leucine in food & muscle protein synthesis optimisation

🧬 Last time I explained how protein quality is determined and how to get a full amino acid profile from food. Today I’m focusing specifically on how to get enough leucine - the branched-chained, essential amino acid that has the unique ability to switch on muscle protein synthesis (MPS) by itself.

 🧬 Thinking of your MPS in your young years is important, as age-related sarcopenia (muscle loss) and dynapenia (loss of strength) not only cause the obvious physical problems, such as difficulty to move around and lack of independence, but they are also associated with a number of metabolic conditions, such as diabetes, arthritis, osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease.

 🧬 As mentioned in the post on leucine trigger, we need ~20 g/protein (or ~40 g if protein quality is compromised) with every meal to maintain a positive muscle protein balance. This is because this particular amount contains ~2.5-3 g/leucine, which is needed to optimally stimulate MPS.

 🧬 The picture below shows foods that contain the most leucine.

 🧬 As you can see, plants contain significantly lower amounts of leucine and to achieve optimal protein intakes on a plant based diet requires A LARGE intake of food, which is hardly sustainable or desirable.

 🧬 I’m not saying that a plant-based diet can’t keep you healthy into your late years, but for optimal MPS, it is recommended to supplement with leucine. This is particularly important in your 50s and thereafter, as naturally, movement and protein intakes in older adults is shown to decrease, which takes a toll on MPS.

 🧬 Another way to delay/avoid age-related sarcopenia is to exercise, specifically resistance type of workouts. This can be done with weights or even with your own body, e.g. yoga / calisthenics / gymnastics.

 🧬 You might think that you’ll worry about the old age problems when you’re old, but your youth has a massive influence on your ageing quality, so it’s never too early to be aware. 😊