Is it not the first thing that comes to mind?
“This [fat loss] is completely different than what [people] normally think when they think about how calories are burned,” Dr. Leenen said during the debate. “When you put people on a strict calorie-controlled diet, they literally have no idea what they’re consuming and have to rely on calorie-regulating genes to get the required amount of calories to fuel their metabolism.”
When calories become unavailable to fuel the body, “they lose weight,” she said — no way around that. In her research, she’s found that many overweight and obese individuals are deficient in BCAAs and other healthy fat molecules.
“They’re lacking something,” said Leenen.
It’s a deficiency that’s becoming a national epidemic. Overweight and obese individuals are more than three times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than their normal peers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s one of the reasons why Leenen — who is also an executive director at the American Heart Association — is urging all adults to get BCAAs — not only to prevent the disease, but as a form of preventive therapy for insulin resistance and other related disorders.
Brief History of the BCAAs
One of the earliest BCAAs synthesized was isolated in 1946 as a short-chain fatty acid (SCFAs) analog called 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA (HMG-CoA), a compound that may also be called “B-vitamins,” according to BCAAs. These short-chain fatty acids, which come from animal sources and have higher levels of fatty acids than long-chain sources, have an intriguing history and are widely used in nutritional formulations but are not recommended by their manufacturers due to their potential negative health effects. Leenen’s company patented two fatty acids that became commercially available in 1985, called BCAAs XR and XPA, which have similar metabolic effects but are not considered an artificial sweetener.
The BCAAs in question, which can be found in a wide array of dietary supplements and oils, are widely used to treat metabolic disorders such as obesity and diabetes.
According to the American Heart Association, most of the BCAAs found in the diet come from the skin, liver, lungs, heart, blood vessels, gastrointestinal tracts, blood fat deposits and bones. But because of their high density, BCA