Summary: A new study finds that when it comes to building strength, the source of nutrition protein—whether animal- or plant-based—makes no change, as long as use is enough. Researchers also discovered that properly distributing proteins across foods does n’t improve muscle protein synthesizing compared to distorted eating later in the day.
Over nine times, members followed neither a veggie or carnivorous nutrition and engaged in strength training while consuming average protein levels. Muscle biopsies revealed no change in muscle-building outcomes across the meal types or schedule, challenging historic assumptions about protein excellent and eating patterns.
Important Information:
- Protein Resource: Vegan and omnivorous diets supported body production likewise.
- Protein Timing: Also vs. inconsistent protein supply had no effect on muscle development.
- Sufficient Intake: A moderate intake ( ~1. 1 g/kg/day ) was enough to support muscle building during training.
Origin: University of Illinois
A new study asked three queries about muscle protein synthesis in response to a nine-day dieting and weight training strategy: First, does the source of protein — plant or animal-based — make any difference to body get? Second, does it matter if total daily protein intake is evenly distributed throughout the day? And third, does a moderate but sufficient daily protein intake influence any of these variables? The answer to all three questions is “no, ” the researchers found.
Their findings are reported in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.
“The longstanding belief or the current dogma was that animal-based protein sources were better, particularly for the muscle-building response, ” said Nicholas Burd, a professor of health and kinesiology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who led the new study with former graduate student Andrew Askow.
This belief was rooted in science: Previous studies that took muscle biopsies after a single feeding found that an animal-based meal provided more of a stimulus for muscle protein synthesis than a vegan meal, Burd said.
“And so, our general hypothesis based on these previous studies was that the animal-based eating pattern would be more effective at supporting the muscle-building response. ”
But measurements taken after a single meal might not reflect the effects of consuming a balanced vegan diet over time, Burd said.
One previous clinical trial had looked at muscle responses in vegans and omnivores who ate a laboratory diet and engaged in weight training for 10 weeks. That study found no significant differences in muscle protein synthesis over time.
However, volunteers in that study consumed 1. 6-1. 8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, which is much higher than what is needed to maximize muscle protein synthesis and build bigger muscles with weight lifting, Burd said.
It also gave those on the vegan diet the bulk of their plant protein in supplements, which is not a realistic recreation of how vegans normally eat, he said.
Burd and his colleagues wanted to know whether the habitual consumption of a varied vegan or meat-based diet of whole foods— rather than ingestion of just a single meal or getting one’s protein from limited sources— would influence the rate of muscle protein synthesis over time.
They also wanted to test the hypothesis that a moderate protein intake — in the range of 1. 1-1. 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day— should be distributed evenly throughout the day to maximize muscle growth.
A previous study from Burd’s lab found that protein intakes higher than 1. 1 g/kg per day make no difference to the rate of muscle protein synthesis when weight training. This amount of protein also is more in line with a typical American diet, and testing what people normally eat is important, he said.
For the new study, the team recruited 40 healthy, physically active 20-40-year-old adults. The participants underwent a seven-day “habituation diet ” to standardize their nutritional status prior to the clinical trial. Then they were randomly assigned to either a vegan or omnivorous diet.
The research team provided all meals, some of which were eaten in the lab while most were consumed at home. Roughly 70 % of the protein for the omnivorous meals was obtained from animal sources: beef, pork, chicken, dairy, eggs. The vegan diet balanced the amino acid content of the meals, ensuring that participants consumed complete proteins.
The vegan and omnivorous groups were each divided again into those who ate roughly the same amount of protein at each of three meals and those whose protein intake varied across five meals throughout the day, with a larger proportion of protein consumed toward the end of the day.
All participants engaged in a series of muscle-strengthening activities in the lab every three days. They also wore accelerometers to keep track of their activity levels when not in the lab.
Each day, participants drank “heavy ” water, which was labeled with deuterium, a stable isotope of hydrogen.
The deuterium atoms “exchanged with hydrogen atoms within amino acids to make them heavy and served as tracers ” that allowed the team to trace their incorporation into muscle tissue, Burd said. Biopsies of tissue from a leg muscle were taken at the beginning and end of the trial.
Burd was initially surprised to see that there were no differences in rates of muscle protein synthesis between those eating vegan or omnivorous diets. He also was surprised to see that protein distribution across the day had no effect on the rate of muscle building given results from past studies of acute responses to dietary interventions and weight training.
“It was thought that it was better to get a steady-state delivery of nutrients throughout the day, ” he said.
“ I also thought that if you’re getting a lower quality protein — in terms of its digestibility and amino acid content — that perhaps distribution would make a difference. And surprisingly, we showed it does n’t matter. ”
Now, Burd says, if anyone asks him what’s the best type of food they should eat for muscle building, he’ll tell them: “It’s the kind you put in your mouth after exercise. As long as you’re getting sufficient high-quality protein from your food, then it really does n’t make a difference. ”
Funding: The Beef Checkoff program, overseen by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Board, supported this research.
About this diet, exercise, and neuroscience research news
Author: Diana Yates
Source: University of Illinois
Contact: Diana Yates – University of Illinois
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“Impact of vegan diets on resistance exercise-mediated myofibrillar protein synthesis in healthy young males and females: A randomized controlled trial ” by Nicholas Burd et al. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise
Abstract
Impact of vegan diets on resistance exercise-mediated myofibrillar protein synthesis in healthy young males and females: A randomized controlled trial
Background
Protein ingestion stimulates muscle protein synthesis rates ( MPS) to support the turnover of skeletal muscle protein mass. However, dietary patterns consist of a variety of protein foods with different amino acid compositions consumed at multiple meal-times throughout the day.
Omnivorous ( OMN) and vegan (VGN ) dietary patterns may differentially stimulate MPS. Moreover, the distribution and frequency of protein intake may also play an important anabolic regulatory role.
Objective
We aimed to determine the effect of OMN and VGN dietary patterns and protein distribution ( balanced [B] and unbalanced [UB] ) in regulating changes in daily myofibrillar protein synthesis rates during a 9-d resistance training intervention.
Design
Forty healthy, physically-active males and females ( 28 M, 12 F; 25 ± 4 y; BMI = 24. 1 ± 2. 1 kg·m-2 ) consumed a weight-maintenance diet providing 1. 1–1. 2 g·kg-1·d-1 of dietary protein from an OMN or VGN dietary pattern with UB ( 10, 30, 60 % of daily protein at meal 1, 2, and 3, respectively ) or B ( 20 % of daily protein at 5 eating occasions ) distribution.
Participants completed whole-body resistance exercise three times during the controlled feeding trial while consuming deuterated water ( D2O ) for the measurement of daily myofibrillar protein synthesis rates.
Results
The %kcals from carbohydrate was higher ( P = 0. 045 ) in the OMN compared to VGN groups, but no other differences in dietary intakes were observed. Myofibrillar protein synthesis rates did not differ between OMN-UB (3. 04 ± 1. 85 % ·d-1 ), OMN-B ( 2. 43 ± 1. 21 %·d-1 ), VGN-UB ( 2. 52 ± 1. 77 %·d-1 ), and VGN-B ( 2. 49 ± 1. 56 % ·d-1 ) groups ( all P > 0. 05 ).
Conclusions
Our results demonstrated that the anabolic action of animal vs. vegan dietary patterns are similar. Moreover, there is no regulatory influence of distribution between the two dietary patterns on the stimulation of myofibrillar protein synthesis rates in young adults. This trial was registered with ClinicalTrials. gov (NCT04232254).
