Cafe Body

As you go about formulating your diet plan, the one thing that you without a doubt must get correct is how much protein you’re taking in each and every day. If there’s one factor that’s going to influence your ability to retain lean muscle mass and perform your best during your workouts on a regular basis, meeting your protein requirements could easily be stated as the answer.

Without adequate protein coming in from your daily diet, the body will quickly start turning to lean muscle tissue as a fuel source in a very low calorie environment, making it vital that you’re not shorting yourself of this essential nutrient.

Now, when it comes to protein though, not all sources are considered the same. There are a variety of different forms of protein that can be eaten and each will have slightly difference impacts on the body.

Recently searchers out of the Center for Translational Research in Aging & Longevity looked at the different metabolic effects that casein versus a soy protein had on subjects to better asses which protein type was ideal.

Let’s take a quick look at how this study went down.

Study Design

To assess the differences in protein types, the researchers measured muscle protein and amino acid kinetics immediately after consuming both a soy based protein as well as a casein based protein as well as four hours after the meal took place.

The Test Results

After the tests were completed the results illustrated that there was a net uptake of glutamine, serine, histidine, as well as lysine across the leg that was greater during those who consumed the casein protein versus those who had eaten the soy protein source.

In addition to this, the overall protein concentration of the leg muscle changed in a significantly different way after the consumption of the two proteins however the total protein synthesis rate in the muscle was unaltered by the two protein sources.

The Message For You

So from this study, it appears that casein does tend to be the superior option in terms of promoting better overall amino acid increases in the muscle tissues, which is essentially what is vital for maintaining that lean muscle mass.

There’s no big harm in including soy protein in the diet as far as muscle mass retention is concerned if that is the protein that you want to take as it was demonstrated that protein synthesis was similar in both states however just keep in mind that casein tends

to be superior.

Reference:

Boirie, Y. et al. (2010). Differential metabolic effects of casein and soy protein meals on skeletal muscle in healthy volunteers. Clinical Nutrition. Aug 2.

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