Just a quick question…
Someone told me the other day that the body can only absorb a limited amount of protein per meal (I can’t remember the numbers…I think between 12-16grams). Is this true?? This doesn’t sound right to me…anyone know?
This is common question but I don’t think there is a definitive answer. Of course, if you eat a ton of food at once, protein or otherwise, your body will likely consider storing some of it as fat.
However, what that number is will depend on various factors. One factor is whether or not your body is “ready” to put the ingested substance to use right away. Another factor will be the rate of digestion and absorption which is influenced by the foods eaten. Yet another factor will be your own body mass, or the amount of tissue that can utilize proteins.
In any case, this issue isn’t something that I ever worry about. It’s really a mantra designed to suggest we don’t need all that much protein… which probably isn’t overly popular on this site.
[quote]Jade1 wrote:
Just a quick question…
Someone told me the other day that the body can only absorb a limited amount of protein per meal (I can’t remember the numbers…I think between 12-16grams). Is this true?? This doesn’t sound right to me…anyone know? [/quote]
What Vroom Vroom said and considering the amounts and also the phrase ‘per meal’ is misleading because some proteins would not be digested for hours like meat and some would be more quick like say whey protein in water.
[quote]Jade1 wrote:
Just a quick question…
Someone told me the other day that the body can only absorb a limited amount of protein per meal (I can’t remember the numbers…I think between 12-16grams). Is this true?? This doesn’t sound right to me…anyone know? [/quote]
no one knows the answer. if they claim to they are lying. there are just too many variables to consider.
the body itself will absorb around 90% of what you eat unless there is something wrong with your GI tract. what the body does with these nutrients is a different question.
what we do know is that genetics, activity levels, nutrient timing, nutrient selection, and supplements greatly influence nutrient partitioning, that is how your body takes up and uses nutrients.
unless you have renal issues or other medical issues that may cause a doctor to tell you not to eat a lot of protein, i would not worry about it, chances are you will want to stop eating before you eat much more protein than your body can handle.
the body can only absorb 42-46 grams of protein at a time. Eat around 20 grams every 2-3 hours and eat a cup of cottage cheese before bed for weight gain
[quote]ubl0 wrote:
Jade1 wrote:
Just a quick question…
Someone told me the other day that the body can only absorb a limited amount of protein per meal (I can’t remember the numbers…I think between 12-16grams). Is this true?? This doesn’t sound right to me…anyone know?
no one knows the answer. if they claim to they are lying. there are just too many variables to consider.
the body itself will absorb around 90% of what you eat unless there is something wrong with your GI tract. what the body does with these nutrients is a different question.
what we do know is that genetics, activity levels, nutrient timing, nutrient selection, and supplements greatly influence nutrient partitioning, that is how your body takes up and uses nutrients.
unless you have renal issues or other medical issues that may cause a doctor to tell you not to eat a lot of protein, i would not worry about it, chances are you will want to stop eating before you eat much more protein than your body can handle.[/quote]
Thats not true, it has been proven and scientifically proven that the body can only digest around 42-46 grams of protein per meal. and it is not that I am lying. I read it from Mens Health and they get their information from the best univerisities and scienctific research studies. and scientists dont lie.
[quote]Marlonrobo wrote:
ubl0 wrote:
Jade1 wrote:
Just a quick question…
Someone told me the other day that the body can only absorb a limited amount of protein per meal (I can’t remember the numbers…I think between 12-16grams). Is this true?? This doesn’t sound right to me…anyone know?
no one knows the answer. if they claim to they are lying. there are just too many variables to consider.
the body itself will absorb around 90% of what you eat unless there is something wrong with your GI tract. what the body does with these nutrients is a different question.
what we do know is that genetics, activity levels, nutrient timing, nutrient selection, and supplements greatly influence nutrient partitioning, that is how your body takes up and uses nutrients.
unless you have renal issues or other medical issues that may cause a doctor to tell you not to eat a lot of protein, i would not worry about it, chances are you will want to stop eating before you eat much more protein than your body can handle.
Thats not true, it has been proven and scientifically proven that the body can only digest around 42-46 grams of protein per meal. and it is not that I am lying. I read it from Mens Health and they get their information from the best univerisities and scienctific research studies. and scientists dont lie.
[/quote]
That is not true, I am a Scientist and I lie all the time.
However Mens Health, 46.878759 grammes, you know your stuff !
LOL @ Men’s Health!
[quote]Dr Stig wrote:
Marlonrobo wrote:
ubl0 wrote:
Jade1 wrote:
Just a quick question…
Someone told me the other day that the body can only absorb a limited amount of protein per meal (I can’t remember the numbers…I think between 12-16grams). Is this true?? This doesn’t sound right to me…anyone know?
no one knows the answer. if they claim to they are lying. there are just too many variables to consider.
the body itself will absorb around 90% of what you eat unless there is something wrong with your GI tract. what the body does with these nutrients is a different question.
what we do know is that genetics, activity levels, nutrient timing, nutrient selection, and supplements greatly influence nutrient partitioning, that is how your body takes up and uses nutrients.
unless you have renal issues or other medical issues that may cause a doctor to tell you not to eat a lot of protein, i would not worry about it, chances are you will want to stop eating before you eat much more protein than your body can handle.
Thats not true, it has been proven and scientifically proven that the body can only digest around 42-46 grams of protein per meal. and it is not that I am lying. I read it from Mens Health and they get their information from the best univerisities and scienctific research studies. and scientists dont lie.
That is not true, I am a Scientist and I lie all the time.
However Mens Health, 46.878759 grammes, you know your stuff ![/quote]
That’s cool as hell dude, what kind of Scientist are you?
by scientists I meant to say Science doesn’t lie
[quote]vroom wrote:
LOL @ Men’s Health![/quote]
Yeah, I agree with you. A lot of stuff is not absolute, but I do find it interesting to read. but nothing Tops T-Nation
A lot of T-Nation writers write for Men’s Health as well…
Anyway, I think a lot of experts agree on 40g/meal.
[quote]HoratioSandoval wrote:
Anyway, I think a lot of experts agree on 40g/meal.[/quote]
Not true.
[quote]CaliforniaLaw wrote:
HoratioSandoval wrote:
Anyway, I think a lot of experts agree on 40g/meal.
Not true.
[/quote]
Very helpful.
We have seen oxidation (burning off/waste) with as little as 6g of amino acids, so the answer to the fundamental question is situational (and of course unknown).
[quote]Marlonrobo wrote:
by scientists I meant to say Science doesn’t lie[/quote]
no one claimed science lies. what was said was that one who claims to know the answer is lying. because they don’t know. they may think they know, but that is different from knowing.
we can start to give rough guesses or general situations, but as soon as we start appying it, it falls down. there are other factors that influence this. not to mention the fact that it may be beneficial to have protein be oxidized.
quite frankly, a better question is:
given my activities, goals, and genetics, what is the optimal amount of protein to eat at each meal if i want to divide it up relatively evenly?
this we can start to get an idea of and apply.
i am a scientist too (biochemist). i graduated from McMaster University in hamilton, ontario. during the time i was there i had friends that worked in the Phillips and Tarnopolsky labs (yes, the low protein guy and the creatine guy, in fact dr. phillips’ wife was my anatomy prof). i am extremely aware of exactly how research is conducted in these fields and the subjects used.
just one question:
were the subjects in the max protein study 100 lbs female athletes, 250 lbs linebackers, or relatively sedantary university/college students?
because this alone will give drastically different results. i’m not even touching how one’s carb tolerance or activity levels will alter this.
absolutes will get one absolutely nowhere.
[quote]ubl0 wrote:
just one question:
were the subjects in the max protein study 100 lbs female athletes, 250 lbs linebackers, or relatively sedantary university/college students?
because this alone will give drastically different results. i’m not even touching how one’s carb tolerance or activity levels will alter this.
absolutes will get one absolutely nowhere.[/quote]
Yes, I actually had a discussion with my friend about that. The population they did the study on. Body types, level of activity and other factors weren’t described. Thats awesome that you are a scientist, much respect.Thanks for that info.
What about the rest of us, who realize those issues but aren’t scientists, are we just chopped liver? 
More seriously, I’d like to see studies that examined the various surrounding conditions a little bit.
Above and beyond the total lean mass of the individuals involved, we’d want to do feedings post workout and during a non-stressed period. The rate of removal of aminos from the bloodstream, for non-oxidative purposes, under various conditions would be nice to know.
It would also be nice to know if the glycogen status of the liver or the glucose status of the blood played much of a role in amino disposition. It would also be nice to know the maximum rate of oxidative removal possible.
Then, after that, perhaps you’d get into a bit of calculus to determine the optimum meal size based on the expected rate of digestion and absorption versus both oxidative and non-oxidative removal and the desired blood levels.
However, even then, perhaps flooding the bloodstream with aminos faster than they can be processed, even though leading to oxidation, may also increase anabolic activity in some type of concentration-response relationship.
Throw all that in your 40g per meal pipe and smoke it. But hey, if all those studies are available, please point us to them, I’m sure there are lots of curious people.
What the hell are you talking about? lol
You sound like a scientician to me.
[quote]vroom wrote:
What about the rest of us, who realize those issues but aren’t scientists, are we just chopped liver?
More seriously, I’d like to see studies that examined the various surrounding conditions a little bit.
Above and beyond the total lean mass of the individuals involved, we’d want to do feedings post workout and during a non-stressed period. The rate of removal of aminos from the bloodstream, for non-oxidative purposes, under various conditions would be nice to know.
It would also be nice to know if the glycogen status of the liver or the glucose status of the blood played much of a role in amino disposition. It would also be nice to know the maximum rate of oxidative removal possible.
Then, after that, perhaps you’d get into a bit of calculus to determine the optimum meal size based on the expected rate of digestion and absorption versus both oxidative and non-oxidative removal and the desired blood levels.
However, even then, perhaps flooding the bloodstream with aminos faster than they can be processed, even though leading to oxidation, may also increase anabolic activity in some type of concentration-response relationship.
Throw all that in your 40g per meal pipe and smoke it. But hey, if all those studies are available, please point us to them, I’m sure there are lots of curious people.[/quote]