Hey, this is Sean Nalewanyj, of EliteImpactLabs.com.
And today, I want to dissect a very common bodybuilding myth that is centered around
the idea of a maximum protein absorption limit per meal.
Now, the people who promote this guideline will say that the body can only absorb a set
amount of protein in a single sitting, usually in the range of about 30grams to 50grams,
and then, anymore will simply go to waste.
In order to see why this is ultimately misguided, we just have to look at a few different factors,
okay?
The first is that the process of protein digestion is far more complex than most people could
imagine.
You know, we're not talking about a simple matter of chewing up some food, having it
travel to the stomach, be mixed with some other substances, and then absorbed in the
small intestine.
The actual process involves a long list of individual enzymes such as protease, (peptidase)
and trypsin.
And other substances like HCL, bile, gastrin and CCK that are also accretive from the mouth,
the stomach and the small intestine.
In addition, there are numerous sites along the digestive tract where protein digestion
takes place.
And it's far more than a simple black-and-white issue.
Because of the incredible complexity of the digestion process, it would be very difficult
to determine a maximum protein limit per meal that can be fully assimilated versus what
is wasted.
Number two is that protein digestion is a very slow process.
Despite the fact that the most bodybuilders will tell you that you need to consume a serving
of protein every three hours throughout the day, protein digestion and absorption happens
much more gradually than that.
It ranges from the so called, "Slow digesting proteins" such as egg, which is somewhere
in the range of about 3grams per hour up to "Fast digesting proteins" such as whey, which
is somewhere in the range of about 8grams to 10grams per hour.
So, given these digestion rates, having a set maximum protein limit per meal really
makes no sense.
For example, if you consume just 30grams of egg protein in one meal, it might take a full
10 hours before that protein was fully absorbed by your body.
So, does that mean if you ate 30grams of egg protein in one sitting, that you wouldn't
be able to eat anymore protein for another 10 hours or that if you ate 50grams of whey,
you'd have to wait five to six hours before you can eat again?
I mean, you can see how this really doesn't make any sense.
And thirdly, what about guys who have a daily protein intake of say, 250grams?
Even seven full meals at 30grams of protein each would only equate to 210grams at the
end of the day.
So using the 30grams of protein per meal guideline, those with higher protein intakes wouldn't
be able to reach their daily amounts without eating eight meals, nine meals or more.
So, what's the bottom line here?
You know, I simply recommend ignoring these maximum protein limit guidelines all together.
They're not based on anything, but round speculation, and there's currently no concrete evidence
that suggests that the body waste's protein beyond a certain amount per sitting.
You know, if you really think about it from an evolutionary perspective, this wouldn't
make sense anyway.
You know, our hunter-gatherer ancestors rarely had a readily available source of food, and
long periods of starvation followed by a very short periods of gorging would have been very
common.
And I think it's a pretty reasonable conclusion that if their bodies were only capable of
absorbing 30grams or 50grams of protein in a single sitting, and then they just simply
tossed out the rest, we probably wouldn't have even survive as a species.
So, if one of your daily meals adds up to 70grams of protein, don't worry about it.
If it adds up to 100 or more, don't worry about it.
Larger meals will simply take a longer period of time to be fully digested and absorbed.
And any practical sized meal that you could eat is not going to go to waste.
So, thanks for watching this video lesson.
If you want to get your hands on a fully customized bodybuilding meal plan that shows you exactly
what to eat, when to eat it, and how much to eat based on your individual calorie intake,
make sure to check out the "No fail system" over on the EliteImpactLabs.com website.
The link for that is in the description bar.
Also make sure to subscribe if you haven't already, and make sure to join the Elite Impact
Lab's Facebook page where we do free supplement giveaways every Sunday night.
So, thanks again for watching, and I'll talk to you again soon with more free tips.