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Measurement of branched chain amino acids (BCAA) in milks and protein supplements
Author(s) -
Hubble Kyle,
Swanson Derek,
Keenan Kelly
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.30.1_supplement.880.4
Subject(s) - leucine , amino acid , hydrolyzed protein , arginine , hydrolysis , food science , chemistry , high performance liquid chromatography , chromatography , whey protein , enzyme , biochemistry
The amount of money spent on nutritional supplements by Americans is in the billions per year. Protein supplements, which are often made from whey in milk, boast of high levels of BCAA. There are mixed results to suggest that BCAA play a role in muscle recovery but they remain a popular supplement. The goal of this project was to develop an undergraduate laboratory experiment in which levels of BCAA are measured in various milks and supplements. These milks and supplements were hydrolyzed to release the amino acids and BCAA were measured using the leucine dehydrogenase enzyme assay which specifically measures the sum of these three amino acids. In addition, the level of arginine was measured using the Sakaguchi assay. In order to confirm these results, the levels of these amino acids was tested using reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP HPLC). It was necessary to quantify the BCAAs and the quality of the data was assessed by spiking the samples with one of the BCAA and measuring the % recovery. The results are consistent by both methods which demonstrates that the leucine dehydrogenase is a valid method to measure BCAA. While the protein levels for the supplements are similar to the claims of manufacturer's, the level of BCAAs are markedly lower. This experiment is a suitable undergraduate biochemistry project. Support or Funding Information This project was supported by an REU grant from Stockton University.