How much protein can your body digest at a time?

[Guardian]

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?

AAKG imo is a waste, some research indicates it may aid in gh response but that is only when fasted.

[sssboi]

say you take more protein one day than your body can use up, what happens to the excess? stored as fat or released?

[Robboe]

say you take more protein one day than your body can use up, what happens to the excess? stored as fat or released?

Read this: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat...e-get-fat.html

[Guardian]

Read this: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat...e-get-fat.html

I don't buy that information, he claims you would need 700-900 grams of carbs for any to go to fat and carbs usually do not go to fat. Thats bs, if muscle glycogen and liver levels are stacked and your idle sitting and eat a bunch of sugar then blood glucose levels will spike and insulin will facilitate it into adipose tissue once muscle cells are full.

[bloodsimple1234]

AAKG imo is a waste, some research indicates it may aid in gh response but that is only when fasted.

may I ask why you think it is a waste?

[nbksuperstar]

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

Saw you detailed post, interesting as it was i was wondering about when and how to consume my whey protein mix with a bit of milk and shredded wheat mix. that is my mix that i have been taking anyways it is about 60gs of whey and a few more gs of milk protein. I usually eat half about 30 minutes prior to heavy lifting in a full body workout which lasts about an hour. the thing is i then run a 5k to 8k depending on how i feel then after that it is about an hour before i make it back to get the rest of that in me then an hr or 2 after that for a descent dinner. so there is a time lapse after my weights till i can get some protein and complex carbs back in me for recovery. I was wondering about the timing of eating and what to eat that would be more effective i guess and thinking about how long it takes for protein to be available for muscle repair in the body brought me to this sight. i guess i was also wondering if i do not intake or replenish my weakened body for a couple of hrs if and how it effects muscle recovery and growth and if i am even eating the right kind of replenishing protein mix. i hope that made sense i am kinda new at this.... thanks for any help.....

[SourTytan]

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

Depends on your body. But in most cases the average person will be able to use around 30 grams a hour unless its within 10 min to a hour after workout. Then it closer to 40 to 50 grams. So they say......

[BigBoLuke93]

Depends on your body. But in most cases the average person will be able to use around 30 grams a hour unless its within 10 min to a hour after workout. Then it closer to 40 to 50 grams. So they say......

This is completely false

[TrueAmateur]

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

This would definitely be the most viable option. Why chance wasting it all at one sitting when you can spread it out more evenly through out? I think 6 meals a day is a bit overboard, but I could say 3 or 4 would suffice.

[MikeyH83]

Necro'd 3 times! O_O

[DGetsCut]

This would definitely be the most viable option. Why chance wasting it all at one sitting when you can spread it out more evenly through out? I think 6 meals a day is a bit overboard, but I could say 3 or 4 would suffice.

Good point. Thousands of years ago when we were hunters and gatherers we ate approx 6 small meals a day. That's what's ideal, but even if you can change your 2-3 big meals into 4-5 smaller meals it helps. Yes, space it out or it's less efficient.

[DJ_Forty5]

This topic makes my head try to implode...
There is a stomach hormone that tells the brain it is full,

Whats a stomach hormone ?

[danjh2705]

This is my first post so I hope this is helpful.

A google scholar search for protein studies in adult males, specifically using whey protein as the source, yielded the following study (there are plenty of results, I just picked a random one because of the title including "graded".)

Since I am not able to post a direct link yet (first post!) you can find the paper in question by going to Google Scholar and searching for "Amino acid absorption and subsequent muscle protein accretion following graded intakes of whey protein in elderly men"

It is based on older adult males (70+/-2 yrs) and post meal protein synthesis and uptake by muscle in staving off muscle loss due to age.

Now in my opinion the study is incomplete (no I'm not a nutritional or even medical scientist, I am a scientist though (astrophysicist to be specific) and can only judge by their methodology ) as they have restricted the dosage to 10g, 20g and 35g of protein.

The summarise the paper (if you don't want to even read the abstract), greater uptake of protein is seen in the 35g dosage compared to the rest. Initial pass of breakdown/absorption is ~60% of however much you ingest , regardless of the dose. So increased dose means increased first pass absorption. All indicators lean toward the upper dose being better in this study.

All levels returned to pre-meal levels after ~4 hours.
If I were to get them to re-do / extend the study (even in older males ) I would like to see an increased dose range, at least that way if there was a turning point (upper limit) to the amount of protein you can utilise over a time period it would be a lot clearer.

Anyway, based on this one study, I can look for more later, it does not suggest that there has been any upper limit found on protein ingestion in a single dosage.
Hope it helps (even a little) in this discussion.

[TheGreatFSM]

You can compare us to most any other meat eating mammal and notice that the vast majority are ferocious eaters after a kill and fight for food even when there's enough to go around. Protein comes from Animals for the most part, and animals are much harder to catch than plants obviously. This means more energy spent hunting a harder target. It seems to reason that our history our bodies with the capability to take in large amounts of protein. I would wager to guess there is a point where you will start reaching some diminishing returns, and that would be interesting to try and study.

Our natural diet over the last thousands of years likely involved lots of carbs and occassionally bounties of meat and protein which would lead one to believe meat would be binged on when given the chance. Proof of early man eating the marrow from bone for the extra dense protein there seems to go along with this idea.

If I had to guess, I would say our bodies have been dealing with the issue of fighting each other for the few scraps of protein around, a lot longer than we've had readily available food and it may just be part of our reptile brain overriding everything else and that may be why it takes so long to kcik into the brain to stop eating.


my2cents

[papagunz]

Good point. Thousands of years ago when we were hunters and gatherers we ate approx 6 small meals a day. That's what's ideal, but even if you can change your 2-3 big meals into 4-5 smaller meals it helps. Yes, space it out or it's less efficient.

What? We typically ate more frequently before the age of fast food, vending machines, microwavable dinners, and take-out? My body composition has seen stark improvement since eating for 5-6 times per day to 2 to 3, and sometimes 1 even (if I'm incredibly busy). Robboe mentioned the hunting example before, and it's the perfect illustration. Compared to eating big game every two days (ancestors we're talking), twigs and berries is practically fasting.

Go to leangains and read the '10 myths debunked' article. It will do you a lot of good. It certainly did me a lot of good too.

For instance, if a protein has a digestion rate of (arbitrarily) 8 grams per hour, and you eat 80 grams in one sitting, you'll be 'digesting it' for 10 hours. We've been overthinking this stuff.

[kinkoshinkai]

While many nutrtitionists give recommendations on appropriate levels of protein consumption, as Will points out, the upper limit of protein consumption has not been established!! To say 30 grams completely ignores individual size, activity levels, and physical needs. .8 grams per kilo is the "maintenance" level to keep the body from catabolizing it's own tissue (atrophy) to stay alive. Nitrogen deficit states induced by heavy resistance training create a greater absorption window. Factoring it all in and plugging it into your individual equation is the key. YOUR size, YOUR activity level, YOUR goals, YOUR meal timing - all have to be factored in. Definitive answer??? Nope, there isn't one. Even the "gurus" of nutrition will differ in opinion, because it's as much an art as it is a science.

[babyox1]

Just make sure to get all your macros at the end of the day.