If you are focusing on strength and muscle building, you may want to include a high quality protein supplement to assist your hard work.
How Is A Protein Supplement Used?
The general rule of thumb is to take one gram per pound. You should do some experimentation to find what how your body reacts. You may need to adjust that number.
Athletes in training should consume about 25 grams of protein a day, while bodybuilders will consume closer to 150 grams. These higher doses of protein should be spread out throughout the day. An easy way to get those kinds of protein numbers is to use whey protein shakes three to five times a day. These shakes can easily supplement a weightlifter’s diet. However, while the shakes replace a meal, be sure to eat at least one well-balanced meal of carbohydrates, meat and vegetables.
What is Whey and Soy Protein?
Whey protein is the purest form of protein and will help you build mass. Because whey protein comes from cow’s milk, it is not a good choice for those with milk allergies or who are lactose intolerant.
Whey protein normally comes in three forms: concentrate, isolate and hydrolysate. The protein availability in whey protein concentrate is more diverse and lower than that of whey protein isolate. The whey protein concentrate levels are higher in levels of lactose, but lower levels of cholesterol. In whey protein isolate, the lactose has been removed. Hydrolysates are, in part, broken down making absorption easier, but this form is more expensive than concentrate or isolate.
Soy protein comes in concentrate form and in isolate form. All forms of soy protein are lactose free.
Whey protein has long been chosen for serious muscle building because of the excellent supply of branched amino acids. Branched amino acids are taken directly into the muscle and used during periods of exercise and resistance training. Leucine is a branch amino acid that is 50% higher in whey protein than soy protein and plays a significant role in starting protein production. On the flip side, soy protein has higher amounts of arginine, which, similar to leucine, plays a role in protein production and in glutamine, which supports the immune system.
What Are The Differences With Soy or Whey Protein?
Both soy and whey protein powders can provide high quality protein even with differing amino acid functions.
With proper use, whey protein will undoubtedly support muscle building and more recent reports show soy protein may as well.
Soy protein does not have the anti catabolic or muscle building abilities that whey and red meat do, but soy does provide actual benefits to a bodybuilder. 10-30 grams a day of high quality soy protein isolate is recommended for most people.
Are There Health Concerns With Soy Protein?
With soy being a newer protein source, some concerns are that it may produce unwanted results of decreases in testosterone and increases in estrogen in men. There are reports of long-term effect concerns on the health of both men and women with increasing or decreasing risk of hormone related cancers and soy’s relationship to other health concerns. One study, however, supported muscle building results from soy protein with no negative effect on testosterone or estrogen levels in men.
So, in shopping for a whey or soy protein to supplement your bodybuilding, figure your own needs. You can always combine soy and whey to get the best of both worlds.
