Benefits and Side Effects of Amino Acid Supplements
Recently, medical practitioners, dieticians, and nutritionists have welcomed the idea that protein supplements are not as dangerous as they formerly thought.
In fact, many of these experts now agree that supplements can positively affect the lives of individuals who take them, but that is only possible when they stay within the confines of nutritional and medical advice.
Several amino acid supplements are now available in stores worldwide, fully approved for human use. However, you need to know the pros and cons of anything you intend to take down your belly.
If you are already taking some amino acid supplements, or have thought of taking them someday, then I would suggest you read on for the benefits and side effects of amino acid supplements to the human body.
Benefits of amino acid supplements
Amino acid supplements are suitable for recovery and crisis conditions, which require one to take extraordinary measures to control their health and body. When one undergoes surgery, they may be depleted of some of the non-essential amino acids and experience some difficulty restoring the requisite levels.
The vital role amino acids play in tissue repair means running low on them is close to a suicidal attempt, so you need something to top up and get you on the path to recovery; this is where amino acid supplements come in handy.
Other medical conditions, old age, or even hormonal imbalances may mean that one cannot produce or process amino acids at the proper levels, so one will need the help of supplements.
For people who feel the threat of going obese, amino acid supplements are the answer to their guests to cut down on fat and trim to shape. Over the years, weight gain and weight loss have dominated the front pages of journals and newspapers, with new techniques coming up every day, all with different success levels.
However, numerous studies have approved the use of amino acid supplements for fat loss. These studies indicate that people respond better to fat loss when they combine these supplements with dieting or exercise, allowing the body to shed off the extra pound and get the “perfect figure” one may be looking for.
Amino acid supplements are vital for building lean muscle mass, which is usually the aim of many trying to cut off the fat. Lean muscle is more robust and healthier, eliminating the risk of several other diseases.
These supplements help retain muscle mass and improve one’s efficiency in resistance training, which turns the heat on the body fat. Using amino acid supplements further inhibits lean muscle breakdown when an individual is inactive, which is good for maintaining such muscle.
Leucine, one of the common supplements under this category, reduces the expression of specific genes responsible for muscle breakdown, which is a significant plus for individuals taking weight training exercises.
Many other supplements the oxygen efficiency and reduce fatigue when training, all of which interact to deliver better results for gym members.
Side effects of amino acid supplements
Most amino acid supplements are not as dangerous as many tend to believe. However, limits are always necessary when dealing with any substance, medical or non-medical. In the same way, eating twenty plates of rice at a go could take you six feet under; overdosing on amino acid supplements will reverse your gains and make your health head south.
Medically, the standard advice is that you do not take amino acids consecutively for more than six months and do not exceed a daily dosage of 7 mg because the side effects start to set in at this point.
Amino acid supplements have been linked to increased attack frequency and severity of pulmonary diseases. When you overdose on cysteine, a common supplement on the market, it will indicate to the body that insufficient oxygen is available.
The body counteracts this situation by constricting blood vessels and increasing blood pressure around the lungs. The result is a swelling heart!
Amino acid supplements have a vital role in enhancing the growth of muscles and protein synthesis in such muscles.
Still, studies indicate that they similarly encourage viral growth in the body. The risk here is self-administering the dose and then falling into the temptation to overdose, which directly puts you on the pathway to frequent herpes and other viral outbreaks.
Persons suffering from increased blood pressure may also find it dangerous when they overdose on these supplements or take them for longer than the advised six months.
Many of the supplements, most of which are meant for building muscles and improving endurance in resistance training, will significantly increase blood pressure.
This leads to a racing heart, fatigue as well as dizziness. Individuals taking MAO inhibitors, depressants, or other medications that may interact with these supplements should not take the supplements unless medical personnel writes off such risks.
Alternatively, arginine, another essential component of these supplements, works to lower blood pressure. Dosing on this supplement will also ratchet up the effects on blood pressure.
The supplement will increase nitric oxide in the heart muscles and help to reduce blood pressure, but when you go overboard and take an overdose, the blood pressure falls below the threshold!
However, beating this double-sided risk is always easy; stay right with the prescriptions, and you will not be left!
Some amino acid supplements are also likely to interfere with the working of insulin in the body. Glutamine, one of the common and essential supplements in the stores, will have such an effect when you overdose or bypass the safe periods of using it.
Glutamine can influence glycogen storage, and it sometimes converts itself to a particular form of glucose capable of bypassing the effect of insulin on the body. With such, an overdose will increase the amounts of specific glucose, triggering diabetes or pre-diabetes symptoms.
