A co-worker of mine said to me the other day “I’m vegan man, I need to be careful about my #Protein” This in the context of wanting to get some #pipes. Got me thinking about how #vegan & #plantbased compare with omnivorous diets for building muscle/strength.
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A paper published in 2021, by Victoria Hevia-Larrain and Hamilton Roschel. Here they sought out to assess the effect of dietary protein source on changes in muscle mass/strength.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33599941/
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pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33599941/
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They took 19 habitual vegan men and 19 habitual omnivores. They did a 12wk, twice wkly, resistance program. Habitual protein intake assessed and adjusted to 1.6g/kg per day with supp (Soy v Whey).
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They showed that both groups significantly improved their lean leg mass, rec fem size, leg press 1RM and found no between group differences.
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They found that a high protein vegan diet with supplementation was non-inferior to a high PRO omnivorous diet with supplementation for both muscle hypertrophy and strength.
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Ok now let’s put on our sceptical hats here for a second - this paper is 100% confirming my bias that vegan diets with appropriate PRO intake are non-inferior.
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So how did they do the study?
19 vegans & 19 OMN. All men similar age & BMI. They had to consume their diet regularly for 1yr prior. Essentially attempting to control for diet making the moderator variable PRO - with each group consuming at least 0.8g/kg PRO habitually.
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19 vegans & 19 OMN. All men similar age & BMI. They had to consume their diet regularly for 1yr prior. Essentially attempting to control for diet making the moderator variable PRO - with each group consuming at least 0.8g/kg PRO habitually.
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They trained them for 12wks - twice wkly with supervised resistance training. They were not able to have done resistance training for the year prior - to ensure a baseline detraining effect that was equal between groups.
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Vegans got supplemented with 58g and OMN 39g of either SOY or WHEY. Essential amino acids were stable and not different between groups throughout.
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What did they find - drumroll.
Both groups improved in all outcomes tested - lean leg mass and strength.
But which was better??
There was no difference between groups for any of the variables!!
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Both groups improved in all outcomes tested - lean leg mass and strength.
But which was better??
There was no difference between groups for any of the variables!!
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A couple of questions I have…
Why 1.6g/kg?
Once you hit 1.6g/kg of total PRO - you will optimise MPS. There is a myth that plant PRO is inferior & you would need more than 1.6g/kg to achieve the same results. Unlikely the case.
dx.doi.org/10.1136/bjspor…
@mackinprof
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Why 1.6g/kg?
Once you hit 1.6g/kg of total PRO - you will optimise MPS. There is a myth that plant PRO is inferior & you would need more than 1.6g/kg to achieve the same results. Unlikely the case.
dx.doi.org/10.1136/bjspor…
@mackinprof
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They were untrained - it was just lifting weights?
Perhaps it didn’t matter how much PRO they consumed & all ppl who start lifting weights would see the same results in 12wks? I’d wager results would be different if took away the PRO from 1 of the groups.
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Perhaps it didn’t matter how much PRO they consumed & all ppl who start lifting weights would see the same results in 12wks? I’d wager results would be different if took away the PRO from 1 of the groups.
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Does this apply to gen pop / athletes?
This paper probably applies well to young men in the gen pop. Could also extrapolate to other untrained individuals as well - women/elderly. It would be really interesting to assess athletes who are well trained. Future project???
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This paper probably applies well to young men in the gen pop. Could also extrapolate to other untrained individuals as well - women/elderly. It would be really interesting to assess athletes who are well trained. Future project???
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My bottom line.
If you want to optimise MPS you can do it with plant protein on a background of a vegan diet. Just hit 1.6g/kg and use a supplement if you need; in order to achieve this.
#plantbased
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If you want to optimise MPS you can do it with plant protein on a background of a vegan diet. Just hit 1.6g/kg and use a supplement if you need; in order to achieve this.
#plantbased
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Any folks want to help me by critiquing my critique of the paper who are smarter than me in this?
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