WORKEROUTER
Master Don Juan
Is whey REALLY the best thing for you?
Read a portion of the following article, written by Robert Thorburn, and posted as a main article on wannabebig.com. The specific URL of this article is
http://wannabebig.com/article.php?articleid=110
Heres the portion that's probably of most interest to YOU:
"Whey vs. Casein
Now we’re prepared to discuss protein supplements. Whey and casein are the two major proteins in milk. Whey is frequently touted as the highest quality protein available for the bodybuilder or similarly-focused individual. Yet these claims appear to reflect a vast misinterpretation of the available scientific literature on the matter.
Absorption: Faster is Not Better!
When you eat a serving of whey protein, its digestion in your gut results in a very rapid, but short-lived, surge of amino acids into your bloodstream (Boirie et al., 1997). Casein, by comparison, yields a slower, more sustained release of amino acids (Boirie et al., 1997). Importantly, casein’s slower absorption profile seems to better promote a positive protein balance (Boirie et al., 1997) -an essential requirement for building bigger muscles.
Recall from above that one way of estimating your protein balance is by measuring your body’s balance of a particular amino acid, such as leucine. A positive leucine balance indicates a state (i.e., increased availability of leucine inside your muscle cells) that supports protein anabolism. Conversely, a negative leucine balance indicates conditions favoring protein catabolism.
Ironically, whey protein marketers have been known to cite the Boirie study (Boirie et al., 1997) as evidence with which to support whey’s ‘superiority’ as a muscle-building protein. Contrary to what their ads and articles (‘advertorials’) imply, however, Boirie et al. found that casein -not whey- produced the most positive leucine balance when fed to healthy young humans. In fact, whey actually produced a negative leucine balance.
The negative leucine balance associated with eating whey protein resulted from a greater loss of leucine, through its irreversible ‘burning’, or oxidation. Furthermore, when the subjects in the Boirie et al. study ate whey protein, more urea was formed than when they ate casein. Urea is a waste product of amino acid breakdown. Nitrogen from amino acid breakdown is irreversibly transferred to urea. Since urea cannot be reused, it represents a loss of nitrogen.
To sum it up, at least under the conditions of this study, casein demonstrated superior potential for promoting a positive protein balance as compared to whey -not the other way around. But even so, will this difference translate into faster gains in muscle size for you? Maybe. Maybe not. The answer must be determined by long-term, controlled clinical trials."
Read a portion of the following article, written by Robert Thorburn, and posted as a main article on wannabebig.com. The specific URL of this article is
http://wannabebig.com/article.php?articleid=110
Heres the portion that's probably of most interest to YOU:
"Whey vs. Casein
Now we’re prepared to discuss protein supplements. Whey and casein are the two major proteins in milk. Whey is frequently touted as the highest quality protein available for the bodybuilder or similarly-focused individual. Yet these claims appear to reflect a vast misinterpretation of the available scientific literature on the matter.
Absorption: Faster is Not Better!
When you eat a serving of whey protein, its digestion in your gut results in a very rapid, but short-lived, surge of amino acids into your bloodstream (Boirie et al., 1997). Casein, by comparison, yields a slower, more sustained release of amino acids (Boirie et al., 1997). Importantly, casein’s slower absorption profile seems to better promote a positive protein balance (Boirie et al., 1997) -an essential requirement for building bigger muscles.
Recall from above that one way of estimating your protein balance is by measuring your body’s balance of a particular amino acid, such as leucine. A positive leucine balance indicates a state (i.e., increased availability of leucine inside your muscle cells) that supports protein anabolism. Conversely, a negative leucine balance indicates conditions favoring protein catabolism.
Ironically, whey protein marketers have been known to cite the Boirie study (Boirie et al., 1997) as evidence with which to support whey’s ‘superiority’ as a muscle-building protein. Contrary to what their ads and articles (‘advertorials’) imply, however, Boirie et al. found that casein -not whey- produced the most positive leucine balance when fed to healthy young humans. In fact, whey actually produced a negative leucine balance.
The negative leucine balance associated with eating whey protein resulted from a greater loss of leucine, through its irreversible ‘burning’, or oxidation. Furthermore, when the subjects in the Boirie et al. study ate whey protein, more urea was formed than when they ate casein. Urea is a waste product of amino acid breakdown. Nitrogen from amino acid breakdown is irreversibly transferred to urea. Since urea cannot be reused, it represents a loss of nitrogen.
To sum it up, at least under the conditions of this study, casein demonstrated superior potential for promoting a positive protein balance as compared to whey -not the other way around. But even so, will this difference translate into faster gains in muscle size for you? Maybe. Maybe not. The answer must be determined by long-term, controlled clinical trials."