If you have a large calorie deficit during the day..........nevermind.If you people want to spend extra money on what you should be getting plenty of with your morning and post wo shake,and meals every 2-3 hours,then go ahead.
Dude, you keep putting that out there like its the conversation stopper.. But its not. Complete proteins, EAA's and BCAA's have different effects on muscles. Its not as simple as just increasing your protein intake and saying its the same... Some info on AA's will follow.
Here is the amino acid profile (listed in mgs) of 25 grams of a typical (some will vary) hydrolyzed whey protein powder:
Amino Acid Name Amino Acid Profile
Alanine-----------1115 (1.115g)
Arginine----------407.5
Aspartic Acid-----2550
Cystine-----------525
Glutamic Acid----4095
Glycine-----------367.5
Histidine---------363.75
Isoleucine--------1562.5
Leucine-----------2236.25
Lysine------------2268.75
Methionine-------440
Phenylalanine----491.25
Proline------------1363
Serine------------1027.5
Threonine--------1727.5
Tryptophan-------337.5
Tyrosine----------1435
Valine------------1326.25
Total Amio Acids: 23639.25 mg (23.63925 grams)
Total EAA: 10753.75 mg (10.75375 grams)~ 45.5%
Total NEAA: 12885.5 mg (12.8855 grams)~ 54.5%
Total BCAA: 5125 mg (5.125 grams)~ 21.7%
As you can see, hydrolyzed whey protein is close to 50% EAA and 50% NEAA.
In order to get the amount of EAA and BCAA that we need to ensure growth, a large serving of this whey needs to be consumed.
NEAA Are Not Needed
Research studies have shown time and time again that NEAA are not needed to stimulate protein synthesis when the EAA are consumed [16, 17, 18]. A study showed that consuming NEAA did not increase protein synthesis while consuming EAA did in fact increase protein synthesis[18].
A single six-gram serving of EAA is more than twice as effective as two, six-gram servings of mixed amino acids (EAA and NEAA) in increasing protein synthesis [17, 19]. A 200% increase in protein synthesis was observed due to EAA available after resistance exercise[22].
It has been shown that exercising after ingestion of an EAA drink maintained intracellular levels of NEAA. This showed that NEAA availability did not limit protein synthesis.
The intracellular pool of amino acids were increased with EAA supplementation, but not with supplementation of EAA + NEAA[16], meaning when EAA are consumed, they go into the cells. This is in part due to EAA absorption speed. EAA are the fastest absorbed of all amino acids[20]. All these facts show that half of the amino acids we consume from the whey protein are needed for increased anabolic activity.
All these benefits were seen just with the ingestion of 6 grams of EAA.
So not the same, if you ask me. And I feel a lot better recovery wise after I drink my xtend, than if I just used protein shakes. So Id say BCAA do more than complete proteins as well just from my personal experience.