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What to pay attention to when buying BCAA

Author: Timko Ilya - master of the whole project and fitness trainer.
2015-12-18

All articles by the author ➤

So, how should you properly buy BCAA to avoid getting ripped off? It's quite easy to mess up when purchasing them since manufacturers use many tricks that can be difficult for the average consumer to spot. In this article, I will fully cover this topic. If you don't want to read, you can watch the video. The information in the video and the text is completely analogous.

Currently, there are 3 types of BCAA on the market:

Liquid
Powder
Capsules / Tablets

Liquid BCAA

We won't linger on this. The thing is that buying liquid BCAAs is extremely unprofitable. On average, 100 ml of such a product contains 6 to 10 grams of BCAAs. You understand that this is a very low dosage, and you would need to drink 5 to 6 liters of this BCAA per month for a decent result.

For example, take a look at the product Power System BCAA liquid. This is a rather popular and well-known brand, and it's quite high quality. But even they only contain 7% BCAA. That is, 7 grams per 100 ml. Therefore, the conclusion is: do not buy liquid BCAA at all.

Powdered BCAA

It is the powdered BCAAs that manufacturers manipulate the most. Remember the main point: good, pure BCAAs should contain at least 80% of BCAAs (leucine, iso-leucine, and valine). The remaining 20% or less are usually flavor additives and various extraneous impurities. Here is an example of a good product that contains 100% BCAA: BCAA DobromilFit.

What do manufacturers often do? They frequently dilute BCAAs with creatine or glutamine. In this case, some do not indicate this in the name of the product at all. And if they do, it's in small print that few would read. Here are some examples:

In the first case, as can be seen from the composition, the product contains only 40% BCAA, 20% glutamine, and 40% who knows what! Would you buy such a product? By purchasing this 390-gram can, you are buying only 160 grams of pure BCAA. How do you feel about paying about 2000 rubles for 160 grams of BCAA? And it is indicated on the packaging that this product contains glutamine, but it is mentioned in small print that is almost invisible next to the large title. And this cannot be considered deception. The manufacturer did indicate that the product contains glutamine; it was just not clear.

In the second case, the manufacturer clearly stated that these BCAAs contain creatine. This product contains 40% BCAA and 40% creatine. ALWAYS calculate the quantity of ingredients not per serving but per 100 grams, i.e., in percentages. Thus, the manufacturer diluted BCAAs 50/50. But again, the word BCAA is prominently displayed on the package while "creatine" is in smaller font. This leads to the impression that this product mainly consists of BCAAs, which is not true.

In general, manufacturers often dilute powdered BCAAs with creatine or glutamine. Why? Here is the approximate cost for 1 kg of pure product:

BCAA - 5000 rubles
Glutamine - 2000 rubles
Creatine - 1500-2000 rubles

It is clear that creatine and glutamine are 2 – 3 times cheaper than BCAA. Thus, manufacturers simply reduce the cost of the product. But! They are doing this to save money for themselves, not for you. They sell it to you at the price of pure BCAA (or slightly lower). Therefore, if you need glutamine or creatine, buy them separately and buy BCAA separately. It will be cheaper.

BCAA in Capsules / Tablets

In the case of capsules and tablets, the manipulations take a different form. These are manipulations with the dosage per capsule. For example, let's look at the product Optimum Nutrition BCAA 1000 Caps. It states that in total, there are 1000 mg of BCAAs (leucine + iso-leucine + valine) in 2 capsules. That is – 500 mg per capsule. There are 200 capsules in the package. It's easy to calculate that there are only 100 grams of BCAA in the can. How do you feel about paying around 1300 rubles for just 100 grams of BCAA? And on top of that, you will need to swallow about 30 capsules a day to get a proper dosage.

Now let's compare it with Maxler Amino BCAA 4200. It also states that on 3 tablets, there is a total of 4.2 grams of BCAA. That is, 1.4 grams per tablet. Do you feel the difference? The dosage per tablet is almost 3 times higher than in the previous product. So if the first product contains 100 grams of BCAA per package, here it’s 1.4 * 400 = 560 grams.

In general, the conclusion here is to choose a product where BCAAs per capsule/tablet are at least 1 gram. 0.5 grams is already an extremely low dosage. In general, don't focus on the number of capsules or their size. You need to look at how much total BCAA is in the package. For this, you just need to remember the arithmetic from 1st or 2nd grade.

Conclusion

Manufacturers are forced to resort to various tricks to achieve greater profit and sell more of their goods. I think this is clear to everyone. Sometimes these are harmless tricks, and sometimes they border on outright deception. Therefore, do not let yourself be fooled. Look at the composition and calculate how much BCAA is actually in a particular package. And remember, if you came to the store to buy BCAA, then buy a product that contains only BCAA and nothing more. That’s all – good luck!