How much protein is used for building muscle?

🥛❌ It is often said that the body can only absorb X amount of protein. This is false!

👍 The capacity to digest and absorb dietary protein far exceeds the capacity of skeletal muscle to utilize the constituent amino acids for the purpose of muscle anabolism. So, yes the body can absorb very large portions of protein, but there is however a maximum that can be used for building muscle (typically 25-30g of high-quality animal-derive protein).

♻️ The proteins you ingest have a long way to travel before entering the muscle. Let have a closer look.

➡️ Ingested proteins are first broken down in single amino acids and peptides in the stomach. Then they are taken-up by the gut, which is a highly metabolically driven organ that uses a large part of amino acids for local energy production and protein synthesis. The remainder (~50%) of amino acids is released into the hepatic portal vein prior to being taken up by the liver. The liver uses these amino acids for synthesis of liver tissue and liver-derived blood proteins.

📉📈 The remaining amino acids are catabolized and serve as substrates for a range of metabolic processes from energy production and urea synthesis and, to a very minor extent, neurotransmitter production.

✅ The few amino acids (ca. 2%) that are left, are synthesized in the muscle into structural muscle proteins to build muscle. 🦾

📖 Obviously, this is an overly simplified overview. Read this paper to have a better understanding about protein kinetics and muscle building. Excellent work from @mackinprof PMID: 29414855

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5852756/

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