If Leucine is the star, why not just take straight Leucine?
While the majority of available scientific research does indeed present leucine as the king of protein synthesis, so to speak, there are drawbacks to using it alone. As we said above, the presence of the two additional BCAAs (iso-leucine and valine) can reduce intracellular leucine levels – well, by the same token, administration of leucine alone, over time, can reduce levels of valine and iso-leucine as well. The key is to create a formula that a) privileges leucine over the other BCAAs in order to constantly maintain adequate levels of protein synthesis and b) one which does not create an imbalance between the amino acids in doing so.
