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How much protein can the human body absorb in one sitting?

SAD

SAD

TID Board Of Directors
Feb 3, 2011
3,673
2,293
Thanks bro

I wasn't sure if the per kg protein calculations already contained
some sort of factor that compensated for an individual's body fat
by using an average healthy BF%. I've never once been directed
to determine my lean body mass before calculating my daily protein
intake, but now I will.

I did a little more research into the background of Ms. Wetback's
post. You can digest roughly 8-15 g of protein depending on what
article you read and other physical factors. The small amount of
time that is takes for WPC to travel through the small intestine to
the ceacum is the reason that it's fairly accurate to say that 15-25g
is probably what you absorb before dropping the kids off at the pool.
Note that the study that is cited with this is from '68 and used barium
sulfate as the indicator of transit time. The study determined that
transit time is affected primarily by the rate of gastric emptying and the
amount of barium (or in our case WPC) ingested. So basically you can
increase the efficiency of protein absorption by slowing the rate of gastric
emptying (include a reasonable amount of fat with high protein meals) or
avoid taking in a large amount of protein at any one time.

Then again, with digestive enzymes these numbers will probably change,
but only to a certain extent.



You also have to account for the fact that whey protein concentrate is the cheapest whey protein variety and can range in quality from less than 50% protein per gram to ~80% protein per gram. Compare that to whey protein isolate which has a minimum 90% protein per gram, and it's clear why the cheaper proteins out on the market have WPC listed as their first ingredient. With isolate or even better, hydrolyzed whey isolate, the amount of protein digested in the stomach (very little) and small intestine (a lot more) is probably much higher than with WPC, I'd guess maybe like 25-30g based on my own personal experience. Any more than 30-35 grams in one shake and I get "bubble-gut" and protein shits. Just food for thought when examining studies involving protein absorption.
 
MAYO

MAYO

Bad Mother
Sep 27, 2010
2,159
675
Huntlo... Yes, I spread my fats out in a certain manner. I do about 25% of my daily fat with each of 3 meals during the day. My pre workout meal has no fat and my post workout meal has no fat and then my bedtime meal has about 25% of my daily fat. I want a clean stomach when I train b/c I puke if I have a heavy belly. And I want a clean PWO meal for quick absorption.
 
PillarofBalance

PillarofBalance

Strength Pimp
Feb 27, 2011
17,066
4,640
Just another opinion on this age old question:

How much protein can your body absorb at once? Not much, claimed a friend of mine during a casual conversation we were having. A third friend had just came back from the gym and he was rather new to the whole thing, so the two of them got to talking as I laid down to watch a movie. Considering they were in the room at the time I could not help but overhear the conversation. He had asked him if he should drink his entire shake (which was composed of a scoop of protein – 24g) in one sitting or rather take his time and drink it over the next few hours since he had heard that it would go to waste if he chugged it all at once. The other told him that it’d be fine to have it in its entirety since it was post-workout and his body needed it but that it wouldn’t hurt to be safe and drink it slowly. I then watched him literally sipping on the shake for the next 3 hours…
Yes, I did not make that up. Although to some it may seem ridiculous, for those who are unaware of the validity of this entire “absorption theory” it may not seem so. So how much can protein can your body really absorb at once? Certainly more than you might believe!
The whole basis of the claim that your body has a limit on how much protein it can absorb at once is…well, unfounded. It really has no valid origin that it has been derived from, and I don’t really understand how it has become such a popular myth. Well, then again I could certainly see how the supplement market would benefit from such claims. However, its origins are far from important. What we want to focus on is dismantling this myth with some common sense explanations.
The body is a wonderful thing, and its adaptive abilities have allowed us to become the efficient species we are today. Imagine the time before agriculture, when we still had to hunt for food and would go long periods of time in between our hunts. Would all that meat we’d devour in one sitting get tossed out by our bodies because we had too much protein at once? Would the body go: “oh look, that’s about 80 grams right there….25 will do, the rest is out!”? No, it would adapt the large feed to its needs and provide energy for a long enough period to allow for another hunt.


Putting the historical factor aside, think about how our bodies function on an every day level. You have to consider in the average digestion rate when looking at the whole question of how much protein your body can absorb at once. If you have a regular sized meal, it takes roughly 3 hours to digest (let’s assume it is regular in its proportions of protein/carbs/fats also). This means that the amount of protein you’ve given your body is going to be digested over the course of those 3 hours. That digestion rate, in and of itself, defeats the entire purpose of the absorption theory myth. You will never be digesting anything “at once” unless you drink down excessive amounts of whey protein.
If we look at a popular diet known as intermittent fasting (IT), where individuals eat all of their calories in a 4 hour window of time each day, it further illustrates how adaptive the body is and how digestion rates play a major factor. Imagine eating 3 thousand calories in a short time span, and fasting for the remainder of the day. Do you think your body will reject the food not knowing when you will eat again? No, it will adapt. Furthermore, the time it takes to digest all that food is going to multiply.
How much protein your body can absorb at once is a question that really shouldn’t even be asked. Just know it’s nowhere close to the ridiculous limits claimed by those who cling to this common misconception. For an individual who trains hard and stresses the body enough for it to need to recover several times a week, it is imperative to feed the body what it needs to recover well. The last thing on its mind will be sorting out whether you gave it 25g of protein or a supposedly “unnecessary” 40g. Worry instead about figuring out your Maintenance Calories and working off of that number to achieve your goals of putting on mass or losing fat.
As an ending note, the only real time I can see the body really wasting protein intake would be when the individual doesn’t even train. At which point, what’s the difference? Unless you’ve just had a very satisfying meal and you decide to chug 6 scoops of whey for fun (as you can see, I’m trying to go as far off the wall as I can while still remaining realistic), how much protein your body can absorb at once is not something you should sit and contemplate about. Feed your body well, train hard and smart (Mind-Muscle!), and the results will come. Good luck!
 
MAYO

MAYO

Bad Mother
Sep 27, 2010
2,159
675
Doesnt it depend on your size?
Good thought, but age is actually a more influential factor than size. Enzyme levels and protein digesion change as we age...For example...A senior citizen, like admin, would digest whey isolate at the same rate as casein.
 
SAD

SAD

TID Board Of Directors
Feb 3, 2011
3,673
2,293
Just another opinion on this age old question:

How much protein can your body absorb at once? Not much, claimed a friend of mine during a casual conversation we were having. A third friend had just came back from the gym and he was rather new to the whole thing, so the two of them got to talking as I laid down to watch a movie. Considering they were in the room at the time I could not help but overhear the conversation. He had asked him if he should drink his entire shake (which was composed of a scoop of protein – 24g) in one sitting or rather take his time and drink it over the next few hours since he had heard that it would go to waste if he chugged it all at once. The other told him that it’d be fine to have it in its entirety since it was post-workout and his body needed it but that it wouldn’t hurt to be safe and drink it slowly. I then watched him literally sipping on the shake for the next 3 hours…
Yes, I did not make that up. Although to some it may seem ridiculous, for those who are unaware of the validity of this entire “absorption theory” it may not seem so. So how much can protein can your body really absorb at once? Certainly more than you might believe!
The whole basis of the claim that your body has a limit on how much protein it can absorb at once is…well, unfounded. It really has no valid origin that it has been derived from, and I don’t really understand how it has become such a popular myth. Well, then again I could certainly see how the supplement market would benefit from such claims. However, its origins are far from important. What we want to focus on is dismantling this myth with some common sense explanations.
The body is a wonderful thing, and its adaptive abilities have allowed us to become the efficient species we are today. Imagine the time before agriculture, when we still had to hunt for food and would go long periods of time in between our hunts. Would all that meat we’d devour in one sitting get tossed out by our bodies because we had too much protein at once? Would the body go: “oh look, that’s about 80 grams right there….25 will do, the rest is out!”? No, it would adapt the large feed to its needs and provide energy for a long enough period to allow for another hunt.


Putting the historical factor aside, think about how our bodies function on an every day level. You have to consider in the average digestion rate when looking at the whole question of how much protein your body can absorb at once. If you have a regular sized meal, it takes roughly 3 hours to digest (let’s assume it is regular in its proportions of protein/carbs/fats also). This means that the amount of protein you’ve given your body is going to be digested over the course of those 3 hours. That digestion rate, in and of itself, defeats the entire purpose of the absorption theory myth. You will never be digesting anything “at once” unless you drink down excessive amounts of whey protein.
If we look at a popular diet known as intermittent fasting (IT), where individuals eat all of their calories in a 4 hour window of time each day, it further illustrates how adaptive the body is and how digestion rates play a major factor. Imagine eating 3 thousand calories in a short time span, and fasting for the remainder of the day. Do you think your body will reject the food not knowing when you will eat again? No, it will adapt. Furthermore, the time it takes to digest all that food is going to multiply.
How much protein your body can absorb at once is a question that really shouldn’t even be asked. Just know it’s nowhere close to the ridiculous limits claimed by those who cling to this common misconception. For an individual who trains hard and stresses the body enough for it to need to recover several times a week, it is imperative to feed the body what it needs to recover well. The last thing on its mind will be sorting out whether you gave it 25g of protein or a supposedly “unnecessary” 40g. Worry instead about figuring out your Maintenance Calories and working off of that number to achieve your goals of putting on mass or losing fat.
As an ending note, the only real time I can see the body really wasting protein intake would be when the individual doesn’t even train. At which point, what’s the difference? Unless you’ve just had a very satisfying meal and you decide to chug 6 scoops of whey for fun (as you can see, I’m trying to go as far off the wall as I can while still remaining realistic), how much protein your body can absorb at once is not something you should sit and contemplate about. Feed your body well, train hard and smart (Mind-Muscle!), and the results will come. Good luck!



Wow, where do I start? Let's start with how you lump meals and shakes into the same category. They are two entirely different questions and two entirely different answers. You can use quite a bit more protein from whole foods than you can from a whey shake, simply due to slower digestion. The theory is far from unfounded, as there have been many studies done on absorption times and at what point the liver begins to convert the extra protein into glucose, known as gluconeogenesis. The figure of 25-30g is regarding whey protein, not whole foods. When you bring up the point about our paleolithic ancestors and their eating habits, that is an entirely different conversation (one I would love to address in a different thread, because I think we could all benefit from eating more paleo-style). We are far less efficient now than we were pre-agricultural revolution.

And Mayo has touched on the whole subject of digestion vs. utilization. Your body will digest pretty much everything you eat or drink, but what it utilizes that digested food/shake for will depend on the make-up of the food/shake and the amount of the food/shake. Ajdos once said that he would like to see all of us talk MORE about our diets and regular supplement intake and less about our super-supplement intake. It was directed at me, during one of my threads in which I over-analyze the shit out of AAS usage, and now I completely understand his point. These are the things we should absolutely "sit and contemplate about". I've noticed much better gains, recovery, and appetite, and less indigestion and loss of appetite since I started drinking only 28g of protein before my workout and 28g after (my PWO shake has significantly more protein because I am utilizing slin, which allows my body to use more protein for it's intended purpose, but when not on slin, it's only 28g). On non-workout days, I may or may not have only one small shake in the morning, otherwise, it's whole foods. Back in the day, I would spend ridiculous amounts of money on protein because I was overusing it, and it would upset my stomach and kill my appetite.

Everybody is different, but there are some fundamental guidelines to follow when you are determining your own limits.
 
goldy

goldy

Chutzpah VIP
Jan 17, 2011
1,263
153
Bumping this old thread back up as i have seen some discussion on this topic lately here.
 
RageBlanket

RageBlanket

Senior Member
Feb 13, 2013
166
30
Layne Norton addressed this a few months back, I'll try to find the study.

If I recall, the minimum amount to stimulate MPS was VERY minimal, and I think the upper limit was ~60 to 70g. The context was addressing IF in general, and specifically "making up" for missed meals in terms of protein consumption.

I'll do some digging so I can back this up.
 
burkdog24

burkdog24

Member
Apr 10, 2013
16
0
According to Layne Norton, who has a Phd in Nutrional Sciences, says that your body will absorb all the protein you put into it but only use 40-60grams of that protein. You can find his video on YouTube. It's called Myths about Protein. I would post the link but I'm not allowed yet. Its a great video.
 
Vikingquest

Vikingquest

Senior Member
Dec 30, 2013
156
28
I wouldn't worry so much about how much you can absorb and use. I would worry about how much is too much for your kidneys. Something to pay attention to especially when running gear.
 
Diesel0022

Diesel0022

MuscleHead
Oct 1, 2013
267
73
I wouldn't worry so much about how much you can absorb and use. I would worry about how much is too much for your kidneys. Something to pay attention to especially when running gear.

Can you show me a credited en vivo study that shows protein has any adverse effects on the kidneys
 
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