Does Protein Powder Work? (Spoiler: YES, but there's a catch)

Protein powders (aka protein shakes) are commonly believed to help build muscle. A recent review published in The British Journal of Sports Medicine looked at whether protein supplementation led to improvement in muscle mass and strength. Researchers found that protein supplementation did have a positive effect on strength, muscle size and fat-free mass (aka lean body mass). Improvement in strength was measured using 1-rep max strength. The group that received protein supplementation had an additional benefit of 9% (2.49kg) in their 1 Rep Max when compared to those who didn't consume a protein supplement. Also, the protein group had a 1.4kg gain in fat free mass compared to the control group which had a 1.1kg increase. For professional athletes, every bit of strength counts. This study recommends an upper limit of 2.2g/kg/day of protein intake for serious athletes. But for the rest of us, protein shakes do help a bit, but not as much as getting to the gym and actually doing the work. -- Average protein intake in the general population: Many people in high income countries easily exceed the RDA of protein intake without even trying. In the following study from the US, Figure 1C and Table 1 show that the average American adult is consuming somewhere between 1 to 1.5 grams of protein per kilogram of ideal body weight, with some variation depending on age group and gender: https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article...   -- Timestamps 0:00 Intro 0:34 How our bodies build muscle 0:58 Muscle Hypertrophy 1:57 Protein powder supplementation in addition to diet 3:24 Signficance of protein supplementation -- Full Article from British Journal of Sports Medicine: https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/52/6/376 Other references for this video: https://www.statista.com/statistics/7... https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/h... Guyton and Hall Textbook of Medical Physiology (12ed) #protein #fitness #docunlock Full transcript: https://www.docunlock.org/youtube/doe... -- Video credits: Certain illustrations adapted from https://www.svgrepo.com/ and https://www.freepik.com/ (pikisuperstar / brgfx / iconicbestiary / Freepik) Music: Intro - Motionarray (affiliate link): https://motionarray.com?ref=ankitgupta1 Overjoyed by Lakey Inspired:   / lakeyinspired   So Jazzy by Peyruis   / peyruis   Music promoted by Audio Library    • So Jazzy – Peyruis (No Copyright Music)   -- DocUnlock is a new YouTube channel with one purpose: to help people make better decisions about their own health, and the health of their families. SUBSCRIBE to our channel to stay in the loop! Follow us:   / docunlocked     / docunlocked   Sign up to the DocUnlock Insider mailing list to receive updates direct to your inbox: https://www.docunlock.org/home/#docun... Website: https://www.docunlock.org/ All DocUnlock content is for educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis and treatment. Please read our Disclaimer: https://www.docunlock.org/medical-inf...