Proteins and peptides don't carry the risks of free amino acids, except those rich in leucine. Whey is rich in leucine and it increases mTOR signalling just like leucine does. In the short run you get more growth, but in the long run your stem cells grow resistant and stop dividing. mTOR inhibitors increase animal lifespan.
Cysteine interferes with nitric oxide signalling. Glutamine is great food for an injured gut, but it converts to arginine, arginine increases growth hormone release, and consistently-high growth hormone will shorten lifespan. (Intermittent cycles every few months might be OK to make sure you get needed maintenance done.) Glutamate and glutamic acid are the same thing, they convert between each other by acid-base chemistry. At the body's pH it's glutamate, and taking it as free amino acid will increase risk of metabolic syndrome. They have a term called "monosodium L-glutamate (MSG)-induced obese rats". If you have a leaky blood-brain barrier from inflammation you might get neurological symptoms from it because glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter.
Proteins and peptides are only chopped into amino acids as needed, so free amino acid levels are kept under control as long as you don't deliberately take them.
Cysteine interferes with nitric oxide signalling. Glutamine is great food for an injured gut, but it converts to arginine, arginine increases growth hormone release, and consistently-high growth hormone will shorten lifespan. (Intermittent cycles every few months might be OK to make sure you get needed maintenance done.) Glutamate and glutamic acid are the same thing, they convert between each other by acid-base chemistry. At the body's pH it's glutamate, and taking it as free amino acid will increase risk of metabolic syndrome. They have a term called "monosodium L-glutamate (MSG)-induced obese rats". If you have a leaky blood-brain barrier from inflammation you might get neurological symptoms from it because glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter.
Proteins and peptides are only chopped into amino acids as needed, so free amino acid levels are kept under control as long as you don't deliberately take them.