NOW Sports BCAA Powder Review

The Supplement Facts panel prints a serving of 1½ level teaspoons (approx. 5.2 g) with 2.3 g of L-leucine, 1.1 g of L-isoleucine and 1.1 g of L-valine, about 4.5 g of BCAAs, and about 65 servings per 12 oz tub. That is a little under the ~2.5 g of leucine most associated with triggering muscle protein synthesis (Jackman 2017, PMID 28638350), so a slightly heaped serving gets you there. An earlier version of this review said ~3 g and ~1.5 g of leucine; the panel does not say that.

$23.99 for 65 servings is about $0.37 a serving (Amazon US, Oct 18, 2026), about $0.08 per gram of BCAA, in the same band as Naked ($0.35) and Kaged ($0.42) and cheaper than Optimum Nutrition BCAA 5000 ($0.67). With the Informed Sport certification, that makes it the cheapest certified BCAA powder on this page.

The pack says the powder is instantized with sunflower lecithin for easy mixing, so it dissolves better than a raw free-form powder. It is unflavored, though, and unflavored BCAAs are naturally bitter straight in water. The workable approach is to stir it into a flavored carrier — a shake or pre-workout — or a flavored drink. An earlier version of this review said it clumps because it is not instantized; the pack says the opposite.

Yes — NOW Foods is one of the longest-established supplement manufacturers, GMP-quality assured, with a solid reputation for label accuracy and value across a huge product range. For drug-tested athletes there is a concrete answer: the Informed Sport logo is on the pack front, and the Informed Sport list carries NOW Sports Branched Chain Amino Acids Powder (unflavored, with live batches; the certifier's page links this Amazon listing, checked Oct 18, 2026). Informed Sport tests every batch for banned substances before release. Check your batch number on the certifier's list.

If you are drug-tested and want a BCAA-only powder, this is the cheapest on the page that carries Informed Sport (Kaged is the other). If you want the best-dosed flavored drink, Xtend or Transparent Labs give you far more per scoop with extras; if you want the cheapest unflavored powder with no certification, Naked is a few cents less per serving.

1. [1] Jackman 2017 PMID 28638350 — Branched-Chain Amino Acid Ingestion Stimulates Muscle Myofibrillar Protein Synthesis following Resistance Exercise in Humans. BCAAs alone raised MPS ~22% over placebo at ~2.5 g leucine — NOW's ~1.5 g-leucine scoop falls below this, the basis for recommending a double scoop and the light-dose score.
2. [2] Moberg 2016 PMID 27053525 — Activation of mTORC1 by leucine is potentiated by branched-chain amino acids and even more so by essential amino acids following resistance exercise. mTORC1 activation ranked leucine < BCAAs < all nine EAAs — evidence that a complete protein or full EAA outperforms a light-dose pure-BCAA powder like NOW for muscle growth.
3. [3] Wolfe 2017 PMID 28852372 — Branched-chain amino acids and muscle protein synthesis in humans: myth or reality?. Concluded BCAAs alone are 'unwarranted' as an anabolic claim — the reason NOW's muscle-preservation claim is rated partial and protein is the better growth buy.
4. [4] Blomstrand 2006 PMID 16365096 — Branched-chain amino acids activate key enzymes in protein synthesis after physical exercise. BCAAs activate post-exercise protein-synthesis enzymes including after endurance exercise — supports NOW's endurance/recovery claim as a modest benefit at an adequate dose.