How much protein is too much?

[Devildawg]

At what point is protein too much for the body to effectively process? That point at which you get diminishing returns from the amount you are intaking? This is referring to the amount in one sitting?

My breakfast shake has 2 scoops of whey and 8oz of milk and occasionally PB, which adds up to 65 to 75 grams of protein per serving. It seems a little much. I think I could cut the milk or one scoop. I don't think I need that much protein at one time, but was curious what others thought.

[Alan Aragon]

Originally Posted by Devildawg

At what point is protein too much for the body to effectively process? That point at which you get diminishing returns from the amount you are intaking? This is referring to the amount in one sitting?

My breakfast shake has 2 scoops of whey and 8oz of milk and occasionally PB, which adds up to 65 to 75 grams of protein per serving. It seems a little much. I think I could cut the milk or one scoop. I don't think I need that much protein at one time, but was curious what others thought.

Protein recommendations in the literature top out at about 1.8g/kg (about 0.8g/lb). However, working in the field with competitive bodybuilders & other physique athletes who go through periods of cyclical low carb intake, I've observed as much as nearly double that amount to be necessary for LBM preservation during low carb cycles. There indeed are limits to the amount of protein that can be absorbed per unit of time, but this hasn't been measured across a differing range of metabolic states. Furthermore, the methods used to determine such limits have been rather crude & heterogeneous. Up to 8-10g/hr with whey isolate. One could speculate that hydrolysates and free amino acid mixtures would have more rapid absorption than that, but these data don't yet exist in the literature.

There's also evidence in the literature suggesting that women have can maintain nitrogen status on less frequent protein feeding versus frequent "pulse" feeding, whereas men are just the opposite. Obviously, there are limits to those studies, but their results point to the idea that the whole "limit of usable protein per serving amount" is a slippery slope, and blanket assumptions simply cannot be made.

But then the question becomes, what's the practical potential of this info, and how can it be simplified to mean anything at all? I personally wouldn't worry about anything beyond getting my target total protein grams in by the end of the day, dispursed relatively evenly over a minimum of 3 feedings per day. Any thought beyond that is pretty much a waste of energy.

[Devildawg]

Wow, that is a lot of speculative literature support, which you ultimately don't support. Thanks, I guess I sometimes worry too much about diet micromanagement.

[Jimbo]

Originally Posted by Devildawg

Wow, that is a lot of speculative literature support, which you ultimately don't support. Thanks, I guess I sometimes worry too much about diet micromanagement.

It was an interesting question worth asking. Those tubs of protien don't come cheap huh?

[Alan Aragon]

Originally Posted by Devildawg

Wow, that is a lot of speculative literature support, which you ultimately don't support. Thanks, I guess I sometimes worry too much about diet micromanagement.

If not a place to share neurotic microanalysis, what are fitness forums for?