So if you admit BCAA have calories and admit Leucine has 6kcal and the FDA requires labeling for anything with 5 or more calories, why do most BCAA, including Raw, list 0 calories?
Either they're not compliant with FDA or there's an exception I didn't come across/search for.
I'm not a mathematician but something isn't adding up.
The FDA does not label them because they are so minimal. They still hold caloric value.
Do you ever read the side of like cereal boxes or other food items in the store? A lot of them don't add up
Look at a quest bar.. if you add up the macros sometimes they dont match the caloric value on the bar.
Hell When i got an ice cream shipment from new Orleans ice cream company I called the owner because this macros and calorie value were off by 50 kcals a serving. Literally.
"FDA regulations state that "Protein shall not be declared on labels of products that, other than ingredients added solely for technological reasons, contain only individual amino acids." But Total Calories can be determined based upon the Atwater factors (eg. 4-4-9 * macros) or by using "(D) Using data for specific food factors for particular foods or ingredients approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and provided in parts 172 or 184 of this chapter, or by other means, as appropriate; or (E) Using bomb calorimetry data subtracting 1.25 calories per gram protein to correct for incomplete digestibility, as described in USDA Handbook No. 74 (slightly revised 1973) p. 10, which is incorporated by reference in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552(a) and 1 CFR part 51 (the availability of this incorporation by reference is given in paragraph (c)(1)(i)(A) of this section)."
I'm too lazy to look up the bomb calorimetry data for those amino acids, but contrary to what people like to believe, all amino acids do not share the same caloric value / heat of combustion when examined in isolation. Leucine and valine are perfect examples - leucine's heat of combustion is greater than valines because it has an extra CH2 group compared to valine and more energy is released when the extra bond is broken."
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"Anyway, leucine has about 6.5 calories per day, isoleucine has about 6.5 calories per gram and valine has about 5.9 calories per gram."