drtbear1967
Musclechemistry Board Certified Member
Previous work has shown that taking some extra protein before sleep might increases muscle mass gains.
.
Our new study suggests that you probably want a relative large dose before going to bed for stimulating muscle protein synthesis (MPS, the process that drives muscle growth) during the night.
.
We have previously shown that the ingestion of 40 g casein protein stimulates overnight MPS (1). In the present study, 30 g casein was not enough to stimulate overnight MPS. Even when extra leucine was added to the casein, it wasn’t enough.
.
This was a bit surprising, since ~20 g protein during the day optimizes MPS. So why didn’t observe an effect of 30 g protein prior to sleep? We think this is because the overnight period is much longer than the average period between meals during the day. 20 g protein may be enough to maximize MPS until your next meal (about 4 h later). But it seems you need at least 40 g protein to stimulate MPS over a ~7.5 h night.
.
Practical takeaway:
You need a relatively large amount of pre-sleep protein (40 g or more) if you want to optimize overnight muscle protein synthesis.
.
Want to know more about pre-sleep protein to support muscle growth overnight? Check out my open-access review on pre-sleep protein (4).
______________
.
Study:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28536184
.
🗂Other references:
1) Protein ingestion before sleep improves postexercise overnight recovery. - PubMed - NCBI
2) Ingested protein dose response of muscle and albumin protein synthesis after resistance exercise in young men. - PubMed - NCBI
3) Myofibrillar muscle protein synthesis rates subsequent to a meal in response to increasing doses of whey protein at rest and after resistance exerc... - PubMed - NCBI
4) Pre-Sleep Protein Ingestion to Improve the Skeletal Muscle Adaptive Response to Exercise Training. - PubMed - NCBI
.
Our new study suggests that you probably want a relative large dose before going to bed for stimulating muscle protein synthesis (MPS, the process that drives muscle growth) during the night..
We have previously shown that the ingestion of 40 g casein protein stimulates overnight MPS (1). In the present study, 30 g casein was not enough to stimulate overnight MPS. Even when extra leucine was added to the casein, it wasn’t enough..
This was a bit surprising, since ~20 g protein during the day optimizes MPS. So why didn’t observe an effect of 30 g protein prior to sleep? We think this is because the overnight period is much longer than the average period between meals during the day. 20 g protein may be enough to maximize MPS until your next meal (about 4 h later). But it seems you need at least 40 g protein to stimulate MPS over a ~7.5 h night..
Practical takeaway:You need a relatively large amount of pre-sleep protein (40 g or more) if you want to optimize overnight muscle protein synthesis.
.
Want to know more about pre-sleep protein to support muscle growth overnight? Check out my open-access review on pre-sleep protein (4).______________
.
Study:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28536184
.
🗂Other references:
1) Protein ingestion before sleep improves postexercise overnight recovery. - PubMed - NCBI
2) Ingested protein dose response of muscle and albumin protein synthesis after resistance exercise in young men. - PubMed - NCBI
3) Myofibrillar muscle protein synthesis rates subsequent to a meal in response to increasing doses of whey protein at rest and after resistance exerc... - PubMed - NCBI
4) Pre-Sleep Protein Ingestion to Improve the Skeletal Muscle Adaptive Response to Exercise Training. - PubMed - NCBI
