BCAAs vs Essential Amino Acids: What’s the Difference?

The foods we eat provide a combination of macronutrients (carbohydrates, fiber, protein and fat) and micronutrients (including vitamins and minerals). It also provides calories (units of energy). During the digestive process, those nutrients get broken into their building blocks. With proteins, those building blocks are amino acids.

There are 20 total amino acids. The ones that cannot be synthesized in the body are called “essential.: The rest are divided into two groups. Non-essential amino acids can be made from essential amino acids or during the normal breakdown of proteins. Conditional amino acids are only needed at certain times (when the body experiences systemic stress, an injury or an immune threat).

Three essential amino acids are considered BCAAs (branched-chain amino acids): leucine, isoleucine and valine. “Branched-chain” refers to their chemical structure.

All EAAs are essential to muscle protein synthesis, but EAAs are a more complete source of the building blocks of protein. They stimulate more muscle protein synthesis than BCAAs.

Read more — and get a list of all essential amino acids.