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Do I need protein powder? And, if so, how much?

This is a question long debated in the annals of health and fitness magazines, scientific journals and textbooks. It, too, is one for which there is no real answer with perhaps the clarity you may want. You see, it depends on age (and rate of growth), health, physical activity level and diet, to name a few factors. But you don’t probably want to hear excuses. The bottom line is that, yes, if you exercise regularly you do. As for how much, here is all you need to know…

What is a protein?

* It is one of the three macronutrients – carbohydrates, fats and proteins – found in food.

* They are made of chains of amino acids.

* There are nine “essential” amino acids only available from your diet (phenylalanine, valine, threonine, tryptophan, methionine, leucine, isoleucine, lysine and histidine).

* Three of these “essential” amino acids – leucine, isoleucine and valine – are called branch-chain amino acids (BCAA) and account for a third of the amino acids in your muscles.

* There are five other “non-essential” amino acids which your body can synthesise (alanine, aspartic acid, asparagine, glutamic acid and serine).

* Once consumed, proteins are broken down in the stomach into amino-acid chains and absorbed in the stomach.

* Dietary sources of protein include both animals and plants: meats, dairy products, fish and eggs, as well as grains, legumes and nuts. Oh, and then there’s the multimillion-pound protein supplement industry helping as well (a story for another day).

What do proteins provide?

* The major component to all of your skeletal muscles giving size and function.

* Structural function in all your other body organs, hair, nails, skin and cell membranes.

* Breakdown products that are then used in cell metabolism and in your immune system.

* Fuel, which is as energy dense as carbohydrates (four kcal per gram), when required.

Why 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight per day (g/kg/day) is the magic number

In 2017, the British Association Of Sport And Exercise Medicine published an analysis of 49 international studies into the effect of protein supplementation on muscle strength and muscle size when used with resistance training. They concluded that:

Protein supplementation at amounts greater than 1.6g/kg/day do not further contribute to resistance exercise training-induced gains in fat-free muscle. (That means if you are an 80kg man, that’s 128g [1.6 x 80] protein a day needed.)

For those of you who favour endurance exercise over strength and resistance training, the protein requirements drop slightly to 1.2 to 1.4 g/kg/day. This is because, unlike in resistance training where the increased intake is to induced muscular hypertrophy (sized increase), in endurance training the recommended increase is to offset any protein consumed as a fuel and replace it so that some is available to repair any muscle breakdown from exercise.

Do I really pee out excess protein?

Absolutely. If your supply outweighs your body’s protein demands, all those amino acids still need to go somewhere. So, they head to your liver to be “deaminated”, a process to convert the protein’s nitrogen into ammonia. This then is converted to urea, which is excreted in urine. The side effect (apart from just peeing out your cash) is an increased risk of kidney stones – and even cancer.

Source: https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/protein-powder-do-you-even-need-it

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Nutrisattva is a protein innovation company focused on developing natural protein nutrition for individuals across age groups, nutritional needs, and lifestyles. Founded on the belief that the strains of urban living requires a natural, informed and convenience-based approach to good health, Nutrisattva develops products built on the knowledge of nutrition science, fitness and Ayurveda.