Dietary Protein Recommendations For Bodybuilders

Dietary Protein Recommendations For Bodybuilders

Members of the bodybuilding community are notorious for consuming high amounts of protein. While some are quantifying their intake amount, others may be under the archaic perception that “the more the merrier.” The aim of this discussion will be to establish how much protein a bodybuilder should be intaking, from which sources, and explaining if there are any associated health risks with consuming protein beyond a 2.5g/kg of bodyweight per day.  

The RDA of protein for the average person is 0.8 grams of protein per kg of bodyweight (BW) , while researchers like Mazzula et al. (2019) argue that resistance trained athletes need ~2.0g/kg BW. It is important to understand that a bodybuilder (and most resistance training persons) will have a much higher need for dietary protein than the average sedentary adult. This is due to many factors. One being the higher demands that the bodybuilder is placing upon their bodies in order to stimulate growth. Another is that a bodybuilder will likely have much more fat free mass (FFM) (muscle) that requires protein in order to sustain itself and to avoid a negative nitrogen balance (Schoenfeld, Aragon & Krieger, 2013). Another consideration is the research of Helms (2014) who argued that resistance trained individuals who are in a caloric deficit require even more than the recommendation of Mazzula. It was shown that individuals in a caloric deficit (very common amongst bodybuilders) may require as much as 2.3-3.1g/kg FFM per day (Helms, 2014). 

A common concern is that consuming such high amounts of protein could be potentially harmful to the kidneys and overall health of the individual. But, Antonio et al. (2016) showed that there were no negative health markers shown in areas such as blood lipids, kidney function, renal function or glucose levels after their study. It should be noted that the participants within the “high protein consumption” group were taking in around 3.3g/kg/day for 8 weeks while performing resistance training. Despite this being over four times the RDA of protein, the participants saw no negative health markers (Antonio et al., 2016). Another interesting point was that this “high” group also saw no significant increase in performance or hypertrophy compared to the group intaking ~2.6g/kg/day (Antonio et al., 2016). This would indicate that there exists a level of diminishing returns and that consuming beyond certain amounts may not be unhealthy, but rather ineffective. 

Given that its both safe and effective to have higher (up to 2.5g/kg BW/day) protein consumption, it may lead to the question of protein sourcing. There are many sources of protein that exist, from both plant and animal sources. A dietary protein is either considered to be complete or incomplete based on whether or not it provides all of the essential amino acids needed to perform muscle protein synthesis (MPS) (complete proteins do). Most meat sources are complete proteins and should be the primary intake for a bodybuilder. When choosing a protein supplement there exist many types. Amongst the whey proteins there are concentrates, isolates and hydrolysates. For individuals who are lactose intolerant it may be important to avoid concentrates because they’re more similar to the original milk protein and will contain some lactose (Stratton, VanDusseldorp & Kravitz, 2017). An isolate has been separated from the lactose, so this would be recommended for the intolerant. Hydrolysates or “hydrolyzed” proteins have been broken down into its component amino acids but theres no literature investigating whether or not its more effective than the other forms of whey protein (Stratton, VanDusseldorp & Kravitz, 2017). Many protein powders will have a blend of these 3 types of whey, such as the “Elite” protein by dymatize. Given that all of these sources are complete proteins, I would conclude that it matters much less which complete protein source you choose but to rather focus on total protein intake since it is shown to be the biggest determining factor to muscle growth (Schoenfeld, Aragon & Krieger, 2013). 

References

Antonio, J., Ellerbroek, A., Silver, T., Vargas, L., & Peacock, C. (2016). The effects of a high protein diet on indices of health and body composition - a crossover trial in resistance-trained men. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 13, 1–7.

Helms, E. R., Zinn, C., Rowlands, D. S., & Brown, S. R. (2014). A systematic review of dietary protein during caloric restriction in resistance trained lean athletes: A case for higher intakes. International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 24(2), 127–138. 

Mazzulla, M., Sawan, S. A., Williamson, E., Hannaian, S. J., Volterman, K. A., West, D. W. D., & Moore, D. R. (2019). Protein intake to maximize whole-body anabolism during postexercise recovery in resistance-trained men with high habitual intakes is severalfold greater than the current recommended dietary allowance. The Journal of Nutrition, 249.

Schoenfeld, B. J., Aragon, A. A., & Krieger, J. W. (2013). The effect of protein timing on muscle strength and hypertrophy: A meta-analysis. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 10(53).

Stratton, M. T., VanDusseldorp, T., & Kravitz, L. (2017). Protein supplements: Which “whey” to go? Understanding the differences between major animal- and plant-based protein supplements. IDEA Fitness Journal, 14(9), 11–12.