We don't know about you, but we keep hearing the words 'protein shakes' being banded around at the moment and we're a bit confused. And by a bit we mean a lot.
Should we all be drinking them? What do they actually do? Is real food better? Well, we decided to find out and speak to Olivia Busby, Lead Performance Nutritionist at Sport Wales and a member of the Sport and Exercise Nutrition Register (SENr).
Do protein shakes work?
'Protein is definitely really really important to help with increasing muscle protein synthesis which then in turn helps to build muscle, as long as you match that with a training stimulus for example, resistance exercise.
'So if you increase muscle protein synthesis through food or even through protein shakes, particularly after exercise training like resistance training, then that can improve muscle protein balance and actually lead to muscle hypertrophy which is the increase in muscle mass.'
Are protein shakes necessary?
‘No, absolutely not. Protein shakes do potentially have an appropriate time and place but they aren’t actually needed for overall health or even for improvements in your exercise. There’s no evidence to support that the recommendation of protein shakes is necessary and they shouldn’t substitute a good balanced diet with good quality proteins from foods.
So they should be used as a supplement?
‘Yeah as a supplement when, for example, they’re more convenient and more practical for that situation to be able to get protein in.’
How can you get enough protein from food?
‘It’s actually quite easy to meet the general protein needs. The amount of protein you need does depend on the type of exercise that you do or if you don’t exercise and if you do, what your goals are. But either way it’s easy to get enough protein from eating a well balanced diet with good quality proteins that can be digested quickly by the body.
‘For example, things like milk and dairy proteins like low fat cheese and cottage cheese are a really useful source of protein. Things like lean meats: extra lean mince, chicken, turkey, fish, salmon, white fish, prawns, eggs. In terms of vegan sources there’s tofu, soya products and things like beans and pulses. Even things like unsalted nuts and seeds can provide a useful source of protein.’
Should I drink protein shakes?
‘It’s a personal choice but first of all I would say assess the need: Do you really need to have a protein shake or could you get your protein from real food? A lot of the time we might think we need supplements because there’s a lot of marketing and a lot of money invested in promoting these products by the companies themselves but do you really need to?
‘For example if you are using it to help you recover after a training session, could you just time your meal or snack around that instead? If for practical reasons you know you simply can’t get protein from real foods, for example you might not have a fridge available or your might be rushing off somewhere then potentially they might be useful depending on what you goals are.’
What do you mean when you say ‘depending on goals’?
‘For example some reasons people might use protein shakes or they might think that they need protein shakes, is if they start to do exercise training and they think that they might need that to help them build lean mass or they might need it to lose body fat.'
So is real food better than protein shakes?
‘Yeah because in real food you get a lot of other nutrients as well. Milk for example is a really ideal recovery drink after exercise training because it does naturally contain protein but it’s also a fluid so it rehydrates you and it can also provide other nutrients that you need in your diet such as calcium. It also contains all the essential amino acids that are needed to help improve muscle protein synthesis as well as lysine which is maybe more effective for those processes.’
Are protein shakes good for you?
‘Overall they’re not. There’s no evidence to say that they’re necessary and that they’re actually good for you and can make you healthier or train better. There may be a time and a place for them, like when you don’t have access to good food straight away, but real food’s always going to give you the balanced nutrients needed by the body.’
Do protein shakes help you lose weight?
‘No, consuming protein shakes doesn’t lead to weight loss. Obviously weight loss can only really occur if there’s a reduced energy balance so protein shakes won’t directly make you lose weight. I guess the perception with that could be because people might start an exercising training programme and at the same time they might start using things like a protein shake to help support their training or their recovery, but they won’t themselves lead to weight loss.’
Do protein shakes make you put on weight?
‘When we’re talking about assess the need, potentially there’s not a need if you’re not training, and if it’s going to mean that your calorie intake is above what you’re expending or what you body requires then you’ve actually got a positive energy balance that could lead to weight gain.’
How much protein do I need?
‘The RDA that’s set for the general population is about 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body mass per day [to work it out: your weight in kilograms x 0.8]. However, if you want to maintain or build muscle mass then the protein intake would be in the range of 1.4-1.6g per kilogram of body mass per day.
'Don’t forget that you do also need to have the exercise stimulus as well, so resistance training, in order to increase your lean mass. Both protein ingestion, whether that’s through foods or protein shakes, plus resistance exercise stimulate muscle protein synthesis which overall will then lead to the muscle hypertrophy – in other words the increase in lean mass.'
What protein should I have?
‘I always refer to Informed Sport. If you’re involved in sport even at lower down levels, look out for their logo. You can go on their website and see the brands that have been tested for any contamination with prohibited substances and whilst that may not be really what the general person worries about, even if you’re involved in sport at a lower down level, it’s really important to be aware of those things. Those supplements would maybe be seen as having a quality insurance because they have been tested. The supplement industry may not be as regulated as the food industry and you may not know exactly what you’re consuming so it is important to go for a reputable brand.'
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.