live in this world where everybody is pushing BCAA’s and whey protein supplements. But it is not difficult to get your BCAA’s through consuming foods like meat, eggs, dairy, fish, legumes, seeds, etc.
Whey protein is a supplement that contains all 3-branch chain amino acids which means if you are taking a whey protein supplement you don’t need to take BCAA’s. As that would be an overkill.
The Bottom Line is the benefits of isoleucine which is in BCAA’s is reducing muscle damage and soreness. It can potentially lower glucose levels based on numerous studies. It can also reduce fatigue and boost performance levels.
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References
- Fouré A, Bendahan D. Is Branched-Chain Amino Acids Supplementation an Efficient Nutritional Strategy to Alleviate Skeletal Muscle Damage? A Systematic Review. Nutrients. 2017 Sep 21;9(10):1047. doi: 10.3390/nu9101047. PMID: 28934166; PMCID: PMC5691664.
- Blomstrand E. A role for branched-chain amino acids in reducing central fatigue. J Nutr. 2006 Feb;136(2):544S-547S. doi: 10.1093/jn/136.2.544S. PMID: 16424144.
- Doi M, Yamaoka I, Fukunaga T, Nakayama M. Isoleucine, a potent plasma glucose-lowering amino acid, stimulates glucose uptake in C2C12 myotubes. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2003 Dec 26;312(4):1111-7. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2003.11.039. PMID: 14651987.
