Protein Supplement Myth Revealed by Body of Work

Live Science ^ | Feb 5, 2010 | Christopher Wanjek

[decimon]

Most health stores are tainted with the irony that so few of their products are actually healthy, from herbal potions of unknown purity and utility to dietary supplements capitalizing on recent trends in weight loss or hair gain.

Now, two more studies question a longstanding staple at the health store, protein supplements, usually sold as a powder with testosterone-fueled names like Muscle Max 500 or Mega Monster Mass.

Such supplements are top sellers. But a growing body of research shows you don't need protein supplementation unless you are a professional-level athlete in intense training or perhaps gravely ill from starvation or a wasting disease, and even then the need would be a case-by-case call.

The new studies highlight the fact that the most benign thing about protein supplements is that you're only wasting money. You reap little benefit and instead put yourself at risk for kidney, bone and heart disease.

[decimon]

Muscle math ping.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

It’s important to ingest protein soon after a workout session (within a half hour). When I was weight-training, I drank a quart of skim milk and ate a can of tuna fish within a half hour of every weight-lifting session. The muscle gain was amazing.

That said, your body can only process so much of any nutrient you ingest. It excretes the rest. I never went with protein powders or any of those supplements.

[Mrs. Don-o]

Thanks. This article goes to my 20-y-o son, just back from Iraq!

[decimon]

Thanks. This article goes to my 20-y-o son, just back from Iraq!

Tell him it comes with a thumbs up for doing Iraq.

[SJSAMPLE]

Don't forget my favorite ...

[ConservativeDude]

I drank a quart of skim milk and ate a can of tuna fish within a half hour of every weight-lifting session”

That’s probably close to 100 grams of protein...more than most supplements. And cheaper, probably, also. VEry smart.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

If I recall, the milk was app. 36 grams and the tuna app. 17 grams, but I may be off.

I don’t think I would have knowingly taken 100 grams, which would have been too much.

The tuna is dense and moves slowly, so your body has lots of time to process and absorb the protein.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

There are so many variables involved that making a blanket statement of fact is dubious, at best.

Age is a major factor, as well as digestion, overall nutrition, metabolic differences, gastrointestinal flora, type and quantity of exercise, status of the liver and kidneys, and any other supplements being taken.

In other words, there are so many variables that it is subjective. If it works for you, great. If it doesn’t, don’t bother.

[Sir Gawain]

I drank a quart of skim milk

That's a lot of sugar.

[Arthur McGowan]

“Wasting money...”

Funny, they never mention that the protein in a good protein powder is higher-quality and CHEAPER than the protein you get at the grocery store by buying milk, eggs, poultry, beef, etc.

[ConservativeDude]

ah, don’t forget number of servings per can! 17 times 2 or 2.5 servings in the can!

[jjsheridan5]

“Funny, they never mention that the protein in a good protein powder is higher-quality and CHEAPER than the protein you get at the grocery store by buying milk, eggs, poultry, beef, etc.”

Absolutely. These kinds of articles are pure garbage. Also, the notion that 1/2 gram of protein per pound of body weight is sufficient is also nonsense. This nugget of misinformation has been floating around for a long time, and stems from paranoia about the effects of too much protein. Anything over 2 grams/pound is probably overdoing it, and may be risky, but most serious lifters are going to be in the 1 to 2 g/lb range, with no ill effects.

[dangerdoc]

I remember decades ago, the training coach instructing us to eat regular meals plus had us set our alarm clocks for 2:00 am when we were to get up and eat a large can of pork and beans, then go back to sleep.

Back in the days before steroids, his regimen including lots of dead weight lifting would put about 30 pounds on his linemen.

[Arthur McGowan]

The anti-protein hysteria is overflow from the anti-steroid hysteria, which is, I am convinced, a kind of emanation from the penumbras of male-hatred. I.e., feminazism.

[Arthur McGowan]

This article is garbage. Anti-protein hysteria is just a corollary of anti-steroid hysteria, which is an emanation of the penumbras of male-bashing feminazism.

[Arthur McGowan]

I think anti-protein hysteria and anti-steroid hysteria are emanations from the penumbras of male-bashing.

[Mrs. Don-o]

But anti-hysteria hysteria is always a mist wafting from the shadows of misogyny.

[neverdem]

thanks decimon

[grey_whiskers]

I tend to have my doubts about articles like this, as they seem to make huge sweeping generalizations, like the one in this sentence. :-)

Seriously, it smells like a combination of large pharmaceutical companies and the Obama administration combining to demonize an industry.

The main problem is not lack of efficacy per se but rather the lack of expertise to make sure an individual has a condition which a particular supplement might help.

That, and the fact that a lot of the raw materials and manufacturing is done in China. (See also melamine in dog food, dry wall H₂S, cadmium in children's jewelry, Toyota's gas pedals (CTS is in China). Can supplements be far behind?)

I would like to see one of these "debunking" sites or studies, instead of "scattershot" criticism leading to the impression that all nutritional supplementation is the work of charlatans preying on sheep, show the peer-reviewed studies detailing what each supplement is good *for*, and then explaining whether or not the negative studies used a large enough cohort, sufficient dose, or long enough duration to test the claims actually made by the proponents, or were a slap-dash job designed to discredit them with the imprimatur of "science"...

Cheers!