How a single spoonful of leucine wakes up your muscle-building machine
Leucine ingestion promotes mTOR translocation to the periphery and enhances total and peripheral RPS6 phosphorylation in human skeletal muscle
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Your muscles have a tiny switch called mTOR that tells them to build more protein. Leucine, a special amino acid, flips this switch on.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
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Evidence Score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Your muscles have a tiny switch called mTOR that tells them to build more protein. Leucine, a special amino acid, flips this switch on.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 543 / 90
Evidence Score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Publication
Authors
Holowaty MNH, Lees MJ, Abou Sawan S, Paulussen KJM, Jäger R, Purpura M, Paluska SA, Burd NA, Hodson N, Moore DR
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Claims (6)
Leucine, an amino acid, triggers a cellular pathway called mTOR that starts the production of muscle proteins. When carbohydrates are consumed at the same time, the resulting increase in insulin levels boosts this process.
In young, healthy men who exercise recreationally, consuming leucine is linked to specific molecular changes in muscle cells that are thought to support increased muscle protein synthesis.
Consuming 2 grams of leucine in young, healthy, active men is linked to measurable changes in the location of mTOR proteins within muscle cells within an hour, which are processes connected to the start of muscle protein synthesis.
Consuming 2 grams of leucine leads to a measurable increase in a specific molecular marker (phosphorylation of ribosomal protein S6 at Ser240/244) in skeletal muscle tissue within 30 to 180 minutes, which reflects increased activity of the mTORC1 signaling pathway.
After consuming 2 grams of leucine, the level of a specific molecular signal in muscle cells at one hour is related to how quickly muscle proteins are built over the next three hours in young, active men.