Carb-Protein Intake during Exercise Stimulates Muscle Protein Synthesis
Everyone knows that ingesting carbohydrate and protein together after resistance exercise reduces muscle protein breakdown and stimulates muscle protein synthesis. But what happens when a carbohydrate-protein supplement is consumed during a weightlifting session?
Researchers from Mastricht University, The Netherlands, recently attempted to answer this question in a study. Ten male subjects completed a two-hour resistance workout on two occasions. During one workout they drank a carbohydrate supplement, and during the other they drank a carb-protein supplement. The rates of muscle protein breakdown and synthesis were measured during each workout. The rate of muscle protein breakdown was 8.4 percent lower, on average, in the carb-protein trial, while the rate of protein oxidation was 77 greater and the rate of muscle protein synthesis was 33 percent greater than in the carbohydrate trial. Whole-body net protein balance was -4.4 micromol phe/kg/h in the carbohydrate trial versus 16.3 micromol phe/kg/h in the carb-protein trial.
The authors of the study, which was published in the American Journal of Physiology, Endocrinology and Metabolism, concluded, "[E]ven in a fed state, protein co-ingestion stimulates whole-body and muscle protein synthesis rates during resistance type exercise." |