Most people correctly associate protein intake with muscle mass. In truth, protein is necessary for all your body’s physiological functions, like making hormones and supporting components of your immune system.
In this quick article, we want to try and help you understand some of the fundamentals as to why protein is important for health and longevity as well as building muscle and supporting recovery.
How our body uses protein
When we consume food sources of protein like meat, fish, dairy, beans, and nuts we break them down into amino acids. We know (because we always bang on about it) that amino acids are the building blocks of muscle.
You may have heard of a process called protein synthesis or muscle protein synthesis (MPS). Protein synthesis is the process of building new proteins and happens in all organs. Muscle protein synthesis refers specifically to building new muscle proteins.
If we think of a muscle as a wall and each brick is an amino acid, muscle protein synthesis is the addition of new bricks to the wall. At this point it’s probably worth noting that the two key drivers of MPS are:
- Resistance training
- Protein consumption
Loss of muscle mass
With this information in mind, what if we now told you that loss of muscle mass (sarcopenia) is the primary age-related cause of frailty which is associated with a greater risk of premature death and reduced quality of life!?
This may sound a little morbid, but it’s an interesting fact. It’s made even more interesting by noting that if we look at large population studies we tend to see people consuming less protein as they age. This is often due to false or misinformation, sloppy habits or mechanical issues like problems with chewing or digestion.
You may also remember in the article we sent you about how much protein you should be consuming that physiologically, protein requirements actually increase as we get older – So you can see there is a pretty important disconnect here.
By focusing our attention on two very simple habits (resistance training & protein with every meal) we go a long way to bulletproofing ourselves against the above issues.
This is just one of the reasons why what we eat must reflect what we are demanding from our body physically and the stage of the journey we are at.
So how much protein do I need to eat again!?
This is just one of the reasons why what we eat must reflect what we are demanding from our body physically and the stage of the journey we are at.
So how much protein do I need to eat again!? As we age, our protein requirement actually goes up! Consuming around 1.5-2g / kg of BW per day is considered to be a good range to strive for to aid recovery, protect and support the development of lean muscle mass.
To get this into a figure per meal it would look like 0.4g – 0.6g / kg BW per meal.
To start with, use the hand portion system and include two palm-size portions with main meals and snacks. You won’t go far wrong with this 😉
