The Science Behind EAA-Enriched Clear Protein

The science of better protein

Our innovation is powered by continuous research into protein quality. We study every layer of the formula — from individual ingredients to the finished product — so every dose is built with your biology in mind.

The result? Nuscle is more than a clear protein. It’s an easy-to-digest way to build and save more muscle, with less powder.

Built on decades of protein trials

Nuscle is formed from a large body of research showing that protein quality matters just as much as quantity — and that better-formulated proteins can give us more benefit, with less powder.

Engineered for impact on:

Problems with proteins

Protein sources aren't equally effective. Most are just things with protein that we can eat, they have weaknesses for human nutrition. This is why pre-digestive processes like hydrolysis are useful.

Protein in meals

Regular plant proteins

Collagen protein

Whey protein

Other dairy and animal protein

Most Clear proteins

Most vegan proteins aren't built for humans.

Plants build their bodies to survive, not to be eaten.

That's why nearly every whole plant protein — and most animal proteins — falls short on digestibility, on amino acid balance, or on both.

The plant protein gap

33%
of whole plant protein is never absorbed, high-quality proteins are almost entirely absorbed
75%
of plant-based adults miss protein recommendations, once you count quality, not just grams
20%
less lean mass in athletes on plant-based diets, compared to high-quality proteins

Ciuris, C. et al. (2019). Nutrients. Point Loma Nazarene University. DOI: 10.3390/nu11123016
Karpinski, M., et al. (2022). Frontiers in Nutrition. Arizona State University. doi:10.3389/fnut.2022.996541
Vanacore, D. et al. (2018). Journal of Cellular Physiology. University of Campania. DOI: 10.1002/jcp.26427

whey protein in a measuring scoop on a white background

Why build Nuscle to beat whey?

Whey comes from milk, so unlike most other proteins, it's actually designed for animals. It's built for newborns to drink 8-12 times a day to maximise growth. Here's why it works:

1. Few EAA imbalances and relatively high levels of the key EAAs, like leucine.

2. High digestibility and bioavailability — raising blood levels in just 30 minutes, and sustaining them for 2-3 hours until our muscles shut off.

3. Clearance from blood in 3 hours, allowing muscles to reset for the next protein dose.

So we formulated Nuscle to be better.

What's the ideal protein?

It raises blood levels of all 9 EAAs fast, to create a surplus and pass thresholds
It contains small amounts of non-essential amino acids to prevent any shortfalls during stress.
It digests fully and sustains high EAA levels for 3 hours, then clears to let muscle sensitivity reset.

Nerding out? Here's some detail.

Key terms: EAA, EAA threshold, muscle support window, protein quality and digestibility?

Essential Amino Acids (EAAs)
Your body needs 9 specific amino acids it cannot produce on its own — these are the essential amino acids. They are required to trigger bodily processes, and create proteins and other non-essential amino acids.

Without all 9 in your blood at high levels, your body can't fully use protein you consume to recover, maintain or build muscle effectively.

EAA Thresholds
Your body doesn't just need essential amino acids for muscle support, it needs them to create proteins and amino acids for many other crucial bodily processes.

Your body keeps only small reserves of essential amino acids, and it protects them. Critical functions come first.

So it watches blood levels for signals of abundance. Below that threshold, muscle building stays minimal — your body isn't going to spend scarce resources on it.

Cross thresholds on all nine, particularly leucine, and the switch flips. How far past it you go, and how long you stay there, decides how much muscle you build.

Muscle Support Windows
When amino acids enter the bloodstream, muscle protein synthesis switches on — but only for a limited window to prevent excess muscle preservation or growth.

After about three hours, your muscles stop taking amino acids in and have to reset. This 'muscle-full effect' preserves resources when food is short. Anything left over that isn't found a job is usually used for energy, stored as fat.

More amino acids in the blood at this point simply go toward other processes, are used for energy, or stored as fat, regardless how much protein you've consumed.

Protein Quality
Protein quality goes beyond the number of grams on the label. It describes how useful a protein actually is to the body — taking into account both its digestibility and whether it contains all the essential amino acids in effective amounts and ratios.

A high-quality protein is one the body can fully absorb and immediately use for muscle repair, growth, and recovery.

Non-milk proteins are not designed for animal consumption, so most other proteins have lower protein quality than whey, with almost all plant proteins much lower. This occurs because they lack or are low in one or more essential amino acids, and generally have lower total EAA contents — which is exactly the problem EAA enrichment is designed to solve.

Digestibility
Not all protein reaches your muscles. Digestibility measures how much of the protein you consume actually gets broken down and absorbed — rather than passing through unused. The higher the better.

Poorly absorbed protein releases fewer amino acids overall.

Slow-digesting protein has a different problem: plants and meats release over three to nine hours. Too gradual to trigger anything — and much of it lands after your muscles have already stopped absorbing them. Which can then blunt the response to future doses.

Why is EAA content what matters in protein?

After we consume EAAs, in isolation or as part of protein, blood EAA levels start to rise. The faster they are digested the sooner and higher blood levels rise.

When all nine EAAs are present, two things happen: muscle protein synthesis starts up — that's the repair-and-build process — and muscle breakdown slows.

When the EAAs in blood cross individual thresholds, they signal maintenance, development and recovery to increase dramatically — continuing to increase with higher blood concentrations.

There is around a 3-hour window from when blood EAA levels rise to flood muscles with amino acids, producing and repairing muscle proteins, after that our muscles close the doors for a short period to limit growth.

Remaining amino acid abundance in the blood after that point prevents the muscle from resetting for the next protein dose, and blunts the beneficial muscle protein responses to protein until it is cleared out.

How many grams of EAAs do we need?

There is an upper limit for triggering and sustaining muscle support during the muscle support window.

From a high digestibility source this is commonly accepted to be about 12-15g of complete EAAs, or 30-50g of non-enriched complete protein depending on source, digestibility and hydrolysis.

Why not just take EAAs instead of protein?

EAAs alone are fast, efficient, and complete — but alone they aren't an adequate replacement for whole or hydrolysed proteins. Here's why:

EAAs in isolation digest fast, which is ideal for triggering muscle support, but declines before the end of the muscle support window.
Regular protein sources provide slower-digesting EAAs to keep the flow of building materials going for the full window your muscles can use them. The problem is that most proteins digest so slowly that they can barely hit thresholds or use the muscle support window. That's why we use fast-digesting hydrolysed proteins in Nuscle.
Normal proteins signal our gut-brain axis and insulin systems to better promote amino acid absorption, efficient utilisation, and satiety.
Your body burns through EAAs making the non-essential amino acids it need. Supply some of those directly and the EAAs are spared — free to go where they matter most: muscle repair, connective tissue, and the metabolic work happening underneath all of it.

Think of EAAs as the ignition and protein as the fuel — Nuscle combines both, giving you the fast amino acid spike that triggers synthesis alongside the complete protein that sustains it for just the right amount of time.

Are other non-essential amino acids needed?

When loads of essential amino acids are present, the body can easily create other non-essential amino acids — so in practical terms, a complete and high-dose EAA profile covers all bases.

However, having a supply of dietary non-essential amino acids in the blood helps in several ways:

It spares excess EAAs from being removed from the blood and used to create other amino acids, helping sustain blood EAA levels longer to keep the muscle support switch flipped.
Sometimes under conditions of high stress — intense training, illness, caloric restriction, or recovery — other amino acids like glutamine can be consumed faster than the body can produce them. In these states, low levels of non-essential amino acids can end up limit muscle support.

This is a big reason why Nuscle combines EAAs with fast-digesting hydrolysed protein — it delivers both a maximal dose of essential amino acids, and enough non-essential amino acids to prevent them from limiting muscle support during stress.

Why Nuscle wins

We thought it was time for a clear, plant-based, complete high‑EAA drink that gets more out of every gram.

Whey is great because it's fast. Blood levels spike early, and it releases everything before the muscle shuts-off at three hours.

We matched that, then went earlier. Free EAAs fire the signal within 15 minutes, faster than whey can. Hydrolysed protein then holds levels high for the rest of the window.

Without all 9 EAAs and loads of them, hitting the blood fast and staying there, muscle maintenance, recovery and development will always be poor.

We ensured the optimal ratio of EAAs to go far above any amino acid blood thresholds, and larger doses of 'more is better' amino acids, like critical branched-chain amino acids such as leucine.

For optimising muscle support, protein should boost EAA levels fast as a trigger, sustain that for the 3 hour absorption window, then clear the blood to allow muscles to reset.

Most proteins and meals digest too slowly to spike in this window, causing blunting of future muscle responses to protein.

Nuscle combines the different digestion speeds of free amino acids and hydrolysed protein to sustain amino acid levels over the full 3 hours.

Protein and EAA powders are a nightmare. They sit on top of the water and stick to the sides — in the end you're left with a gloopy, grainy, and sickeningly sweet mess.

We designed Nuscle using agglomeration and solubilisation techniques to make sure it mixes well, a bitter-blocking formulation, and a taste profile that's designed to be refreshing instead of sweet.

TRY NUSCLE

How it works. Start to finish.

Just before

First sip

15 minutes

30 minutes

60 minutes

3 hours

Pick a time — breakfast?

When topping-up a meal or having a snack, a single dose has the protein power of 20g of whey. After exercise a double dose gets the most out of your hard work.

Man drinking berry vegan clear protein from a glass in his kitchen

Refreshed

It's light, fruity and delicious! Nuscle is very carefully flavour-masked through micro-encapsulation, bitter-suppressing compounds, and a careful balance of acidity, sweetness and salt.

Man brushing his teeth in front of a mirror

EAA trigger begins

The EAAs are digested quickly, elevating blood levels, breaking through EAA thresholds, and beginning to trigger muscle synthesis and reduce muscle breakdown.

Man buttoning a gray suit jacket at home, ready to go to work.

Protein starts to release

Hydrolysed protein begins to release its amino acids into the blood, raising and sustaining blood levels. As well as signalling our insulin and gut to promote better amino acid absorption, utilisation and satiety.

Man adjusting his seatbelt inside a car ready to go to work, wearing a suit and glasses.

Sustained release

The peak is on, your muscle is absorbing amino acids and building muscle proteins rapidly. The hydrolysed protein will keep blood amino acid levels high for the next couple of hours maintaining the muscle response.

Man in a suit talking on a phone at work with his work laptop in front of him

Muscle full effect

After about three hours your muscles wind down. That's normal. But those three hours were productive — breakdown stays suppressed for hours afterwards, and you're reset and ready for the next dose.

Inside Nuscle

Every ingredient is here for a reason. No fillers.

We use ultra-hydrolysed pea and rice protein for its complete profile of EAAs and small amounts of all other amino acids to protect against stressful conditions. The heavy hydrolysis pre-digests it to give it a comparable bioavailability and digestion speed to whey.

We use a patent-pending amino acid profile combined with our hydrolysed protein base. It contains a research-driven ratio of EAAs, you can see amounts in the radar below. We have increased levels of several key 'more-is-better' EAAs that control the size of muscle protein responses, like the three branched-chain amino acids leucine, isoleucine and valine, and lysine, a key driver of muscle repair.

Everything else is non-artificial and non-GMO. We use sunflower lecithin to increase the mixability of the EAAs, silica and fruit-sourced acids to minimise foaming. The rest is for taste!

No artificial sweeteners, fillers, colours or flavours — none of the hundreds of additives that are seen as normal in supplements. Long-term human data on most of them is thin. We'd rather not find out.

How Nuscle's EAAs stack up

A protein's effectiveness is mostly about its EAA profile. See how 20g of Nuscle compares to 20g of other proteins.

NuscleComplete and with a very high-EAA content. Twice the leucine content of whey and higher levels of dose-responsive EAAs, with a fully-balanced research-driven EAA profile. Very fast digestion similar to whey (~30 minutes) resulting in very high blood EAA levels. Industry-leading muscle support.

*Values shown as grams per 20g of protein/amino acid content.
**EAA profile data drawn from research-consensus — Gorissen, S. & Crombag, J. et al. Amino Acids Journal, 2018. Maastricht University Medical Centre.

Why more of some EAAs?

For some essential amino acids and some populations, more is better.

Leucine content is the primary trigger for muscle responses
Isoleucine and valine improve recovery alongside leucine in an optimal 2:1:1 ratio
High lysine is essential for muscle, bone and collagen synthesis

Key Research Findings

Protein quality matters... a lot

We've known for a long time that higher quality proteins come with far more benefit. Protein quality isn't just EAA completeness though — digestibility and total EAA content are also crucial.

The University of Connecticut found that high-EAA proteins with high digestibility, like whey, resulted in almost twice the muscle gain as lower-EAA proteins with lower digestibility, like soy. Despite them both being complete!

Decades of research like this have shown that a protein being complete isn't the whole picture. Total EAA content, EAA ratio and digestibility are key too.

*Volek, Jeff S et al. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 2013. University of Connecticut. doi: 10.1080/07315724.2013.793580.

What did this mean for Nuscle?

The usual approach of just mixing two low-quality complementary proteins together and hoping for the best wasn't for us. We decided to optimise total EAA content, EAA ratio and digestibility in Nuscle, so all of that research didn't go to waste

Proteins cannot make up for low quality with quantity

It's been known that incomplete proteins are weak for muscular maintenance and development for decades. This gap is only widening with time.

In University of Texas trials, they found that 5g of complete protein and 23g of incomplete plant protein provided similar insignificant effects on muscle protein synthesis.

Research consistently shows that it's 'quality over quantity', and that EAA profile has a huge impact on proteins effectiveness.

*Arentson-Lantz E & Von Ruff Z et al. Current Developments in Nutrition, 2021. University of Texas. PMCID: PMC8181714.

What did this mean for Nuscle?

While formulating Nuscle our research team first focused on creating a balanced complete profile in both the protein base and the EAA profile overall. All EAAs needed to meet potential threshold and 4 EAAs shown to benefit from a 'more is better' approach were included in much larger amounts.

Hydrolysed plant protein is more digestible and bioavailable

Digestibility and bioavailability is one of wheys biggest strengths, and plant proteins biggest weaknesses.

Research from the University of Leeds explored ways to make pea protein behave more like whey. They found that hydrolysation resulted in significantly more complete and faster absorption of pea protein.

Hydrolysis is the process of breaking proteins down into smaller peptides, effectively pre-digesting the difficult-to-digest proteins and structures that our stomachs struggle with.

*Elbira A. & Hernández-Álvarez A. et al. Foods Journal, 2025. University of Leeds. doi: 10.3390-14193306.

What did this mean for Nuscle?

The protein base in Nuscle is hydrolysed to overcome the bioavailability and digestibility issues with most plant proteins. This way it can release more of its amino acids, and in a shorter time before the 3-hour muscle synthesis window closes.

EAAs raise blood levels faster and higher than whey and meals

The big challenge for muscle repair, preservation and development boils down to getting blood EAA levels high and keeping them there for around 3 hours.

Research from the University of Arkansas showed that even high protein meals don't create fast or large increases in blood EAA levels, being mostly ineffective compared to the gold standard, whey. However, half the amount of fast digesting EAAs out-performed even whey.

However, without combining EAAs with fast-digesting protein, they struggle to maintain blood EAA levels for the full 3 hours, and give up a number of beneficial effects on the insulin system and gut-brain axis.

*Ferrando A A. & Wolfe R R. International Society of Sports Nutrition Journal, 2023. University of Arkansas. doi: 10.1080/15502783.2023.2263409.

**Sharp. H et al. Nutrition and Metabolic Insights Journal, 2018. Applied Science & Performance Institute, Florida.

What did this mean for Nuscle?

The fast-digesting free EAAs in Nuscle can bust through blood EAA thresholds sooner to trigger our muscle support processes. This increases efficiency and means more of the 3-hour muscle support window can be used for muscle development, maintenance and repair.

EAA-enriched plant protein with whey's EAA profile has similar effects to whey

EAA-enrichment of regular unhydrolysed plant protein has been shown to raise muscle protein synthesis enough to produce similar muscle formation as whey.

Research from McMaster University found that 20g of plant protein enriched to have a similar EAA content and profile as whey crossed blood thresholds fast enough to produce similar effect on muscle synthesis.

This is not the upper limit though, higher EAA content has been shown to significantly increase its efficiency, needing consumption of fewer grams of protein.

*Lim C. et al. Current Developments in Nutrition Journal, 2024. McMaster University. doi: 10.1016/j.cdnut.2024.103769.

What did this mean for Nuscle?

Our goal with Nuscle was to create a more efficient and more effective protein than whey, not just equal it. So instead of matching whey's EAA profile we more than doubled its EAAs in crucial areas like leucine content.

EAA-enriched protein maintains higher EAA blood levels than whey

Recent research has investigated what degree of EAA enrichment is needed to create superior conditions for muscle support than whey.

The University of Arkansas found that EAA-enriched whey protein produced twice the blood EAA levels as double the amount of whey. The same amount of EAA-enriched protein caused almost 4 times the increase that whey did!

*Park S. & Church D D. et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition Journal, 2020. University of Arkansas. doi: 10.1186/s12970-020-0340-5.

What did this mean for Nuscle?

The fast-digesting free EAAs in Nuscle hit the blood faster and in larger amounts, triggering muscle support processes much more effectively than slower-digesting protein alone.

EAA-enriched protein raises muscle synthesis more than complete protein alone

The vast increases in blood EAA levels of EAA-enriched protein over whey has been reflected in the effects it has on muscle growth.

In this trial by Park et al, even half the amount of EAA-enriched protein produced far greater effects than double the amount of whey on muscle protein synthesis, the fancy term for muscle growth.

*Park S. & Church D D. et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition Journal, 2020. University of Arkansas. doi: 10.1186/s12970-020-0340-5.

What did this mean for Nuscle?

Better muscle development is a big reason we formulated Nuscle, this happens through muscle protein synthesis. It was an absolute no-brainer for us to utilise a stronger EAA profile and higher digestibility per gram than whey to achieve this.

EAA-enriched protein reduces muscle breakdown more than complete protein alone

More muscle growth means nothing if muscle breakdown isn't kept in check.

In Park et al the rate of muscle breakdown was also studied. They found that there was a similar reduction in muscle breakdown from half the amount of EAA-enriched protein.

However, the same amount of EAA-enriched protein produced 2.5x the reduction in muscle breakdown as the same amount of whey protein!

*Park S. & Church D D. et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition Journal, 2020. University of Arkansas. doi: 10.1186/s12970-020-0340-5.

What did this mean for Nuscle?

Muscle breakdown reduction is not only important for reducing losses while we gain muscle, but also for when conditions can accelerate muscle loss, like stress, aging, sleep-loss, dieting, and hard training. Again another no-brainer for a more efficient and effective protein like Nuscle.

EAA-enriched plant protein raises muscle synthesis more than complete plant protein alone

EAA-enriched unhydrolysed plant protein has been shown to raise muscle protein synthesis significantly more than complete plant protein alone. Shown through a comparison of 20g of each carried out by McMaster University where EAA-enrichment increased total EAA content by ~15%.

This is not the upper limit though, higher EAA content has been shown to significantly increase its efficiency, needing consumption of fewer grams of protein to achieve better results for muscle metabolism.

*Lim C. et al. Current Developments in Nutrition Journal, 2024. McMaster University. doi: 10.1016/j.cdnut.2024.103769.

What did this mean for Nuscle?

Our goal with Nuscle was to create a more efficient and effective protein that we would take ourselves. A big part of this was increasing our EAA content to almost twice what is represented in research like this, so we can get more with less total protein.