The concept of eating protein before bed isn't new, but the current science behind it hasn't
reached the point that the idea of downing a protein shake right before you get tucked
in has been accepted as the norm.
But a recently published study adds on to the relatively small pile of data on pre-sleep
protein consumption, and there are some interesting insights in it that might change our thinking.
Let's check it out.
There's no doubt that sleep is one of the key, if not the key factor in our ability
to restore and adapt to all the stressors of life, and that includes exercise.
We need good sleep to recover from the exercise-induced damage to our muscle fibers.
But along with just getting quality sleep, it'll be nice to ensure that we obtain the
proper nutrients during this important recovery phase as well.
And the most essential nutrient for our muscles is indeed protein along with its amino acid
constituents.
So on paper, it makes sense that pre-sleep protein consumption would enhance muscle recovery
and adaptation, as well as possibly muscle protein synthesis, the process that drives
muscle growth.
Now, we do have some prior studies that already suggested that this may be possible, but again,
the totality of data is quite sparse.
So, the hope is that this new study can move us towards a clearer picture, whatever picture
that may be.
And I gotta say, there's some findings in the study that I did not see coming.
Let's break it down.
36 healthy young men were recruited for this study and were randomly assigned to one of
three groups that consumed a shake before bed.
The shake contained either 45 grams of whey protein supplement, 45 grams of casein protein
supplement, or a non-caloric placebo mix.
About two hours before sleep, the subjects also performed 60 minutes of endurance cycling
at 60% training capacity.
So right off the bat, there are a few intriguing things to point out.
One is that this is not only a study about protein before bed, but specifically about
two types of protein supplements, whey and casein.
It's widely believed that casein protein is superior to whey for late-night consumption
because it's considered a slower-digesting protein, providing a steady stream of amino
acids throughout the night whereas whey provides a big spike of amino acids in the first 90
minutes then much less after.
And the second interesting thing is that the training protocol was endurance-based, which
gave the researchers a new outcome to measure.
Along with muscle protein synthesis, the researchers can now look into mitochondrial protein synthesis
as well, which can give us data on endurance adaptations, something that hasn't been considered
before.
Throughout the experimental day, all subjects were given a baseline protein intake of 1.2
grams per kilogram of bodyweight, which, broadly speaking, should be sufficient for exercise-related
adaptations.
Also, a big plus for this study is that both the training and sleep protocols were monitored
in a lab setting.
Blood samples were taken multiple times throughout the study, including 6 times while the subjects
were asleep.
The researchers' ultimate goals were, again, to measure muscle and mitochondrial protein
synthesis rates and also see if whey and casein had any disparity in effect.
So, how about we find out what happened?
First, for amino acid concentrations, as expected, whey protein consumption spiked leucine concentration
levels within the first 90 minutes but significantly dropped after.
Casein, also as expected, sustained modest but elevated concentration levels throughout
the night.
What we didn't expect, however, is that whey, overall, still sustained concentration levels
similar to or above casein for all but the last two hours of sleep.
In other words, despite the big drop after the spike, whey still led to a high and sustained
level of amino acid concentration throughout the night that rivaled that of casein.
And this seemed to have played a role in the rest of the results.
First, for mitochondrial protein synthesis, ingesting casein protein resulted in an average
23% increase over the placebo.
Ingesting whey protein led to an average 37% increase.
And finally, for muscle protein synthesis, casein led to an average 18% increase over
placebo whereas whey had an average increase of 35%.
So overall, what does this study tell us?
Well, for one, this study suggests that pre-sleep protein ingestion can be a good strategy for
improving endurance adaptations.
This is a new finding that might serve endurance athletes well, especially since they tend
to consume relatively low amounts of overall protein compared to most other athletes.
Of course, for good ol' muscle gains, this study further reinforces previous findings.
And at this point, that's quite a consistent stream of evidence that it at least makes
the idea of eating protein before bed worthy of people's discussion, in my opinion.
But what surprised me more than anything were the outcomes between whey and casein.
It was long believed that casein's superiority is its slow-digesting effects, which should
be especially advantageous for overnight consumption.
But now with this study, not only does it seem that casein's concentration effects is
not much better, but the actual mechanism of muscle growth, muscle protein synthesis,
also fell well behind that of whey protein.
This may very well make whey protein the de facto best milk-based protein supplement and
arguably the best protein supplement period.
That said, as always a disclaimer, this is only one study.
And one small thing to consider as well is that, when given the protein shakes, the whey
and casein groups did consume more overall protein for the day compared to the placebo
group.
However, since the paper is specifically looking at overnight effects, I don't think it would
change the results that much, but still worth considering.
Still, accounting for this study and all the ones before it, if you came into this video
feeling certain that protein before bed was a bunch of bro science, then maybe you were
the bro all along.
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As always, thank you for watching and don't forget to get your PROTEIN!
… before night night.