Spread the protein to synthesize the muscle

By 21. May 2014Blog, Health, Nutrition

How does your daily intake of protein look? Most people’s diet, in the US at least, consists of a small amount for breakfast, a small amount for lunch and a big hit for dinner. But should we be distributing it more evenly over the day? According to a paper published in the Journal of Nutrition, yes.

The researchers recruited 8 healthy male and females for the study. They were given a diet where the protein was evenly distributed (approx. 30g per meal) over the meals for 7 days, then allowed a 30 day “wash out” followed by a 7 day diet were the protein was more skewed, 10g for breakfast, 15g for lunch and 65g for dinner. A metabolic study was carried out on day 1 and 7 of each diet.

And the results? The more even distribution of protein over the day led to a higher muscle protein synthesis than the skewed diet.  Something for us all the consider but all the more so for people trying to build muscle. It maybe that you just need to balance your intake more than increase the amount you consume.

The paper is available from the Journal of Nutrition website.