Is it true that taking bcaa on can help maintain muscle mass when dieting?

I've always felt like aminos help me to preserve muscle, especially when I'm trying to cut. I take Modern BCAA in the morning (especially if I do fasted cardio..it has a great ratio with a good dose of leucine)....some people don't buy into aminos, but I feel like they help to preserve lean mass, as well as help with recovery

Hi Bradley,

No specific research exists to confirm or deny this. However, even though leucine (one of the BCAAs) is possibly the most important amino acid for initiating the muscle-building process and BCAAs are metabolised in muscle more than the other essential amino acids (EAAs), it would make sense that you'd be better off taking all of the essential amino acids (these are the amino acids that must be obtained in the diet to build muscle) instead of only taking BCAAs, which are only 3 of the 8 essential amino acids.

What has been proven to be anti-catabolic is a high-protein diet when dieting. So If you ask me (and you did), I would say have Essential Amino Acids before training is the best strategy (see this previous answer: (@musclemodeltobe) Do you take BCAA's before or after working out? ). There is no need to take more before cardio as the EAAs will still be present in your bloodstream for at least 2 or 3 hours. Next best choice would probably be whey protein (better than BCAAs because it contains all of the EAAs, all of which are required to build muscle).