Do you need protein powder for fitness?

Do you need protein powder for fitness? What is the difference between protein powder and food protein?

Speaking of the most basic fitness supplements, protein powder is the number one deserved. Many people ask at the beginning of fitness: Which brand of protein powder is good and can build muscle faster? Girls will be worried: Will I become “King Kong Barbie” after drinking protein powder; others say: “Dead muscle” is gained by drinking protein powder… Today I will talk about protein powder and food What’s the difference between protein? Do you need protein powder for fitness?

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Part1 protein composition

The basic building blocks of protein are amino acids, which are connected by peptide bonds to form peptide chains. Due to the difference in their arrangement sequence, the length of the chain, and the difference in their spatial structure, they constitute countless kinds of proteins with different functions.

There are 20 kinds of amino acids that make up human protein, which can be roughly divided into the following three categories:

Essential amino acids: Amino acids that the human body cannot synthesize or cannot meet the needs of the body and must be obtained from food. Including: isoleucine, leucine, lysine, phenylalanine, methionine, threonine, tryptophan, valine, and the essential amino acids for babies also include histidine.

Non-essential amino acids: The human body can synthesize by itself, and does not necessarily need amino acids obtained from food.

Including: alanine, arginine, aspartic acid, asparagine, glutamic acid, glutamine, glycine, proline, serine.

Conditional essential amino acids: cysteine, tyrosine.

So, is the effect the same no matter what protein you eat? of course not.

Evaluation of the nutritional value of protein

It is not classified according to “protein powder” or “food-derived protein”, but has some specific indicators, such as biological value, net protein utilization rate, and protein efficacy ratio.

Among them, Biological Value (BV) is the most commonly used and most intuitive. it is
An index reflecting the degree of utilization of food protein by the body after digestion and absorption. The higher the value of the biological value, the higher the degree of utilization by the body, and the maximum value is 100. The following table is the BV value of common foods [1-3].

It should be noted that a high BV value does not mean that the food is a source of high-quality protein, such as rice.

As can be seen from the above table, whey protein can be regarded as the most efficient protein source, and its BV value is often close to 100. Fitness favors whey protein rather than soy protein. One of the most important reasons is that the absorption rate is too different. The low absorption rate means the need to take in additional food, as well as additional carbohydrates and fats.

From this point of view, protein powder, especially whey protein, is superior to dietary protein supplement (high absorption rate), and does not require additional intake of carbohydrates and fat.

Part2 Should I eat protein powder?

Before talking about this question, I want to give a brief introduction to the principle of muscle growth. Muscles are composed of the most basic muscle fibers. The strength training we carry out will destroy muscle fibers. The body will produce “excess recovery” in the process of repairing damaged muscle fibers, which will increase the volume of the repaired muscles and increase the strength. Has been enhanced.

And protein is the raw material for muscle fiber repair. The protein powder’s help for muscle building does not lie in its magical effect, but because it is protein, the raw material for muscle synthesis.
As for the need for additional protein powder, it depends on the daily diet.

Generally speaking, for people without exercise habits, the recommended daily protein intake is not less than 0.8g/kg body weight. For example, a person weighing 60kg needs at least 48g protein per day.
This value is actually very easy to achieve-for example, a 250ml bottle of pure milk (containing 7-9g of protein), an egg (containing about 6g of protein), 50g (raw weight) of lean meat (containing about 9-10g of protein), 300g staple food (about 20g) can meet the protein demand.

For fitness people, this rule also applies, but fitness people need more protein.

Ordinary enthusiasts, depending on the intensity of exercise, the minimum daily requirement is 1.2-1.8g/kg body weight, while bodybuilders need more, so I won’t discuss it here. At this time, if you only consume protein through meat and other foods, it may cause excessive calories or excessive digestion burden, and protein powder supplement is a better choice.

All in all, no matter whether you are exercising or not, as long as you can get enough protein from food every day, you don’t need to supplement protein powder.

So, protein powder is so good, can you drink protein powder without meat every day?

No way. The body’s three major energy-producing nutrients include carbohydrates, fats and proteins. The energy supply ratios of a balanced diet are 55%-65%, 20%-30%, and 10%-15%, which are broken down into their basic components after ingestion. The units-glucose, triglycerides and amino acids are absorbed and utilized by the human body, and can be converted into each other through a series of complex biochemical reactions.

As the main component of the human body, protein is not its main physiological function for energy supply. If protein powder is used as the main source of daily protein intake, it will reduce the intake of fat and carbohydrates, and part of the protein will be broken down for energy and cause loss.

In addition, in addition to protein, there are various other nutrients in food, such as minerals, vitamins, dietary fiber, etc. These protein powders do not have them, and protein powders are liquid foods, and the feeling of fullness is very weak, and they cannot replace a regular meal.

Part3 Summary and rumors

The following are rumors about protein powder, here is a summary:

Rumor 1: Protein powder is easier to grow muscles, and drinking protein powder will make it particularly large.

The growth of muscle is related to the total amount of protein intake. When the total amount reaches the standard, it has little to do with the form of intake; and the growth of muscle is also related to the level of androgen secretion in the body, sleep, etc., and individual differences are also obvious. Women secrete less androgen, which is also a very important reason why women have difficulty in gaining muscle.

Rumor 2: Fitness must drink protein powder to gain muscle.

As before, if the daily diet can ensure adequate protein intake, there is no need to supplement protein powder.

Rumor 3: The muscles that you get from drinking protein powder are different from those you get from eating meat.

Any protein in the body will first be broken down into amino acids and then recombined to provide raw materials for muscle synthesis. There is no difference.

Rumor 4: After you stop drinking protein powder, your muscles will atrophy.

The main cause of muscle atrophy is lack of exercise or insufficient long-term protein intake; if you rely on protein powder, you need to increase your food intake after stopping drinking, but it is inevitable that carbohydrate and fat intake will also increase.

Rumor 5: You can’t drink protein powder on non-training days.

If the total amount does not exceed the standard, reduce the intake of protein from other foods. Drinking protein powder is not harmful; protein powder is not only suitable for fitness people, such as various reasons that lead to insufficient or insatiable daily protein intake People in need can supplement their daily needs with protein powder, such as vegetarians and patients after major surgery.

Rumor 6: Drinking protein powder will cause kidney failure.

First of all, talking about toxicity without a dose is a hooliganism. Secondly, the saying that high protein damages the kidney comes from patients with renal insufficiency. Doctors will advise patients with kidney disease to limit protein intake to prevent the disease from getting worse. Over time, the saying that high protein damages the kidney has spread.

In fact, in healthy people, there is a lot of experimental evidence that a relatively high-protein diet is good for kidney function. However, there are very few studies on the relationship between protein intake and renal function with athletes as experimental subjects.

Studying the influence of 2.8g/kg body weight protein intake per day on the kidney function of bodybuilders, the results found no effect.

(source:internet, reference only)

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