I know that leucine is important for mTOR activation, but so are mechanical stimuli, growth factors, and energy status. Is it overly myopic to focus on leucine given the importance of these other factors, particularly growth factors, or is my view too generalized? Also, upstream of mTOR the PI3K pathways seem to elicit hypertrophy independently from mTOR.
Is my understand wrong that leucine (a) primarily activates mTOR, (b) attenuates insulin response? I suppose I'm of the opinion that in the grander scheme (outside of some mTOR models focused on leucine/AAs) it's generally better to go for complete protein sources for muscle hypertrophy?