False for most people. The vast majority of people in the United States already get enough protein from the foods they eat and don’t need a supplement. And excess protein in your diet just gets turned to fat, not muscle. Building muscle requires serious exercise.
Protein and Muscle Growth
Many people take protein supplements in hopes of building extra muscle. And why not? More muscle means you will be stronger and perhaps be happier about the way you look. Protein is essential for a myriad of body functions including muscle maintenance and growth. But for muscle growth, extra protein by itself is not enough. Muscle growth occurs when resistance exercise such as weight training causes micro‑damage and mechanical tension in muscle fibers, which then adapt by adding new contractile proteins during recovery. Without that stimulus of micro-damage, the body will not invest extra amino acids into building more muscle, so adequate protein intake mainly supports maintenance rather than expansion of muscle mass. Extra protein that you may be eating does not translate into new muscle mass.
What Happens to Excess Protein?
Humans do not have a way to store excess protein or amino acids (the building blocks of protein). When protein intake exceeds immediate needs for protein synthesis and repair, the body metabolizes the surplus protein, breaking it down into its components. The nitrogen from the excess protein is eventually converted to urea, which is excreted by the kidneys in urine. The remainder is either used for immediate energy needs or it is converted to glucose via gluconeogenesis. Yes, this is the exact same glucose as you get from eating carbohydrates. And what protein the body does not immediately need is converted into fat—just like excess carbs.
Yes that’s right, consuming more protein than your body needs does not result in faster or more building of muscle. What it often leads to is building of fat!
Who Benefits From Extra Protein?
Some people can benefit from increased protein in their diet:
- Those engaged in serious exercise programs including resistance training and endurance sports.
- Older folks: Aging blunts the muscle‑building response to a given protein dose, and many older adults under‑eat protein.
- Weight loss: Higher‑protein, calorie‑restricted diets help maintain lean mass and increase satiety compared with lower‑protein diets at the same calories. But simply adding protein without reducing other calories will not work.
Adding extra protein to your diet can be beneficial in some circumstances but it is not a magical gateway to a trim waist and bulging muscles.
Some Other Nutrition-Related Myths for You!
Think raw milk has nutrition advantages? Think again. It is, however, dangerous.
The paleo diet? It is based on false information and bad logic.
