Amino Acid, Carb Combo Builds Muscle

GALVESTON, Texas--In the March edition of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise (35, 3:449-55, 2003) (www.ms-se.com), resistance training was seen to be benefited by a combination of amino acid and carbohydrate intake. Volunteers ingested in drink form approximately 6 g of amino acids, 35 g of carbohydrates or a mixture of the two one and two hours after resistance exercise. In the span of three hours, uptake of phenylalanine (an amino acid that is a building block of protein and a precursor to another amino acid, tyrosine) was greatest when the combination of amino acids and carbohydrates was consumed. Researchers, led by Sharon L. Miller, reported this was due to the mixture increasing muscle protein synthesis more so than having consumed them separately.