Emerging Health Benefits of Whey Protein

[Venom]

This is a very good review here, http://www.jacn.org/cgi/content/full/26/6/713S

Take home message: drink Whey when you train, drink Whey when your sick. It will make you healthy, happy, and huge lol. /forum/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

[amino]

Hey Venom,
Too weird, I was just thinking about asking you to provide some sources behind some of what you have been posting lately about just bathing your muscles all day in quick absorbing protein such as Branch Chained Amino Acids, Essential Amino Acids, & Whey. Then I log in and you had just posted this! Probably about the time that I was thinking about it.

Only the abstract of this article is free so that is all that I read. But I find your description easy to believe. When I cut for the 1st time last year, I started drinking Whey about 4 if not 8 times a day; with most meals and anytime I was hungry in-between meals. I could not believe that I was dropping down to 7% body fat and still ADDING muscle (albeit slowly, still not loosing muscle though). I had always been told that it was impossible to do both at the same time.

Now a friend of mine is always harping about how unnatural whey is. Saying it is just a cheap bi-product. And that he doesn’t trust the industry. Funny, because “Little Miss Muffet” did come to my mind when he said that. And now your article sites the nursery rhyme as well. Love or hate cottage cheese, us bodybuilders practically live on the stuff, don’t we?

I know that some articles on abc state that protein should be taken with an energy source so that the protein is not used as energy. But provided that we are already getting enough energy in our other meals, is recent research suggesting that there is nothing but muscle growth potential for stocking up on quickly absorbed protein both with and in-between meals?

Please point us to some free articles if you know of any.

And for the rest of yall, just don’t let any spiders scare you out of drinking whey. I see that it works wonders. I just want know HOW it works.

[Venom]

This article discusses the importance of an additional energy source combined w/ proteins, http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/proteinanalysis7.php

My advise is that if you don't have a whole meal w/ your protein then have some fish oil pills. Fish oil is quite anti-catabolic, and will provide some additional energy. So its a good, low calorie combo.

Your results are inspiring! Great job. I'll post an article on whey and satiety probably next week.

There also is evidence that in the elderly, carbohydrates actually decrease the anabolic response of protein. So it may be particularly beneficial to that sect of population to just have some eaas, and perhaps fish oil between meals. See, http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/leucine2.php the anabolic resistance article. If this is of interest to you, write prez. He is doing his thesis on sarcopenia and naturally knows a ton about the subject.

[amino]

Thanks Venom. That made for some in-depth reading. I also took a look at this layman’s article:
http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/leucine6.php

I think it did a better job of wrapping it all up for my mental image. So If I have it correct…

- Leucine & Insulin both have anabolic properties. But since they are independent of one another, then a synergistic affect can be taken advantage of when the body is exposed each at the same time.

- To induce insulin release, you need to eat carbohydrates, (complex in your meals & simple in a Post-Workout shake). But since carbohydrates (and hence insulin) fade after a while, the anti-catabolic affect of Essential Fats can be beneficial with your in-between meal protein (leucine) shake.

Now I have the knowledge to put the discipline in p[lace with. That’s 90% of the battle.

Excuse me, I’m gonna go grow now.

[Venom]

Glad to see you are so interested in research and getting huge!!

- Leucine is actually a secretagogue of insulin; particularly when combined w/ carbs. Leucine increases protein synthesis through insulin dependent and independent mechanisms.

- You can actually induce insulin with amino acids, particularly leucine and hydrosylated proteins - and by quite a lot. Again, particularly when stacked w/ carbs. That is a good point on insulin fading over time and the need to add another anti-catabolic agent such as fish oil to a meal.

[amino]

Is the process of inducing insulin release with amino acids a separate mechanism than how glucose induces insulin response?

Take the case of diabetics. Is it possible that amino acids could still induce insulin release? Or is it the same mechanism? Or is diabetes more a case of not being able to produce the insulin?

Kind of a side thread, but I am interested in the answer. I’ve often wondered if the PWO Shake is a smart thing to recommend to Diabetics.

[Venom]

Type I diabetics is what you are referring to - this is the inability / decreased ability to produce insulin due to beta cell damage.

Type II diabetes involves insulin resistance; aka starvation in the myst of plenty. You have plenty of nutrients and insulin, but your cells just can't absorp them.

The thread I posted diabetes said that based on the research, diabetics do not have to go on no sugar diets and that there is no efficacy to it. I am not saying a diabetic should do the same thing we do, though. Obviously there diet would have to be closely monitored.

Both glucose and protein work through the same mechanism to my knowledge: they produce ATP, which closes potassium channels and opens calcium channels, which stimulates translocation of insulin into circulation.

But there is a lot of evidence that protein is excellent for chronic regulation of blood glucose. For some reason the diabetic association was totally luke warm on recommending higher protein diets, but the evidence is clear. Jake in his leucine article on body comp discusses research from my lab showing this.