Bulletin #7 – Protein: Superfood for Bodybuilders Part I

Proteins are found in all cells and tis-sues and are required for the structure andfunction of every part of the body. Andof special interest to bodybuilders,muscles are made of protein.Proteins are chain-like molecules, andthe links of protein chains are called aminoacids. About 20 different amino acidsoccur in human proteins.  Twelve of thesecan be made within the body.  The othereight are called “essential amino acids”because they cannot be made by thebody; therefore, it is essential that they beobtained from the diet. The proteins youeat as food are not directly incorporatedinto your body tissues.  Instead, the pro-tein chains are digested to yield short frag-ments (peptides) and individual aminoacids which are absorbed into the blood-stream.  

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The individual amino acids thenserve as building blocks your body usesto build its own proteins.  If any one ofthe amino acids is deficient, your bodycan’t make new protein molecules.  Theyall have to be there at the same time.Protein is required in the diet to main-tain tissues and organs and to supplybuilding blocks for growth.  Proteins fromanimal sources such as meat, eggs, andmilk, are called “complete” proteins be-cause they supply all the essential aminoacids.  Animal proteins provide a balanceof amino acids similar to that of humantissues.

Plant proteins have a profile ofamino acids different from human pro-teins. For this reason animal proteins areconsidered to be higher quality proteinfoods.  Most vegetable proteins are defi-cient in one or more of the essential aminoacids and are therefore called “incomplete”proteins.  However, if vegetable proteinsare combined properly, the balance ofamino acids in the combination can ap-proach the amino acid profile found inanimal proteins.While animal proteins are gener-ally high quality protein foods, aproblem arises in that many ofthem also contain a lot of fat.You must be selective whenusing animal proteins toavoid the fat that comesalong with them.  Goodlean protein sources in-clude skinless turkey breast,skinless chicken breast, fish, andegg whites.  Occasional red meat is fine,as long as you consume the leanest cuts.Always trim all visible fat.There has been a lot of debate aboutthe protein requirements of athletes.  His-torically, nutritionists assert that athletesdo not require any more protein than sed-entary people.  Athletes, however, believethey need more.  There is some reasonbehind both points of view.  

On one hand,it is well known that weight lifting causesdamage to muscle tissue (1).  So it makessense that someone who lifts weightswould have to eat more protein than asedentary person because his body has torepair that damage.  Furthermore, if youwant to increase the amount of musclemass on your body, it seems obvious thatyou would have to eat some extra proteinto support this growth.  On the otherhand, nutritionists point out that this in-crease need for protein is offset by in-creased efficiency of protein utilization inthe trained athlete (1).  If your body uti-lizes its protein food more efficiently, thenit may not need any extra after all.  Fur-thermore, eating excess protein does notin itself make you more muscular.  If itdid, we would just eat more protein foodand get more muscular.  Unfortunitely, it’snot that easy.The National Research Council setsthe recommended daily allowance (RDA)for protein intake at 0.8 grams protein perkg body weight per day (g/kg/day).  Thisworks out to be 0.36 grams per poundbody weight each day (g/pound/day),which is 56 grams per day for a typicalmale and about 72 grams per day for a200 pound bodybuilder.  This value forthe RDA was determined to be the amountrequired by most of the average popula-tion—not for athletes or other very activepeople.  Recently, a new way of measur-ing the protein status of the body has beendeveloped—the metabolic tracer tech-nique.  

Using this method, protein require-ments are seen to be 23-178% greater thanestimated by the nitrogen balance tech-nique (2), a conventional method of mea-surement.Much modern research indicates that the protein needs of athletes range from1-2g/kg/day (0.45-0.9g/pound/day)—about twice the RDA (3).  Other studiessuggest that some hard training strengthathletes require in excess of 2g/kg/day (0.9g/pound/day) to maintain nitrogen balance(4) and that as much as 3.5g/kg/day (1.6g/pound/day) may be beneficial in maximiz-ing gains in strength and mass (5).  Ap-parently, the increase in efficiency of pro-tein utilization which has been reported tooccur during adaptation to exercise maynot always be enough to offset the increaseprotein demand.  In other words, the RDAfor protein may not always be enough even if it is utilized with 100% efficiency.  TheRDA protein recommendation may beProtein: Superfood For Bodybuilders, Part Ienough for sedentary people but endur-ance athletes and very muscular athletesneed more.Use Parrillo Performance Hi-ProteinPowder™ for increased protein needs.See bulletin #8 for more on protein.

REFERENCES

1.  Hickson JF and Wolinsky I. Humanprotein intake and metabolism in exerciseand sport.  In: Nutrition in exercise andsport, eds. Hickson JF and Wolinsky I, p.5-36. CRC Press, 1989.

2.  Lemon PWR.  Protein and Amino AcidNeeds of Strength Athlete.  InternationJournal of Sport Nutrition 1: 127-145,1991.

3.  Lemon PWR.  Protein and Exercise:update 1987.  Med Sci Sports Exercise19: S179-A190, 1987.

4.  Celejowa I and energy balance in Pol-ish weight lifters during training camp.Nutr Metab 12: 259-274, 1970.5.  Dragen GI, Vasiliu A, Georgescu E.Effect of increased supply of protein onelite weight lifters.  In: Milk Proteins,eds. Gasesloot TE and Tinbergen BJ, p.99-103.  The Netherlands: Wageningen,1985.

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Parrillo Protein Powder Options

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Hi Protein – Powder Pouches – Vanilla	$45.95
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Hi-Protein – Peach	$39.95
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All-Protein – Milk	$44.95