So I’ve written a lot about protein requirements for athletes in my career. It’s a topic I’ve followed with some interest for decades, I wrote an entire book on the topic in 2008 or so. Well guess what I’m talking about again today. Hint: it’s protein requirements for athletes.
Protein Requirements for Athletes
The most recent piece I wrote on the topic addressed a current idea in field where maximal per meal protein intake is about 0.25 g/lb (about 0.55 g/kg). This is based on research showing that this amount of protein maximizes MUSCULAR PROTEIN SYNTHESIS. This is assumed to represent the optimal protein requirement for growth.
Related: How Much Protein Do I Need to Grow?
In the original piece, I gave a number of criticisms of that idea including the following:
- Most studies concluding this use whey protein rather than whole food. This not only alters digestion and appearance kinetics but the food matrix is important as the presence of other nutrients and compounds impacts on how foods work in the body.