I am learning more about the digestive process of protein, and how this process is spread across the digestive tract. I am also learning that there is a limit on how much protein can be absorbed/hour.
Is protein coming in liquid form (from meals such as huel) better or worse in terms of absorption?
On one angle it should be absorbed faster because it is liquid but then being liquid gets to be digested faster, hence I assume it does not spend enough time in the digestive system to be assimilated.
Can anyone shed a bit of light on this?
Thank you! 😊
I never really fully understood the science behind it. Mainly because I work in a non biological field.
But at uni I used to spend way too much money on protein thinking it would be good. I was 85kg at the time, 169cm then and still. I was eating around 100 grams of protein. About 60 from whey isolate, and casein.
One of my doctor friend who is a nutritionist told me that my body might not be absorbing all that protein, he was just looking out for me.
To humor it, I experimented with 30 grams of protein supplements and eating my normal calorie range. I was still in the same shape for two months. So he wasn’t all that off. He said it might be more efficient to start with lower doses of protein and gradually increase it.
Later on as I started making money, I stopped supplementing protein and only bought whole food. My body is still the same.
I work in construction, so my work demands me to be quite strong and I like being bulky strong.
99 % of the aminoacids and some small peptides from the protein you eat get absorbed in the small intestin. You have about 7 meters of small intestin to do the work for you. A little part is absorbed later through the colon. Once the food gets out of your stomach and gets into the intestin it’s already in liquid form and then goes through more digestion thanks to enzymes from the pancreas, liver and small intestin. Poop is solid because water is absorbed through the intestins.
If you eat varied and sufficient (I’m talking about foods, not nutrients), there’s no need at all to focus on protein. No need to add foods you wouldn’t normally eat or wouldn’t eat that much, and absolutely no need to take supplements. Also, no need to keep worrying about absorption and that stuff.
Science people already studied that and set a requirement for us. The requirement is 0.83 g of protein for kg of bodyweight. You are probably eating more than that already. If you are pregnant or a child, the requirement is a little higher. Contrary to popular believe, there’s no special requirement for athletes or older people. 0.83 is sufficient and optimal.
I’d actually make sure I’m having enough vegetables, fruit, whole grains, greens, beans, nuts, and such!
Edit: I’m not debating people on facts about protein requirements. 0.83 is sufficient and optimal. EFSA NDA Panel (EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies), 2012. Scientific Opinion on Dietary Reference Values for protein. EFSA Journal 2012;10(2):2557, 66 pp. DOI: 10.2903/j.efsa.2012.2557
It depends. A recent studies suggests that your body can only properly digest around 25-30g per protein per hour. If you drink for example a double protein shake, so around 50g of protein, most of that will go to waste. But if you combine it with slow to digest carbs, your body has more time to absorb the protein and can handle more than those 25g per meal(just assuming you don’t have more than 1 meal per hour).
I personally found Whey protein to be a game changer.
Before that I was consuming a ton of legumes, like soy beans and chickpeas. The absortion rate was very low. I had to process those cooked grains and still I got a ton of fats and carbs that I wasn’t looking for.
I have to admit that Chicken breast might compite against Whey protein, but they require an extra dose of work since you have to cook it.
I am currently having a regular diet, as well design as I can, but always having a couple of Whey shakes to keep a high level of protein and also having something sweet that gets me satisfied and away from junk-food and candy.
I space out my protein throughout the day starting in the morning. Veggies for lunch. Big protein hit at night, like a pork t-bone or a couple cans of wild caught sardines in olive oil. You have windows of time to best absorb the protein. You will not have good absorption if you are snacking during the day and consuming sugar. Focus on the meals. Whey and creatine is ok but you will not preform the same off it.