Lamming
YOUR MADISON
The BCAAs are leucine, isoleucine and valine, three of the nine essential amino acids. In general, 20 different amino acids can be combined into one protein.
Over the past several decades, low-fat diets and low-carb, high-protein diets like the Atkins and Zone diets have been popular methods of losing weight, with mixed success.
In the late 1960s, studies found increased BCAA levels in obese people. More recently, higher BCAA levels have been linked to type 2 diabetes.
A few years ago, Lamming worked with researchers at Washington University in St. Louis on a randomized clinical trial of men with prostate cancer who were predominantly overweight. Half of the men were on a short-term low-protein diet, which resulted in reduced fat levels and lower fasting blood sugar than on a normal diet.
Lamming, associate professor of medicine in the Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health, had studied a related enzyme and turned his attention to BCAAs.
A mouse study that carefully controlled food intake and accurately measured response found a diet that reduced BCAAs by two-thirds, improved glucose tolerance, and body composition, Lamming’s lab reported in 2016.
