Fitness Articles

When you hydrolyze whey protein, you’re breaking the amino acid components of protein into smaller chains. What does this mean for exercise recovery? A study published in The Journal of Nutrition offers some interesting findings.

Researchers had healthy young men in their late 20s consume 0.08 grams of either hydrolyzed whey or intact whey protein per kilogram of body weight. They found that both supplements increased blood concentrations of the BCAA leucine and the delivery of leucine to muscle.

Muscle protein synthesis, which plays a key role in building and maintaining muscle, also increased to a similar degree with both supplements, but phenylalanine utilization for synthesis remained elevated for around 3 hours with hydrolyzed whey compared to about 1 hour with intact whey protein.

Whey protein concentrate can be up to 80% pure protein by weight. By removing or isolating out much of the carbohydrates, fat and lactose using sophisticated filtering technologies, whey protein isolate is up to 90% pure protein. A study published in Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition tested the short-term exercise recovery benefits of this sports nutrition supplement.

After completing 4 sets for 10 reps on leg extension, leg press and leg flexion machines using 120% of maximum capacity, 17 untrained men consumed 1.5 grams of whey protein isolate per kilogram of body weight at intervals spread throughout each day for 2 weeks. Some received a carbohydrate drink instead.

Knee extension strength was higher 3 and 7 days into recovery for subjects who consumed whey protein isolate compared to those who got carbohydrates. This suggests that whey isolate might help reduce the impairment of muscle forces during recovery from eccentric training.