How much protein can your body digest at a time?

[vg7z]

Just wondering can your body digest a 75g protein shake at a time? Or is it being wasted?

[Fighterpilota10]

Im no expert on this but I have read other threads that varied in answers. One guy said that your body can only digest around 30g in maybe an hour or so (im not too sure. But then again other guys have said that you can only digest 20g or so. Like I said I'm not too sure...

[indy455]

depends on the person. Also, better to have more than not enough IMO. Ive yet to see solid research which puts an exact number on the ammount. How could that be anyways since everyone is different.

[stealth_swimmer]

1-1.5 grams per pound of bodyweight spread over 6 meals a day

[sillz10]

1-1.5 grams per pound of bodyweight spread over 6 meals a day

1.5 gallons per flush

[big_papa_peddy]

i would never go over 50 grams. but thats me

[Dave(DBD)]

Is there any reason you really need to have 75g shake? More ofthen then not the biggest whey protein I hear of anyone taking is two scoops, so between 40-50 grams. I personally agree with peddy, I wouldn't go over 50

[Drumkid20]

It depends on your size, and individual ability to use what you need. If your around 200+LEAN at 5'9 or 10 and have been this size for some time, chances are your body is "used" to being a 'big boy', you might be able to use upwards of 60 or 70 grams at a time. If your just starting bodybuilding and not "huge" and we all know about where we lie on the spectrum, you wont handle as much, save yourself money and cut down on servings. Wont hurt you, with plenty of water to wash the excess nitrogen levels through your kidneys though dont worry.

Other things that are variables in this are any forms of "gear" like dianabol which can dramatically increase protein synthesis ability, and also types of protein, whey as opposed to casein and soy and albumin.

75 grams at a time is for a very expereienced guy whos quite large and has a body used to upkeeping a large amount of muscle mass.

[stealth_swimmer]

1.5 gallons per flush

huh?

[sillz10]

huh?

he asked if 70 grams was to much to digest at one time and would it be wasted. You said 1.5grams per pound of body weight per day over 6 meals. I said 1.5 gallons per flush.


I think we both helped equally.

[paddycp]

Just wondering can your body digest a 75g protein shake at a time? Or is it being wasted?

That question was in this months (Jan 07) issue of FLEX magazine and heres what they say.

"Somewhere along the way, the idea that a body can handle no more than 30g of protein per sitting wedged its way into nutrition circles. That's an old wives' tale. Do you think Arnold Schwarzenegger grew on 30g of protein ever 3 hours, the equivalent of eating only 115-140 grams of chicken at each meal? Think again. Protein digestibility and the amount your body can handle per meal is tied to how much you weigh and how hard you train, The more you weigh, the more you need; the harder you train, the more you need. In turn, the more you need the more you'll be able to digest, absorb and assimilate. A 200-pound male will in general need more protein than a 160-pounder and should be able to digest more per meal. Digestibility is also linked to the amount of protein you consume on a regular basis. The more protein you eat regularly, the better your body becomes at digesting large protein meals."

[coachld]

Makes me feel better to read your post because I just finished a 75 gram protein shake. I don't typically have more than 55 grams in one serving but was not in the mood for vanilla custard so added a scoop of chocolate as well. I can tell you that I don't usually have any less than 40 grams per serving and have seen some really good results but that could also have to do with other supplements that I am taking.

[Buff_Daddy]

No one knows so no point speculating. And it would vary between the size of the person, activity levels, type of protein, etc. Too many variables. Its like those "you gotta eat 1/g protein per lb to grow" guys. You cant make laws out of it.

[WillBrink]

Just wondering can your body digest a 75g protein shake at a time? Or is it being wasted?

From my QnA on the topic:

It has been a long debated topic how much protein a person can digest at any one time. Nutritionists and doctors have maintained for decades that "people can only digest 30 grams at a time of protein and any additional protein is wasted or converted to fat." So say the powers that be.

Now, I wish I could examine the study or research they are basing this advice on so I could dispute it but I can't. Why you ask? Because in all my years of searching the medical data banks, talking to researchers, and falling asleep in the medical library after hours of reading, I have been unable to find exactly where this advice comes from or what it's based on.

At one time, I went so far as to offer a reward to anyone who could show me a recent study that showed that 30 grams of protein was the upper limit anyone could digest, regardless of age, weight, and activity levels.

Why is it 30 grams? Why not 28 or 35? Are we saying that the digestive and absorptive abilities of a 285 pound 23 year old football player is the same as a 50 year old 115 pound women?

Now digestion is a very complex topic. Many people think you eat some protein, it mixes with some acid or something, gets broken down into amino acids, gets taken up into the body, and everyone is happy.

I wish it were that simple. As with all foods, the breakdown of protein starts in the mouth with the simple chewing of food and the exposer to certain enzymes. In the stomach, food mixes with enzymes and other factors such as lipase, pepsin, intrinsic factor, and of course HCL (stomach acid).

It moves onto the small intestine and then the large intestine.The small intestine is considered the major anatomical site of food digestion and nutrient absorption and is made up of section such as the duodenum, jejunum, and the ileum. Pancreatic enzymes (chymotrypsin, trypsin, etc.), bile salts, gastrin, cholecystokinin, pepidases, as well as many others factors are released here.

The large intestine is composed of the ascending colon, transverse colon, descending colon, and the sigmoid colon, which all play a part in absorbing the nutrients we eat. Sound complicated? It is. Believe me, I am leaving out a great deal of information so you wont fall asleep reading my little column! Suffice it to say, digestion is a very complicated thing and there are many places along the chain of digestion that can both enhance and degrade a persons ability to absorb the foods we eat.

There is no reason to think that among this complicated process that there are not wide individual differences in a persons ability to digest and absorb protein. For some person who is inactive, elderly, and for what ever reason lives with compromised digestion, 30 grams of protein at one sitting might very well be too much for them to handle.

By the same token, assuming a 220lbs healthy athlete is unable to exceed 30 grams of protein in one sitting is neither proven by medial science or even logical in my view. So what if the 30 gram rule turns out to be true? If we examine some of the more recent studies on the protein requirements of athletes done by researchers from both the United Sates and Canada , we come to some recommended protein intakes that far exceed the RDAs, some times by as mush as 225%!

These researchers came to the conclusion that protein intakes for athletes should range from approximately 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight for endurance athletes and up to 1.8g of protein per kg for strength training athletes. For a 200 pound bodybuilder-a strength training athlete-that would be approximately 164 grams of protein per day (most bodybuilders I know eat considerably more protein per day, but that's for another fight and another article...). Assuming that 30 grams of protein is the most anyone can digest, absorb, and utilize, this person would have to split his intake into about five meals (164 divided by 30 = 5.47). So, given the advice by many people that 30 grams is all anyone can digest at a single sitting, it appears a person can achieve the goal of 30 grams of protein per meal even with the higher intakes recommended in the modern research (assuming they are willing or able to eat five meals per day).

However, if you happen to eat more than that per meal as a healthy athlete I don't think you have anything to worry about. I wont tell anyone. Me, I would suggest you stick to the one gram per pound of bodyweight rule, which often exceeds the research mentioned above. Also, read the "Protein Myth" article at the BrinkZone site for more info on this topic.

[deca5448]

Good job dip****, way to ramble on and not say a damn thing

[deca5448]

This guy is an idiot!!!!!

[Robboe]

This topic makes my head try to implode...

Imagine hunting for food most of the day and finding one, maybe two large meals per day that you eat in a single sitting. There is a stomach hormone that tells the brain it is full, and even that is on a ten minute or so delay allowing you to stuff your face as fast as possible and as much as possible before getting the hell out of dodge. Would it make any sense that the body is restrictive in what it can digest at any one time if this is its only time to eat possibly for the next 24-48hrs?

[Robboe]

This guy is an idiot!!!!!

If you're referring to Will then you are very much mistaken.

[WillBrink]

Good job dip****, way to ramble on and not say a damn thing

I covered the essential issues of the topic. Your lack of science background, or general understanding of the topic, does not = rambling on my part.

[WillBrink]

If you're referring to Will then you are very much mistaken.

The kid has 2 posts here, and used them to call me names. We got us a winner here...

[Robboe]

The kid has 2 posts here, and used them to call me names. We got us a winner here...

I thought the site had a strict five-posts-before-insulting-Will rule? Has the world gone mad?

[snorkelman]

I actually had to check to see if I was in the buffoon supplement section or the supplement science section.

Since it is the latter, Will is the only one who provided useful info.

Alan has also addressed this

http://www.wannabebig.com/diet-and-n...a-single-meal/

[VDubb]

The kid has 2 posts here, and used them to call me names. We got us a winner here...

Obvious troll is mad obvious......thanks for posting your article......

"Are we saying that the digestive and absorptive abilities of a 285 pound 23 year old football player is the same as a 50 year old 115 pound women?"

^Common sense.....imagine that.......

[WillBrink]

Obvious troll is mad obvious......thanks for posting your article......

"Are we saying that the digestive and absorptive abilities of a 285 pound 23 year old football player is the same as a 50 year old 115 pound women?"

^Common sense.....imagine that.......

Common sense and science get along just fine if you know how to combine the two.

[jorgerod]

From my QnA on the topic:

It has been a long debated topic how much protein...

Totally agree, Repped


Jorge

[TheWaffleIron]

http://www.wannabebig.com/diet-and-n...a-single-meal/

Good find.

OP, there's no exact known amount. A full, mixed meal may take hours to be fully digested and absorbed.

[scotties123]

yeah it really is based on an individual basis. If you're huge I'm sure you could get away with consuming more at once, but a 140 lb guy consuming 75g of protein at once would be a huge waste in my opinion.

[Robboe]

yeah it really is based on an individual basis. If you're huge I'm sure you could get away with consuming more at once, but a 140 lb guy consuming 75g of protein at once would be a huge waste in my opinion.

It depends.

[Guardian]

That question was in this months (Jan 07) issue of FLEX magazine and heres what they say.

"Somewhere along the way, the idea that a body can handle no more than 30g of protein per sitting wedged its way into nutrition circles. That's an old wives' tale. Do you think Arnold Schwarzenegger grew on 30g of protein ever 3 hours, the equivalent of eating only 115-140 grams of chicken at each meal? Think again. Protein digestibility and the amount your body can handle per meal is tied to how much you weigh and how hard you train, The more you weigh, the more you need; the harder you train, the more you need. In turn, the more you need the more you'll be able to digest, absorb and assimilate. A 200-pound male will in general need more protein than a 160-pounder and should be able to digest more per meal. Digestibility is also linked to the amount of protein you consume on a regular basis. The more protein you eat regularly, the better your body becomes at digesting large protein meals."

Although I question the whole 30g a meal stigma I also do not agree with Flex. I have seen research indicating that as your intake more protein your body becomes more "lazy" at using it while taking in less protein it will become more efficient. This actually makes sense, same thing goes for water, as you drink more of it your body is less likely to hold onto it (arguably why we drink more as to hold less water). This idea makes sense, whenever something is in abundance your body does not need to be as stringent since there is more to spare.


If the concept of "having more causes your body to adapt and handle more" was true then those who are borderline lactose intolerant would slowly increase lactase levels and be less lactose intolerant. But this doesn't work, people borderline who have more simply get more symptoms of poor dairy digestion and it never seems to get better unless the person supplements with the enzyme.

It is quite likely the body may increase digestive enzymes in response to higher protein, however this response is likely to be largely genetic and quite limited. Our bodies did not evolve to be geared toward or react to be bodybuilders with large muscle. Increased muscle mass is a result more so of increased overall calories then it is protein in specific. We also must be careful that excessive amino acid levels in the blood will increase glucose conversion of them along with simple excretion of them via the urine.

One must ask the question even pertaining to people like Arnold, was the massive levels of protein taken in that caused the muscle gain or was it the overall calories that the increased protein largely contributed too?

Perhaps I am on a bit of a tangent but its related. There is to much focus on maximizing protein in the bodybuilding community. If your natural, more attention should be placed on balance of all macros. Muscle gain again is the result moreso of calorie levels. Monounsaturated fats are proven to greatly help testosterone production. Carbs are proven to greatly inhibit cortisol. To maximize muscle gain as a natural one should shoot for having just enough protein for recovery while maximizing the testosterone to cortisol ratio which is depend not on protein but on fats and carbs.

The moral of my blabbering is that imo most naturals have to high of protein and not enough healthy fats and carbs. I personally have lowered my protein intake by 50-75 grams but have increased my total calories through raising my healthy fat intake. Despite more overall calories and less protein I have actually gained strength and lost fat and my recovery is even better. Just look at the recent trend of interest in test boosters, the answer isn't a pill its in the diet, extra virgin olive oil, almonds, etc.

So as far as protein, a gram per pound of body weight is quite plenty which for most people equates to roughly 35 grams a meal assuming 6 meals a day.

Also, L-Leucine supplementation is greatly overlooked. Leucine based on recent research by Layne Norton appears to be the primary (perhaps up to 90%) of proteins anabolic trigger. It also in free form goes directly to the bloodstream and therefore worry about digestibility is not even a concern. It is my belief that Leucine can be used to raise protein synthesis without having to eat as vaste amounts of protein not to mention being more efficient at spiking blood leucine levels.

[zac20133]

Articles from Vanderbilt and Harvard suggest .8 per kilo per day. So thats around .75 per pound and after that it has diminishing returns where most is store as fat (energy source). I believe a lot say 1 gram per pound to sell more product. I would post the links, but do not have the technical know how. So at 200 pounds I have to consume 150 grams per day. If you include your daily diet a person should only have to consume 60-70 grams in supplements per day. It really depends on the amount of meat a person consumes. I go by this data and in the long run it saves me a whole lot of money.

Does anyone know where I can find info on how much AAKG a person should consume for maximum results?