Animal Nitro - 44 packets - Universal Nutrition ANIMAL

DescriptionAccelerated Amino Transport. Aminos are the basic building blocks of muscle. Aminos can also trigger anabolism, the cornerstone of muscle growth. As a lifter, you need them, especially the right ones. While there are nearly two dozen different amino acids, only a select few are absolutely essential for igniting the anabolic drive, as new research has shown. Not surprisingly, these required aminos are the same ones found in human muscle protein. Animal Nitro is the first and only supplement that contains the correct ratios of those aminos based on human muscle protein itself. This complex of aminos is appropriately called Human Muscle Protein Complex(tm) (HMPC(tm)) and they're only in Animal Nitro. HMPC(tm) consists of special 'uncoupled' aminos exclusively - those that are free of the chemical bonds that can limit maximum utilization. By using only 100% uncoupled aminos in HMPC(tm), Animal Nitro delivers a precisely controlled dose of aminos that are 'targeted' to efficiently enter systemic circulation through a novel amino transport system. Here's how it works. Each pack consists of a measured 6,000mg dose of uncoupled aminos (HMPC(tm)). Once ingested, they form a special bolus (a protective 'mass') that allows them to efficiently bypass the liver. Now this is vital as the liver captures and catabolizes regular amino acids (like those found in protein powders such as whey and more conventional amino supplements) to urea, a waste product. Once safely past the liver, this bolus of uncoupled aminos enters systemic circulation, where they can exert their powerful pharmacological actions-vasodilation and anabolism. When combined with resistance training, Animal Nitro can actually help your body deliver more nutrients to your working muscles, recover more quickly, and build new muscle mass by enhancing protein synthesis, improving net muscle protein balance, and preventing muscle breakdown. Gram for gram, nothing is as pure, as efficient, as potent, and as effective as Animal Nitro. It's the gold standard among amino-based supplements.

Animal Nitro is a revolutionary product in Aminos. We have matched the amino acid profile for human muscle, and added essential aminos.

Nitro is more than just the sum of a couple of different amino acids. You get the right mix of aminos together, and what you?ll get is an important supplement that all strength athletes can benefit from.

Aminos vs. Protein

Over the years, words like ?protein? and ?amino acids? have been thrown together so much, they usually mean the same thing to a lot of guys. Protein? Aminos? What?s the difference? Too bad, because an effective amino supplement can do things whole proteins can?t. Now whole or intact protein from food and powders like whey, casein, egg or soy are made up of amino acids linked together by chemical bonds. In the small intestines, special enzymes get to breaking down the dietary proteins in smaller peptides and individual aminos. Whole proteins must first be broken down into these smaller peptides and individual aminos before they can be absorbed. Some measurements indicate that 70-80% of 15g of milk protein in a meal get absorbed in 3 hours.

While it takes a lot longer for it to get digested, dietary protein is important because it gives your body the basics building blocks it needs?a wide range of amino acids that can be used to restore amino acid levels in the body to help new tissue growth and regulate important bodily functions. For accomplishing these very basic functions, supplement wise, you can?t beat protein powders. They?re fairly cheap and effective. But think of protein in foods and shakes as gold ore. There?s pure gold in the rock, but you?ve gotta get it out to be able to use it. You can definitely get it out, but it takes more time and work

Protein powders are less efficient too. A lot of the aminos in protein powders get deaminated by the liver. In other words, you lose more aminos. In fact, if you eat too much protein, it can actually hurt your gains because of something called the Protein Paradox (see below). Individual amino acids, on the other hand, are like pure solid gold. Because individual aminos are quickly absorbed and assimilated, they?re far more efficient. Like protein powders, individual amino acids can provide a source of dietary protein the body needs. More importantly, because they can more efficiently directly enter into systemic circulation, individual aminos offer additional benefits that we?ll talk about shortly.

Animal Nitro?s formula contains only individual amino acids, no whole proteins. Why? Individual amino acids can produce pharmacological and physiological effects such as anabolism, hormone regulation (growth hormone, insulin), immunomodulation, neurotransmitter function, and the like. Amino acids, in other words, have the ability to be more than just building blocks for the body. Unlike protein powders, aminos can exert certain anabolic and anti-catabolic effects and impact hormonal functions.

In the real world, what this means is that the right ratios, forms, and kinds of individual aminos can potentially increase strength, shorten recovery times, reduce fatigue, and increase lean mass in a way protein powders can?t. So does all this mean if you?re gonna use Animal Nitro, then you should stop taking your protein powder (actually, you could use Animal Nitro to replace your protein shake?it?d be better and more efficient, but it?d be more expensive too)? No. You should probably be doing both. In fact, if you?re on a higher protein diet, then you should really consider taking Animal Nitro because of something called the Protein Paradox.

There are studies that argue that increasing protein intakes too much can actually hurt growth, not encourage it. This is the Protein Paradox. By eating more protein-rich foods and protein shakes, scientists believe this can actually reduce the availability of aminos in tissues due to wastage (catabolism). This reduction of aminos can then put the brakes on protein synthesis and, ultimately, weight gain. For example, drinking a lot of whey protein shakes may give you a lot of BCAAs, but with high protein diets, these BCAAs can be quickly catabolized. Over the long run, researchers speculate that high protein diets can lead to metabolic imbalances, deficiencies of key amino acids in the body, and suppress protein synthesis.

So while higher protein diets are important for bodybuilders, there are diminishing returns as you increase your intake?you get less and less value back from each gram of protein. More importantly, beyond a certain point, too much protein can actually have a negative effect by making it harder to gain size as more and more aminos are lost to catabolism. The Protein Paradox can affect the bodybuilder who?s getting a large percentage of his calories from protein. Since you?re not going to know when you hit the point where you?re taking in too much protein, you should supplement with the fast-acting amino Animal Nitro just in case. Animal Nitro can continue delivering important amino acids.

?Uncoupled? Aminos

Animal Nitro contains only individual or ?uncoupled? aminos. You?re not going to find protein powder filled into capsules. No way. We use uncoupled aminos for a couple of different reasons. A lot of important research has shown that uncoupled amino acids are more quickly absorbed in the GI tract than protein in whole foods and supplements. As these uncoupled aminos don?t need to be digested, they should ideally be taken when rapid absorption is critical, when certain pharmacological effects are desired, or when individuals are on higher protein diets. They can also help lifters who are cutting and bulking.

But uncoupled aminos are different in a more fundamental way. They can actually bypass the liver (where aminos are usually deaminated and ultimately converted to urea) and enter systemic circulation. When this happens, the pharmacological benefits can be realized. Here?s how it works. When you eat a steak or drink a protein shake, the aminos get caught up and processed in the liver. Uncoupled amino acids, on the other hand, have the ability actually bypass the liver. Once ingested, uncoupled aminos can form a ?bolus??think of this as a therapeutic mass of aminos.

Due to this protective bolus, when the uncoupled aminos reach the liver, they can escape the liver?s processing. In other words, these aminos can enter into systemic circulation quickly and reach their target areas to exert the pharmacological and physiological effects. Tableted amino acid supplements or protein powders, because they take longer to digest, are catabolized to urea a greater degree by the liver. That?s why Animal Nitro contains only uncoupled amino acids in quick-dissolving capsules. Tableting would defeat the purpose of this particular product.

Additionally, only with free ?uncoupled? aminos can you precisely complex and formulate the right kinds of aminos, in the right ratios. It?s not just a matter of throwing uncoupled aminos in there. You have to also choose the right aminos and in the right amounts relative to the other aminos. The only real downsides to uncoupled aminos are their price (very expensive) and their taste (not so good). This takes us to a discussion of essential amino acids versus non-essential amino acids.

Essential Aminos vs. Non-Essential Aminos

So now you know why using uncoupled aminos are important and different than regular protein shakes. We got the form of the aminos down, now we have to talk about which aminos are critical. Without getting into a debate about conditional aminos, there are two accepted categories of amino acids: essential (indispensable) and non-essential (dispensable). Essential amino acids (EAA) are those that are, well, essential. The body can?t make them on their own; it must obtain them from the foods and supplements you eat. Non-essential amino acids (NEAA), on the other hand, can be synthesized by the body.

It?s pretty obvious that the EAA are valuable. Just how valuable? Let?s put it this way, the human body can maintain nitrogen balance on just the essential amino acids if necessary. And Animal Nitro contains 8 essential amino acids (histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, valine) plus arginine, an ?acquired non-dispensable? amino acid. Why these 9 amino acids? First, there are numerous studies looking at the impact of these same amino acids on the human body. Again and again, clinical studies have shown that EAA can exert significant anabolic effects via protein synthesis and net nitrogen balance.

Second, non-essential amino acids aren?t necessary to stimulate net protein synthesis. In concrete terms, researchers at the University of Texas found that a 6g dose of essential amino acids was about twice as effective as a 6g serving of mixed amino acids in stimulating protein synthesis. These researchers concluded that NEAA are not necessary for the stimulation of net muscle protein balance. Not only that, they found that the size of the dose and the composition of the amino acid formula were important as well. This is just another reason that regular amino acid supplements and protein powders won?t cut it when it?you need to be able to custom-tailor the amino acid profile and include EAA. Protein powders contain both EAA and NEAA.

Bottom line, when it comes to delivering an anabolic pulse necessary for new growth, only uncoupled essential amino acids are absolutely critical. Pure EAA are just that efficient and important. One researcher who examined EAA concluded that ?our results, along with virtually all date in the literature on the topic, suggest that increasing amino acid intake will increase muscle mass, with all other variables remaining constant.?