Research

Hormonal

Ingesting a leucine-enriched essential amino acid (EAA) gel (15g total EAA, 40% leucine) immediately following resistance exercise induces significant plasma aminoacidemia and enhances intramyocellular anabolic signaling (mTORC1 pathway) in both younger and older adults, effectively overcoming age-related blunting of the anabolic response.

If you are older and want to build or maintain muscle, standard protein powders might not be enough. You need a supplement specifically high in leucine (like this EAA gel) taken immediately after your strength training. This combination triggers the muscle-building signals in your body just as effectively as it does in younger people.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Our findings suggest that a gel-based, leucine-enriched EAA supplement is associated with aminoacidemia and a muscle anabolic signaling response, thus representing an effective means of stimulating muscle protein anabolism in younger and older adults following EAA and COM.
Matthew Lees et al. · Nutrients · 2020

Why this rating

Small sample size (n=14, analyzed n=10), short duration (acute response), proof-of-concept design.

Source

Novel Essential Amino Acid Supplements Following Resistance Exercise Induce Aminoacidemia and Enhance Anabolic Signaling Irrespective of Age: A Proof-of-Concept Trial

Matthew Lees et al. · Nutrients · 2020

DOI 10.3390/nu12072067

crossover · n=14Cited 10×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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