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Leucine and the Wonderful World of Protein Synthesis Many of you who have followed me for a while know that my Ph.D. research centered on the amino acid leucine and its involvement in stimulating muscle protein synthesis. But the way that leucine positively affects muscle metabolism and how this ties in with building muscle on a cellular level may be less clear to many of you, so I'm going to try to break it down as best I can. Resistance exercise elevates skeletal muscle protein synthesis in addition to increasing the rate of skeletal muscle protein degradation. The overall effect is a negative net protein balance (catabolic condition).1 Long-term exercise resistance training, however, causes increases in muscle mass. It has been shown that in order for protein balance to become positive after a workout, dietary protein—specifically the amino acid leucine— must be consumed, and protein balance will remain negative until it is consumed.2 Leucine is one of the three branched-chain amino acids and is unique in its ability to stimulate skeletal muscle protein synthesis. So how does leucine stimulate skeletal muscle protein synthesis? Well, first we need to understand more about the pathway that leucine activates. It has been shown that leucine activates a major complex in the anabolic pathway called mTOR.3 Think of mTOR as the amino acid sensor of the cell. mTOR is sensitive to leucine concentrations, and decreasing or increasing leucine concentrations signals mTOR that there is either not enough dietary protein present to synthesize new skeletal muscle protein, or there is a sufficient amount. As leucine concentrations increase, it signals to mTOR that there is sufficient dietary protein to synthesize new skeletal muscle protein and mTOR is activated. Though researchers are not sure exactly how leucine activates mTOR, it has been shown that mTOR is sensitive to leucine concentrations and activation of mTOR is strongly associated with increased protein synthesis. mTOR increases protein synthesis through two different mechanisms.4 It increases the rate that skeletal muscle proteins are translated (the process by which genetic information is converted into protein), and mTOR also increases the production of different complexes in the protein synthetic pathway—thereby increasing the body's capacity to stimulate skeletal muscle protein. So not only does mTOR stimulation cause the body to create new muscle tissue faster, it also increases the amount that can be produced in a period of time! An analogy to help you understand the above would be a contractor building a new skyscraper.The contracting company is mTOR, the skyscraper is the protein you are trying to synthesize, the machines (bulldozers, cranes, etc.) you use to construct the building are the protein synthesis pathway components and leucine is the cash needed to make the project work. When enough cash is available (increasing leucine concentrations), the contracting company can not only start building the skyscraper (synthesizing muscle protein), it can also purchase more machines (increased synthetic components) to increase the capacity and speed at which it can construct the skyscraper (the muscle protein being synthesized). Now that the thick science is out of the way, what does this tell us? Is it beneficial to supplement with extra leucine? Or do we get enough from a high-protein diet?There is some evidence that supplemental leucine may be beneficial even if one consumes ample protein, as leucine may amplify the peak anabolic response to a meal and may also extend the duration of protein synthesis when taken after a meal.5,6 A possible explanation of these results could be the rapid spike in blood leucine concentrations that a free-form leucine supplement could generate. Whole proteins take long periods of time to be digested and enter into circulation. Thus, blood concentrations of leucine increase slowly and plateau at a lower level when a whole protein source is consumed. Even with a fast-digesting protein such as whey, it can take hours for the leucine in whey to be liberated from the protein and enter circulation— therefore, leucine concentrations in the blood never spike to high levels. An isolated leucine supplement, however, would be quickly absorbed into circulation— thus spiking blood leucine levels and drastically increasing intracellular leucine concentrations and activating the aforementioned anabolic pathways. Leucine may also be of great assistance to those who are looking to maintain maximum muscle mass while dieting. We know that dieting is inherently catabolic, and is the time when you are most likely to lose muscle. So how can leucine help one get shredded but still maintain maximum muscle mass? Recall from our earlier discussion that leucine is more anabolic than the other amino acids. It may therefore be possible to substitute, say, 10 grams of leucine for 30-40 grams of dietary protein and still have the same or greater stimulatory effect on muscle protein synthesis.You still maintain high levels of protein synthesis... but you've managed to knock an extra 100 kilocalories (kcals) off of your diet, helping you to get even more shredded. The jury on leucine as a stand-alone supplement is still out, while researchers work hard to sort out the details. What is clear, however, is that it is important to consume high-quality sources of protein that are rich in leucine like whey, eggs and meats in order to maximize the muscle-building power of your food. Perhaps supplementing on top of that will also be beneficial— time will tell. By Dr. Layne Norton, Ph.D. Nutritional Sciences

WANT TO GROW MORE MUSCLE ? Legally GOOGLE- L-LEUCINE Leucine has a far greater stimulatory effect on protein synthesis than any other amino acid and it has been shown that protein (muscle) synthesis increases similarly in response to a relatively small dose of leucine compared to a whole food meal. It has also been demonstrated that adding leucine to a protein rich meal (Protein Shake) further increases the rate of skeletal muscle protein synthesis. See Rocky

2016 American Journal of Nutrition YOU CAN HAVE THE LAMB CHOPS Dietary Intake of Saturated Fat Is Not Associated with Risk of Coronary Events or Mortality in Patients with Established Coronary Artery Disease J. Nutr. 2015 145: 2 299-305; first published online December 10, 2014. Results: This study included 2412 patients (81% men, mean age: 61.7 y). After a median follow-up of 4.8 y, a total of 292 (12%) patients experienced at least one major coronary event during follow-up. High intake of SFAs was associated with a number of risk factors at baseline. However, there were no significant associations between SFA intake and risk of coronary events [age- and sex-adjusted HR (95% CI) was 0.85 (0.61, 1.18) for the upper vs. lower SFA quartile] or any secondary endpoint. Estimates were not appreciably changed after multivariate adjustments. Conclusions: There was no association between dietary intake of SFAs and incident coronary events or mortality in patients with established CAD.

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