In the journey of increasing muscle mass most efficiently, there are multiple factors to count in the equation. You might be wondering if it’s necessary to get all of the nine amino acids when it comes down to building muscle – and if so, how?
In order to increase muscle mass most efficiently, yes, you need all of the nine essential amino acids. Essential and non-essential amino acids all play a part in protein synthesis and are important to maintain a healthy functioning body. If you’re not getting enough essential amino acids, it can affect sleep, mood, muscle growth, immune system, hormone production, etc. Fortunately, you can get essential amino acids through a diet of complete proteins and boost muscle growth through supplementation such as BCAA and L-Citrulline.Â
When you want to build muscle, it’s important to address the topics of nine essential amino acids and muscle growth including protein synthesis. It’s important to consider what will happen if you don’t get all of the essential amino acids and which amino acids and foods are the best in supporting muscle growth.
What Are Essential Amino Acids?
Our body is dependent on 20 essential and non-essential amino acids in order to function properly – the eleven non-essential amino acids we synthesize ourselves and nine of the essential amino acids (EAA’s) we need through diet or supplementation.
The essential amino acids:
- Isoleucine
- Leucine
- Valine
- Methionine
- Threonine
- Lysine
- Histidine
- Phenylalanine
- Tryptophan
This means, in order for our body to function properly and to build muscle, we need all of the nine essential amino acids through diet or supplementation.
Amino acids are responsible for multiple processes in our body, such as:
- Synthesize nucleotide bases that form DNA and RNAÂ Â
- Protein synthesis in our cells
- Repairs tissue and cells
- Promotes healthy digestion
- Supports immune system
- ATP production in our mitochondria (powerhouse) in the cells
- Supports hormones and neurotransmitters
The amino acids, especially the essential amino acids, are necessary in the equation of protein synthesis to build muscles.
Amino Acids For Muscle Growth
Amino acids are a part of protein synthesis and according to studies, ingesting the nine essential amino acids through diet or supplementation is necessary for increasing muscle mass and whole-body protein synthesis.
Protein Synthesis
When we eat a meal, our enzymes break down the fibers, in order to absorb the macro and micronutrients.Â
Macronutrients we get from carbohydrates, amino acids in the protein and fatty acids. Micronutrients we get from vitamins and minerals.
When proteins are broken down in our mouth, stomach and intestines, the amino acids move through the intestine wall and flow into the bloodstream, where the amino acids, amongst the other nutrients, will reach the liver.
When the liver metabolizes amino acids, carbohydrates and fatty acids into energy– it will be transported to the cells for protein synthesis.
When we’re working out, we’re breaking down larger molecules into smaller molecules in our cells via a catabolic process.
In order to build muscles, we’ll need to eat a decent amount of protein (and be in a caloric surplus) – this is the anabolic process, where we build up the energy storage in the cells and basically build the muscle.Â
Amino acid metabolism is only responsible for 10-15% of the energy production in the cell – the rest is made of carbohydrates and fatty acids. Nonetheless, ingesting all of the nine essential amino acids is important for optimal muscle growth and energy production.
What Happens If You Don’t Get All 9 Essential Amino Acids?
If you, for some reason, don’t get enough of the 9 essential amino acids in your diet, it might have consequences.Â
As mentioned earlier, the essential amino acids are especially important in protein synthesis. Proteins (amino acids) are our building blocks and are responsible for:
- A healthy functioning immune system
- Building blocks of amino acids in hair, skin and nails (collagen)
- Sustaining a healthy digestion
- Hormone production
- Wound healing
- Blood sugar regulation
- Sustaining healthy brain function
- Muscle repair
- Bone density
- Regulating sleep, mood, appetite and pain
The different amino acids have different jobs within, which means, if we don’t get enough of the nine essential amino acids through our diet, it can unfortunately affect us detrimentally.
Do You Need All 20 Amino Acids To Build Muscles?
For optimal muscle growth, multiple factors have to be accounted for in the equation, such as:
- Progressive overload in your strength training
- Caloric surplus containing a decent amount of protein
- Stress management
- Enough sleep and rest
- Essential amino acids
Creating enough non-essential amino acids and getting enough essential amino acids through diet or supplementation, is crucial to increase muscle mass most efficiently and support protein synthesis.
This means, yes – we need all amino acids in order to increase muscle mass, but some amino acids support protein synthesis and muscle growth even more efficiently.
Best Amino Acids For Muscle Growth
Supporting your body with amino acids can be a life changer when talking about muscle growth. When we’re putting our body under stress during training, we’ll deplete the storage of amino acids and might need an extra boost.
This includes:
- Branch Chained Amino Acids (BCAA) containing Isoleucine, leucine and valine
- L-Arginine
- L-Citrulline
- L-Orthinine
BCAA
BCAA’s are responsible for up to 45% of our intake of essential amino acids. BCAA’s are said to increase anabolic working hormones such as testosterone and human growth hormone. It is said that intake of BCAA’s can decrease cortisol levels, which actually breaks down muscle.
L-Arginine
L-Arginine is important for everything that needs to grow by stimulation of human growth hormone. L-Arginine also produces creatine which is important for energy in the muscle and nervous system. A healthy functioning nervous system is important for rest-and-digest (stress response) and sleep – we don’t want stressors in our life when building muscles.
L-Ornithine And L-Citrulline
Another amino acid, called L-Orthinine, can be beneficial to increase muscle mass. L-Orthinine isn’t an essential or non-essential amino acid but rather an amino acid in the liver that’s part of the urea cycle.Â
In the liver, ammonia, which is a waste product from cellular metabolism, converts to urea which is excreted through urine. In the urea cycle, L-Ornithine merges with L-Citrulline – and L-Citrulline merges with another ammonia molecule and forms L-Arginine. This cycle repeats itself. The urea cycle, with help from the amino acids, keeps plasma ammonia levels under control.
So what does all of this mean?
Research shows that supplementing with L-Arginine and L-Ornithine has a positive impact on increasing muscle mass – but only in a higher dose (which may have side effects) for a short period of time. Another study amongst bodybuilders indicated that L-Ornithine could help increase Human Growth Hormone, but had similar findings.Â
However, L-Arginine is said to be an important step in protein synthesis (building muscle) – and in order to create L-Arginine, we need L-Citrulline. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to absorb as much L-Arginine as a supplement as when taking L-Citrulline. This means L-Citrulline as a supplement has better effects of creating L-Arginine in the end to support protein synthesis.
Another finding is that elevated L-Arginine in blood can help nitrogen oxide, which is a byproduct in the urea cycle, expand blood vessels (vasodilation) and pump more blood into the muscle.
With that said, supporting your body with the nine essential amino acids is important to increase muscle mass and endurance most optimally.
What Foods Has All 9 Essential Amino Acids?
If we want to get all of the 9 essential amino acids through food, we’ll have to eat complete proteins – this means foods containing all of the essential amino acids.
The nine essential amino acids in food are found in:
- Fish
- Eggs
- Chicken
- Duck
- Turkey
- Beef
- Milk
- Cheese
- Yoghurt
- Tofu
- Edamame
- Quinoa
- Buckwheat
Complete proteins are mostly found in meat, which is why eating a vegan or vegetarian diet can make it more difficult to obtain a decent intake of the nine essential amino acids.
Do You Need To Eat Meat To Get All 9 Amino Acids?
Most of the nine essential amino acids are found in complete proteins (foods containing all nine essential amino acids), which counts mostly animal products.
With that said, it is not impossible to obtain a vegan or vegetarian diet since foods like:
- Tofu
- Edamame
- Quinoa
- Buckwheat
…all contain complete proteins.
Some foods are also categorized as incomplete proteins, which means they contain some of the 9 essential amino acids we need.
Incomplete proteins include:
- Nuts
- Seeds
- Beans
- Some grains
If you’re for some reason not eating meat, I’ll recommend supplementing with amino acids – both for a variety of health reasons and also if you want to increase muscle mass.
