# Can/does the body store protein? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 14, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-does-the-body-store-protein/683723 "2014-03-14T21:13:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-does-the-body-store-protein/683723/1 "2014-03-14T21:13:20Z")
I have the Quixotic goal to put on some more lean muscle (not easy or fast when one is in their 50’s). To this end, I try to eat a high-protein diet, as that is required to form new muscle tissue. I was thinking - if one eats more fat that the body needs, it ends up being stored. Carbs get turned into fat and stored, too. What about protein? Is that stored, or is any excess just wasted? Also, how is it distributed to where it is needed (clearly, in the bloodstream, but in what form)? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-does-the-body-store-protein/683723/2 "2014-03-14T22:43:11Z")
In a high protein diet, most of the protein will probably be burned for energy anyway. The nitrogenous part is excreted in the urine. Any excess over the body’s energy requirements will be turned into fat just like the excess calories from fat and carbohydrates. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2014, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-does-the-body-store-protein/683723/3 "2014-03-14T23:56:02Z")
**njtt** is mostly correct save that in the case of having substantial excess protein much of it just gets excreted and doesn’t generally contribute significantly to the effective caloric load, which also stresses the kidneys. In the case of fat, complex facts (such as triglycerides) don’t convert directly to adipose tissue but instead break down into glycerols and fatty acids. The glycerols can be stored as adipose tissue, but the fatty acids convert to glucose via gluconeogenesis or are excreted. The only time protein is used as a major energy source is when the body is in starvation mode and will start consuming structural proteins (i.e. muscle, tendons, ligaments) to synthesize glucose. The body only stores protein in these structures and nowhere else in significant quantity. (This is not strictly true; adipose tissue also has proteins, of course, but it comes with an increase in body fat that is undesireable.) However, the body is extremely efficient about reusing protein, so if you are just trying to maintain muscle mass you don’t need a really high protein intake (unless you are hypertropied to an unsustainable level). If you want to gain lean muscle mass, however, you must increase your protein intake as well as increasing carbohydrate and fat intake to propotional levels to support structural development of muscles. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-does-the-body-store-protein/683723/4 "2014-03-15T06:59:09Z")
Furthermore, you don’t really need so much protein in your diet; what you need is amino acids. Proteins get broken down into amino acids anyway; your body then synthesizes all-new proteins that it needs, _de novo,_ from those. Amino acids can come from vegetables as well as meats (yes, typically as proteins). But in choosing your diet, pay attention to what amino acids various foods can supply. This is the nutritional basis of the traditional Mexican diet of rice and beans: Neither supplies all the amino acids you need in their proteins, but the combination of rice and beans does. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-does-the-body-store-protein/683723/5 "2014-03-15T09:06:18Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Furthermore, you don’t really need so much protein in your diet; what you need is amino acids. Proteins get broken down into amino acids anyway; your body then synthesizes all-new proteins that it needs, _de novo,_ from those. There are amino-rich foods where the amino acids aren’t bound in proteins? If not, why make the distinction? ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-does-the-body-store-protein/683723/6 "2014-03-15T14:23:40Z")
**njtt** supplies the basic answer. Excess carbohydrate can be stored to some significant degree as glycogen (and beyond that the energy and parts from it stored as fat), excess fat can be stored, but we have no real capacity to store excess amino acids, other than muscle being net gained. That said if you want to get into the weeds so to speak it it is a bit more complex. [This article](http://jn.nutrition.org/content/132/10/3228S.full.pdf) may be a bit esoteric to wade through but might be of interest. Ingested protein is broken down into its component amino acids and absorbed. The elevated serum amino acids (in particular certain essential amino acids, meaning ones the body cannot produce itself) are part of what drives a rise in insulin (synergistically with carbs) and both the elevated serum amino acid level directly and the elevated insulin level (and other hormone responses as well) then impact the body protein balance. Balance is a key word here. There is a balance between body proteins being broken down (catabolism or proteolysis) and proteins being built (anabolism or synthesis). Muscle is not the sole substance of protein in the body; enzymes are made of protein, many transmitters and hormones, hair, etc. … But those are pretty much steady state and smaller amounts, in terms of variation in rate of catabolism and synthesis muscle is the big player. The process of getting the amino acids into serum, elevating the level, elevating insulin, and impacting that balance, varies with different protein sources. Whey causes a brief spike, higher and shorter, while casein’s peak was lower and more prolonged. Whey and had a major impact on protein synthesis and fairly little decrease on proteolysis (breakdown). Casein OTOH had a more mild impact on protein synthesis but substantially decreased the rate of proteolysis for hours later. On net the slow digestion resulted in more protein retention. Of course this was in young adults and not taking into account timing of exercise. The conclusion of that article noted that what happens in the young is definitely not the same as what happens to us as we age. So here’s [another article](http://www.jappl.org/content/106/6/2040.full)! > [@](#): > > It has been well established that protein turnover in skeletal muscle tissue is highly responsive to nutrient intake (102). Ingestion of amino acids and/or protein strongly stimulates muscle protein synthesis and inhibits protein breakdown, resulting in a positive net protein balance in both the young and elderly (92, 93, 102, 121, 125). Interestingly, data from recent studies suggest that the muscle protein synthetic response to the ingestion of smaller, meal-like amounts of amino acids (29, 64) is attenuated in the elderly compared with young controls. The latter is now believed to represent one of the key factors responsible for the age-related decline in skeletal muscle mass. > > The mechanisms that might be responsible for the proposed anabolic resistance to protein and/or amino acid administration in the elderly remain to be elucidated. In addition, it is unclear whether the blunted muscle protein synthetic response to food intake is also accompanied by an attenuated postprandial decline in muscle protein breakdown in the elderly … > > … There is a substantial amount of evidence showing that protein/amino acid administration effectively stimulates muscle protein synthesis. Hyperaminoacidemia, following intravenous amino acid infusion, increases postexercise muscle protein synthesis rates and prevents the exercise-induced increase in protein degradation (12). In a more practical, physiological setting, oral administration of repeated boluses of a protein and/or amino acid mixture ingested following resistance-type exercise also substantially increases muscle protein synthesis rates (70, 72). Furthermore, ingestion of a large, single bolus of protein and/or amino acids (30–40 g) following exercise also effectively accelerates postexercise muscle protein synthesis rates (113). Moreover, ingestion of smaller amounts of EAAs or intact protein with and without carbohydrate have all been shown to augment postexercise protein synthesis rates and improve net protein balance (19, 33, 34, 87, 99, 112, 132). In short, it has been well established that postexercise amino acid/protein ingestion represents an effective strategy to augment the anabolic response to exercise. … > > … We have previously shown that muscle protein synthesis rates tend to be lower in elderly (∼75 yr) compared with young controls under conditions in which resistance-type exercise is followed by food intake (70). However, combined ingestion of carbohydrate and protein during recovery from physical activity resulted in similar increases in mixed muscle protein synthesis rates in young and elderly men (70). In line with these findings, Drummond et al. (35) recently reported similar postexercise muscle protein synthesis rates over a 5-h recovery period in young vs. elderly subjects following ingestion of carbohydrate with an EAA mixture. However, their data indicated that the anabolic response to exercise and food intake was delayed in the elderly. During the first 3 h of postexercise recovery, the young subjects showed a substantial increase in muscle protein synthesis rate, which was not observed in the elderly. … > > … when habitual dietary protein intake is standardized at 0.9 g·kg−1·day−1, exercise-induced increases in muscle mass become apparent, and a further increase in protein intake does not seem to have any additional effect (61). The latter might explain why most studies fail to observe any additional benefit of nutritional cointervention on the skeletal muscle adaptive response to prolonged resistance-type exercise training in the elderly (22, 40, 41, 43, 47, 54, 59, 61, 86, 118, 129). However, the absence of any benefits of nutritional cointervention may well be attributed to a less than optimal timing of amino acid and/or protein supplementation that was applied in these studies. Esmarck et al. (36) concluded that an early intake of a protein-containing supplement immediately after each bout of resistance-type exercise, as opposed to 2 h later, is required for skeletal muscle hypertrophy to occur following 12 wk of intervention in the elderly. However, the absence of any hypertrophy in the control group receiving the same supplement 2 h after cessation of each exercise bout seems to be in conflict with previous studies that show muscle hypertrophy following resistance training without any dietary intervention. Nevertheless, the proposed importance of nutrient timing is supported by more recent studies investigating the impact of amino acid or protein coingestion before, during, and/or after exercise on the acute muscle protein synthetic response (9, 115). To study the proposed impact of timed protein supplementation during prolonged exercise intervention, we recently compared increases in skeletal muscle mass and strength following 3 mo of resistance-type exercise training, with or without protein ingestion before and immediately after each exercise session in elderly men (118). However, timed protein supplementation before and after each exercise bout did not further increase skeletal muscle hypertrophy in these healthy, elderly men who habitually consumed ∼1.0 g protein·kg−1·day−1. > > Altogether, the available data suggest that sufficient habitual protein intake (∼0.9 g·kg−1·day−1), combined with a normal meal pattern (i.e., providing ample protein 3 times per day), will allow substantial gains in muscle mass and strength following resistance-type exercise training in the elderly. Additional amino acid and/or protein supplementation does not seem to provide large surplus benefits to exercise intervention in healthy, elderly men. … [Yet](http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/93/5/997.long) > [@](#): > > … The current study was the first to compare in vivo dietary protein digestion and absorption kinetics and subsequent postprandial muscle protein accretion after the ingestion of a meal-like amount of whey, intact casein, and hydrolyzed casein in healthy older men. Whey protein is more effective than casein and casein hydrolysate at promoting postprandial muscle protein accretion in healthy older men. The greater muscle protein synthetic response to whey ingestion is likely attributable to both its faster digestion and absorption kinetics and higher leucine content, which thereby further increases the postprandial rise in plasma leucine concentrations … So bottom line - more protein over a 24 hour period above and beyond something like 25% of your daily calories is not going to do much for you. You won’t store it. _Probably_ divvying it up something like 20 grams of whey right after resistance exercise (to maximally stimulate synthesis), followed by some slower to absorb protein like casein a bit later (to inhibit proteolysis) along with regular healthy meals, is the best tactic to maximizing your net gain. ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-does-the-body-store-protein/683723/7 "2014-03-15T21:30:01Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Furthermore, you don’t really need so much protein in your diet; what you need is amino acids. Proteins get broken down into amino acids anyway; your body then synthesizes all-new proteins that it needs, _de novo,_ from those. > > Amino acids can come from vegetables as well as meats (yes, typically as proteins). But in choosing your diet, pay attention to what amino acids various foods can supply. > > This is the nutritional basis of the traditional Mexican diet of rice and beans: Neither supplies all the amino acids you need in their proteins, but the combination of rice and beans does. I thought it was corn and beans that made the complete protein. The rice, unless it’s unrefined, can’t do that. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-does-the-body-store-protein/683723/8 "2014-03-15T21:57:41Z")
Jesus Christ, please read some basic information on nutritional biochemistry before repeating baldly uninformed factoids from random internet sources. Yes, you can get complete proteins (e.g. those that include the nine essential amino acids required for human nutrition) from vegetable sources. And in general, you get some proportion of all twenty-two ‘standard’ amino acids from dietary sources. Getting a sufficient quantity in the correct proportion can be tricky and requires an extensive understanding of nutritional balance. In general, amino acids are reduced from proteins by proteases such as trypsin and pepsin rather than being consumed in ‘simple’ form, mostly because people prefer to eat steak and chicken rather than nasty reeking slurries of protein precursors. All of the structural elements of both plants and animals are formed by proteins, or (in the case of skeletal material) the deposits of proteins that have since been recycled. The body has no mechanism for ‘storing’ protein other than by creating muscles or other structures, period. There is a small amount of protein in the circulation system at any given time, and proteins will be recycled and recovered by tissue that isn’t being regularly exercised, but there isn’t any reservoir for storing protein for some later purpose. Hence, the necessity of ensuring an adequate protein load before or after strengthening exercise. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2014, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-does-the-body-store-protein/683723/9 "2014-03-15T22:42:10Z")
**Stranger** it really is not so tricky to get adequate high quality protein from vegetable sources. [Rice](http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/cereal-grains-and-pasta/5714/2) is low in lysine and fine in others including methionine. As is [corn](http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/cereal-grains-and-pasta/5714/2). And wheat based [pasta](http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/cereal-grains-and-pasta/5757/2) and [tortillas](http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/cereal-grains-and-pasta/5749/2). OTOH your[typical legume](http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/legumes-and-legume-products/4273/2) is fine on lysine and low on methionine. So having some legumes and some grains in a day will usually suffice. Tofu and quinoa are complete by themselves. So is chia. The other essential amino acids than lysine and methionine are pretty hard _not_ to get in any protein source, so a vegan only needs to make sure to have some reasonable amount of by itself complete protein or match up some grain/seed (corn, rice, wheat, etc.) with some legumes over the course of the day. No PhD in nutrition required. And protein from many sources will result in elevation in serum amino acid levels for many hours, see the data on casein above. More than what is a small amount to most people’s minds. If you are going to blast other posters please be sure you are not spouting off uninformed factoids yourself.