Dessicated Liver Question

Can I take dessicated liver in place of a BCAA supplement, like ON's BCAA caps?

I feel like the overall amino acid profile and nutritional contents of liver tabs exceeds that of a bcaa cap like ON's. because the liver tabs have the Leucine Isoleucine Valine but not in the same volume that the ON caps will, but offer more amino's and vitamins altogether.

I was using Uni-liver for awhile for example. basically 2 tabs is equal to about 1950mg of liver. 1g = 1000mg. If you do the math on a supp like ON vs. Universal

Example:
1 liver tab = 1950mg of liver (5800mg of Leucine in 100g of liver) so.. 5800mg / 100g = 58mg for each 1g of liver. So 2 tabs (one serving) will give you roughly 232mg of Leucine.
6 liver tabs = 696mg of Leucine vs. 2 caps of ON = 500mg of Leucine

I took 2 with each larger meal. so 6-8 a day and you'd take likely 6 caps a day of ON's. I don't think you can go wrong. and you can use 2-4 at each meal which would be almost equal to 2 ON caps and up to 6 at each meal.

I'd say YES to your question. Lets see what others think.

I don't see how a complete amino profile product can be used to replace a BCAA. THey are different things, unless I am much mistaken.

If you are trying to consume select aminos for whatever reasons (e.g. EAA's pre-workout) then that's what you do. Taking the complete protein is good but defeats the purpose of the supplement approach.

Personally I don't see much call for BCAA's or EAA's as whey's, casein's and animal products are hard to beat for protein quality and quantity per serve.

So where would liver supplementation fit in?

IMO liver supplementation would be beneficial for an elite athlete during training. Take for example a football player who is in pre-season training doing 3-a-days. In his case, it would be difficult to keep up on nutrients so they may benefit. I think it may just be a little overkill for the average lifter. Use a good bcaa product like xtend if and it can be beneficial before and during workouts. Just remember this, once a cup is full, you cant fill it up anymore and you would basically be pissing out your money.

Just a little reminder about amino acids. BCAA's are the mack daddys that prevent muscle break down. Of these, Leucine is the big daddy. Leucine is far superior to any other amino acid in terms of preventing muscle loss. You see, when the muscles have been depleted of their glycogen, they will turn to amino acids. In this scenario, lets just hope that you have some available so you dont start breaking down hard earned tissue. The aminos that the body will turn to are Leucine, Isoleucine, and valine. And as I mentioned before, the body takes much more Leucine than anything else. So if you are one of the few individuals that trains to the point of glycogen depletion, this can be very beneficial. All other amino acids serve their purpose but these are the ones that deserve the most attention when it comes to staying anabolic and preventing muscle breakdown.

I read somewhere that solely supplementing with Leucine may negatively affect the Amino balance in ur system which isnt a good thing...dont remember were I read it...Maybe t-nation...any thoughts on this?

^^ Ive never heard that before but thats not to say there isnt any merit to it. I recently attended a nutrition and supplement seminar with Neal Spruce and he just raved about Leucine, and this guy goes straight off of research. He said that if you were to supplement with any single amino, it would be Leucine by a long shot. But I am not sure bro.
I dont remember the exact ratios that the body will take the aminos in but I think it is 9 Leucine, 2 isoleucine, and 2 valine. Not positive on those numbers but that gives you an idea of how much more important it is. But, I guess that you would risk losing some muscle if you didnt include the other two....

PrinceVegeta said:

I read somewhere that solely supplementing with Leucine may negatively affect the Amino balance in ur system which isnt a good thing...dont remember were I read it...Maybe t-nation...any thoughts on this?

Click to expand...

I can't imagine why, and I've seen mountains of evidence to suggest the opposite.

^^ Yes as Creator hinted; I was under the impression that leucine can be overloaded in comparison to other aminos. The anabolic response appears to be mainly due to leucine for starters, so it's the one to go crazy with.

On a side note; take a look at your whey powder and check the proportion of leucine and BCAA's. Most are 9-10% leucine and 20-22% BCAA's. So even a general whey compound is not bad (although marginally limited due to the larger number of compounds present for absorption).

im no expert but i do both i take universals uniliver pills and animals nitro pills which are bcaas just to be on the safe side, but then agian im a supp junkie so ive been told,lol