Protein Shakes

[1knysna]

Are there any known adverse effects of using protein shakes regularly after exercise. My sons who use them insist that they are just made of whey powder and are harmless. Is this correct?

[Ethel]

Harmless, but I'm not sure they are any good at building muscle.

[Ethel]

Training regularly increases strength.

[filthiestfis]

If you take these shakes and dont exercise do you get fatter?

[Ethel]

You're living proof that proper training with weights bulks muscle and increases weight.

We had body builders long before protein drinks.

[Loosehead]

They are harmless enough and do aid muscle repair after exersize. Think of it as the material that rebuilds the mucle. It is not essenttial but like supliments generally it just give the body the material to use when it needs it. If the body does not need it, then it will be used as energy if possible or ultimately stored as fat like all surplus calories.

[jon1968]

It won�t hurt IF you don�t overdo it and IF your body REQUIRES it for muscle fibre repair when you�re weight training for example. From the gist of your post I presume your son�s training? If he�s looking to bulk up then as a VERY rough guide he should look at around 2g of protein per kg of bodyweight per day to get bigger (but you need to be exercising to get the benefit - you need to �tear� the muscle fibre and the protein is then utilised to repair the muscle and grow) or you need 1g per Kg per day to maintain bodyweight. You�ll generally get the 1g per Kg per day from a normal healthy diet but it can be quite hard to get the extra 1g without supplements such as shakes you mention if you�re training. However, your body can�t process more than 30-40g of protein in any one �hit� anyway so you need to space the shakes and meals out accordingly else it�s a waste of �shake� for growth or dietary purposes and the extra protein will just sit on your internal organs (it won�t tell you that bit on the packet).

So in short, no harm if he needs it, unadvisable if he doesn�t.

Is he youngster? If so then just make sure he�s not on a Creatine supplement as part of his regime.

[1knysna]

Thanks for all this guys. Jon68..... he's 28 and I have noticed the occasional small jar of creatine lying around. Is this more of a problem, and if so what are the effects. Thanks

[Loosehead]

The jury is very much out on creatine at the moment. It is a substance naturally created in the body anyway. The long term effects of usage of supplimentation are unknown. At the moment the usage is common and the belief is that it is relativekly harmless compared to steriods etc.

[jon1968]

Blimey 1knysna I thought you were talking about a whippersnapper! Lol
If he�s 28 then it shouldn�t be a problem if he�s into that sort of thing and follows a sensible intake schedule.

As Loosehead says it�s still a very �young� supplement however it�s a widely held belief that it�s not recommended if you�re still developing skeletally. When I said �youngster� I meant not yet stopped growing!