I saw this posted last week. I don't want to de-rail the thread, but I thought different amino acids had different caloric values? Doesn't make a difference to me, but I could have sworn I saw that several years ago on another board.
Invalid Link Removed
Leucine: 4.65 calories per gram
Isoleucine: 4.65 calories per gram
Valine: 4.64 calories per gram
The numbers above can be derived by taking the metabolizable energy values of the three amino acids using the three sets (1-3) and calculating their averages.
With the above caloric values in mind, this means that 10 grams of BCAAs at the typical 2:1:1 ratio of leucine, isoleucine and valine, respectively, contain around 46.5 calories.
Invalid Link Removed
The reason most supplement manufacturers don’t list the calories from BCAAs in their products is simply because they kind of have to, since:
the FDA regulations state that supplement manufacturers can’t declare the protein content of a product when this only contains individual amino acids.
the FDA regulations allow supplement manufacturers to calculate the caloric content of their products using a number of methods, including the Atawater method, which involves adding up the calories from protein (4 kcal/g), carbs (4 kcal/gram) and fats (9 kcal/gram).
Mr Cooper in 2011:
http://anabolicminds.com/forum/supplements/70637-calories-bcaas.html#post3126319
"BCAAs most certainly have calories. Count them at 4 per gram although BCAAs in particular actually have an insignificantly higher caloric content due to their structure. Further, free form may [insignificantly] reduce TEF."
"No, that is because the listed calories are 12, which are rounded down to 10. Proper labeling will have BCAAs listed as zero calories, when in reality they are 4 cals per gram. A protein is by definition a "chain" of amino acids....such a chain does not exist in free-form amino acids."