leucine

No summary available for this substance.

Leucine

Leucine is one of the three Branched Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) and is considered an essential amino acid, meaning it cannot be produced by the body and must be acquired through diet or supplementation. It is primarily known for its role in muscle protein synthesis and is commonly used by athletes and bodybuilders to aid in recovery and muscle growth.

Category
Amino Acid
Molecular Formula
C6H13NO2
Mechanism of Action
Leucine activates the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway, which stimulates muscle protein synthesis.
Evidence Grade
B

Other Names

  • 2-Amino-4-methylvaleric acid
  • L-Leucine

Primary Benefits

  • Supports muscle protein synthesis
  • Aids in muscle recovery
  • Helps regulate blood sugar levels

Recommended Dosage

Amount 2-5g
Frequency 1-3 times daily
Notes It is recommended to take leucine with meals to enhance its effectiveness.

Side Effects

  • Nausea
  • Fatigue
  • Headache

Precautions

  • Not recommended for individuals with maple syrup urine disease
  • Should be used with caution in individuals with kidney or liver disease

Interactions

  • May interact with certain medications such as insulin

Key References

  • 'Branched-Chain Amino Acids and Muscle Protein Synthesis in Humans: Myth or Reality?' - Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition
  • 'Leucine supplementation and intensive training' - Sports Medicine
Female-Specific Exercise & Nutrition for Health, Performance & Longevity | Dr. Stacy Sims
Optimizing Women's Wellness Through Nutrition, Exercise, and Hormone Health 27:27 0
“women who are in their reproductive years need around 35 grams of good protein highquality Lucine oriented protein within 45 minutes and we see that women who are per menopausal onwards are 40 to 60 grams because we become more anabolically resistant to food and exercise as we get older”

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Peter Attia, M.D. on Macronutrient Thresholds for Longevity and Performance, Cancer and More
Exploring Diet, Genes, and Aging for Longevity and Health 7:29 0
“It's pretty much all leucine. And what's really clever just from an evolutionary perspective is that mTORC in muscle has a much higher affinity for leucine than mTORC1 in fat or in hepatocytes.”

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Peter Attia, M.D. on Macronutrient Thresholds for Longevity and Performance, Cancer and More
Exploring Diet, Genes, and Aging for Longevity and Health 8:31 0
“5 grams of leucine during a workout, probably not harmful.”

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The Science of Protein and Its Role in Longevity, Cancer, Aging, and Building Muscle
Protein's Vital Role in Health, Exercise, Aging, and Muscle Building 2:21 0
“The pivotal role of the amino acid Leucine in activating muscle building pathways and how this impacts protein quality considerations.”

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The Science of Protein and Its Role in Longevity, Cancer, Aging, and Building Muscle
Protein's Vital Role in Health, Exercise, Aging, and Muscle Building 20:54 0
“Lucine is of particular importance for protein quality, the main anabolic component of protein is the branch chain amino acid Lucine which is a potent stimulator of muscle protein synthesis.”

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The Science of Protein and Its Role in Longevity, Cancer, Aging, and Building Muscle
Protein's Vital Role in Health, Exercise, Aging, and Muscle Building 21:01 0
“Lucine stimulates muscle protein synthesis by activating the mTOR pathway, which is our body's central regulator of cell growth and metabolism.”

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The Science of Protein and Its Role in Longevity, Cancer, Aging, and Building Muscle
Protein's Vital Role in Health, Exercise, Aging, and Muscle Building 21:39 0
“About 0.25 grams of protein per kilogram body weight in a single meal provides a saturating dose of Lucine and amino acids to stimulate muscle protein synthesis for up to 6 hours.”

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The Science of Protein and Its Role in Longevity, Cancer, Aging, and Building Muscle
Protein's Vital Role in Health, Exercise, Aging, and Muscle Building 34:54 0
“exercise causes Lucine to be taken up by muscle where it activates mtor in muscle to build and repair muscle rather than spending time in the bloodstream triggering mtor in the vascular system”

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272 ‒ Rapamycin: potential longevity benefits, surge in popularity, unanswered questions, and more
Unlocking Rapamycin's Potential: Longevity, Health Span, and Future Applications 37:04 0
“I think it's also important to understand how nutrients work right so we're going to talk a lot about amino acids and probably in particular Lucine”

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272 ‒ Rapamycin: potential longevity benefits, surge in popularity, unanswered questions, and more
Unlocking Rapamycin's Potential: Longevity, Health Span, and Future Applications 1:01:07 0
“Joe avick he had a paper in JBC where he looked at amino acid regulation of mtor this was this is before the lomes he was looking at the activity of using S6 kyes and he basically found a couple amino acids that mattered he found Lucine you know a very common essential Branch chain amino acid an important component of of whey protein for example that people take Arginine a very basic amino acid technically not essential lots of nitrogen in in that amino acid and those were the two big ones that he found.”

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272 ‒ Rapamycin: potential longevity benefits, surge in popularity, unanswered questions, and more
Unlocking Rapamycin's Potential: Longevity, Health Span, and Future Applications 1:01:46 0
“the Holy Grail was how is Lucine detected that was the thing we wanted to know literally for decades and the reason was is that there's a lot of literature in mice in humans in big animals um you know used in farms that Lucine does cool stuff like boost satiety you know feeling of of having fed boost muscle mass and eventually we found it we found the receptor for Lucine it's a protein called sestrin.”

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272 ‒ Rapamycin: potential longevity benefits, surge in popularity, unanswered questions, and more
Unlocking Rapamycin's Potential: Longevity, Health Span, and Future Applications 1:03:34 0
“the immediate idea was hey can we mimic the anabolic effects of Lucine without taking Lucine can we make something better than Lucine and and we've managed to make things slightly better but nothing dramatically better and the structure tells you why because it's it basically is made to fit Lucine and nothing else”

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Fasting & Nutrition Protocols for Longevity & Disease Prevention w/ Valter Longo | Rich Roll Podcast
Revolutionizing Healthcare with Nutrition: Longevity and Disease Prevention Strategies 55:01 0
“So we now know that TOR can be affected well, we knew from our work in yeast, 30 years ago, but we knew that both sugars and amino acids could feed into TOR and so now they're starting to be data looking at say, leucine levels, being essential for muscle building, but the glucose might also be pushing that leucine, the amino acids to perform more.”

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REVERSE AGING: What To Eat & When To Eat For LONGEVITY | David Sinclair
Enhance Health, Longevity, and Disease Prevention with Lifestyle Choices 1:02:18 0
“just mostly from plant-based sources where there's not a lot of the branched chain amino acids those leucine isoleucine valine amino acids are the ones that activate mtor”

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How To Improve Your Heart Rate Variability (HRV) – Dr Leah Lagos
Enhancing Health and Wellness through Heart Rate Variability Insights 43:07 0
“I've seen people take supplements that augment HRV what are some of those I have no affiliation with it but lima lima is a supplement that um has a scientific formula l y ma correct to to optimize it has antioxidant effects anti-anxiety effects and to improve sleep um people take it for various reasons it's and again I have no affiliation with it but I had enough clients tell me about it and we measured it and and I measured also their sleep um as related to HRV and we saw improvements in both”

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Autophagy & Longevity Scientist Reveals Worst Longevity Products & BS Claims – Dr. Matt Kaeberlein
The Science of Transforming Inputs for Enhanced Value and Efficiency 24:28 0
“mTor is activated by branch chain amino acids, leucine in particular; more circulating higher mtor. I think in general that's correct but I think we've also learned that there are indirect mechanisms by which other types of caloric intake can also activate mTor.”

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The Truth About Creatine & Exercise! 30% Of People Will Die From This! The Healthy Ageing Doctor
Optimize Your Health: Essential Insights on Nutrition, Exercise, and Hormones 1:00:33 0
“High quality protein has the greatest percentage of an essential amino acid called Lucine. Lucine is not made by the body, it has to be taken in from the outside.”

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Protein Amount, Quality and Timing – with Dr. Donald Layman | The Proof Podcast EP 236
Optimal Protein Intake for Health and Muscle Function Explained 40:28 0
“we basically tailored meals and we came up that the minimum was around 30 grams per meal to have enough leucine to balance that out we were aiming at 2.5 grams of leucine is the minimum”

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Protein Amount, Quality and Timing – with Dr. Donald Layman | The Proof Podcast EP 236
Optimal Protein Intake for Health and Muscle Function Explained 41:34 0
“in Whey Protein leucine's about 12 and in soy protein it's a little less than eight percent so you can get to 2.5 grams with 23 grams of whey protein or 22 and it takes 32 with soy”

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Protein Amount, Quality and Timing – with Dr. Donald Layman | The Proof Podcast EP 236
Optimal Protein Intake for Health and Muscle Function Explained 59:42 0
“leucine supplementation may be worth thinking about too”

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Protein Amount, Quality and Timing – with Dr. Donald Layman | The Proof Podcast EP 236
Optimal Protein Intake for Health and Muscle Function Explained 1:01:33 0
“all of this is the branch chain amino acid leucine for years since the 1930s we've known that the branch chain amino acids are not metabolized in liver all of the other amino acids are metabolized in liver but these three branch chain leucine, valine and isoleucine get sent out primarily to skeletal muscle so the body has learned to sense it it is senses it as a indicator of protein coming in and basically when that leucine concentration goes up from basically fasting levels to about three times fasting levels uh it triggers a complex inside muscle known as mtor and that's the main sort of Central regulatory function that triggers all these sort of initiation factors and we trigger maximum protein synthesis.”

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Protein Amount, Quality and Timing – with Dr. Donald Layman | The Proof Podcast EP 236
Optimal Protein Intake for Health and Muscle Function Explained 1:02:31 0
“what we now know is that there are actually Four signals that the muscle is integrating at the same time this is very different than liver it's integrating protein by sensing leucine, it's integrating growth hormones insulin and igf-1, it's integrating energy ATP and it's integrating stress resistance exercise when all four of those are correctly balanced it triggers mtor and muscle protein synthesis so all of those it's looking at”

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Protein Amount, Quality and Timing – with Dr. Donald Layman | The Proof Podcast EP 236
Optimal Protein Intake for Health and Muscle Function Explained 1:03:03 0
“but once you stop growing the hormones no longer control that system and now it's dominated by meal quality and leucine is the primary key growth hormone and it's a growth hormone is one of the the hormones insulin and igf”

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Protein Amount, Quality and Timing – with Dr. Donald Layman | The Proof Podcast EP 236
Optimal Protein Intake for Health and Muscle Function Explained 1:35:00 0
“we were the first to publish protein after research because what we were looking for is conditions where we would doubt so we know that overnight fasting down regulates mtor and protein synthesis so we were looking for other conditions exhaustive exercise will also do it so we thought okay so this is where we can test you know what's the controlling mechanism and that's actually where we discovered the leucine mechanism”

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Protein Amount, Quality and Timing – with Dr. Donald Layman | The Proof Podcast EP 236
Optimal Protein Intake for Health and Muscle Function Explained 1:45:26 0
“protein synthesis in the muscle will shut down after about two to two and a half hours even if leucine's still up so there is something called muscle full or refractory period that once muscle runs for a while it stops”

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Dr. Robert Lustig: How Sugar & Processed Foods Impact Your Health
Understanding the Complex Relationship Between Nutrition and Metabolic Health 1:38:10 0
“what makes insulin go up well two things refine carbohydrate and sugar those are the two things that make insulin go up in addition Branch chain amino acids make insulin go up as well Lucine isoline veine which is in cornfed beef chicken and fish processed food”

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How to Exercise & Eat for Optimal Health & Longevity | Dr. Gabrielle Lyon
Optimizing Health and Longevity Through Nutrition, Exercise, and Supplements 30:55 0
“Lucine is uniquely stimulating to skeletal muscle and when you have enough Lucine it triggers muscle protein synthesis.”

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How to Exercise & Eat for Optimal Health & Longevity | Dr. Gabrielle Lyon
Optimizing Health and Longevity Through Nutrition, Exercise, and Supplements 40:23 0
“the evidence would support two to three times that amount closer to 9 n gam of Lucine per day and just to calibrate us n gram of Lucine again is essential amino acid we can only get from food per day what does that equate to in terms of the total amount of let's say egg or steak protein that one would need to eat in order to ensure that just rough roughly yes.”

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How to Exercise & Eat for Optimal Health & Longevity | Dr. Gabrielle Lyon
Optimizing Health and Longevity Through Nutrition, Exercise, and Supplements 42:01 0
“these essential amino acids primarily Lucine is necessary to trigger muscle protein synthesis”

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How to Exercise & Eat for Optimal Health & Longevity | Dr. Gabrielle Lyon
Optimizing Health and Longevity Through Nutrition, Exercise, and Supplements 46:02 0
“is there a place for supplementing Lucine and other Branch chain amino acids specifically you know I always assumed that supplementing with Branch chain amino acids was kind of the unique domain of people you know post exercise trying to build more muscle but as you're telling me all this it seems that adding Lucine in powder form to a meal seems like it would be great for muscle health”

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What to Eat & When to Eat for Longevity | Lifespan with Dr. David Sinclair #2
Optimal dietary choices and habits for longevity and health benefits 46:00 0
“So, now you've got these amino acids circling in your body, circulating, and there are three ones that are particularly important to know about, it's leucine, ISO leucine and valine also known as the branched-chain amino acids.”

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Dr. David Sinclair: The Biology of Slowing & Reversing Aging
Strategies to Slow Aging and Optimize Health for Longevity 38:39 0
“leucine, because it triggers seller growth is actually pro aging in some sense, is that right?”

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