Protein Shakes

[GrasB]

Hi thanks for the useful information on these. So I guess what I need to know is. If doing long hard daily cycle rides. Whats the best stuff to be eating and drinking? To encourage muscle strength and quick recovery?

What works best for me after a hard ride is a home made thick soup () which has been loaded with additional protein, currently trying pre-digested whey protein but I'm still experimenting. This brings my recovery time down & also reduces fatigue over a weeks worth of commutes.

 

[Rob3rt]

What works best for me after a hard ride is a home made thick soup () which has been loaded with additional protein, currently trying pre-digested whey protein but I'm still experimenting. This brings my recovery time down & also reduces fatigue over a weeks worth of commutes.

You are cooking whey protein? As far as I know this de-natures it rendering it a massive waste of money.

Only from what I recall reading back in my rugby days, i.e. about 5 years ago!

 

[Riverman]

or aspartame

mmm aspartame. Consume it everyday, I'm not sure I believe all the controversy surrounding it but probably shouldn't consume so much. I almost have a years supply of robinsons special R in my house.

I do see aspartame as abit of a trade off. I hate drinking water, it makes me feel sick. If I were to drink sugary drinks everyday, I'd become obese which is not good for my health at all.

 

[GrasB]

You are cooking whey protein? As far as I know this de-natures it rendering it a massive waste of money.

No, make the soup then mix in when cold (I like cold soup )

 

[battered]

I'm using this

http://www.allsports-online.co.uk/allsports.cgi?name=Amino Load

It apparently has a load of magic amino acids..which is kind of like predigested protein..but the product contains a load of carbs too.

It contains very little protein, less than 2%. There's more in a glass of milk. It has a lot of carbohydrate, but so does a biscuit.

All Sports claim that the idea behind this product is that after training the carbs will get more readily absorbed into the muscles and will carry the amino acids with them

Usual unsubstantiated quasi-medical sales bollocks. Disregard.

. I have no idea if this is what is happening but it tastes nice and my legs seem to ache less the next day when I use it

Which is all that counts.

 

[battered]

Re denaturing whey protein, it will already be denatured as a result of spray drying. Denatured or not, your digestive system won't care a toss, it will digest it anyway into amino acids. If it needs them to build tissue, it will, if not it will burn them. Just like any other protein.

 

[Rob3rt]

To my understanding many whey products are sold as un-denatured. Also doesnt undenatured offer greater biological benefit?

If you are taking supplements and paying a premium for it on top of your food expenses you would surely want to gain every last little advantage possible from them.

 

[battered]

Have a look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denaturation_(biochemistry)

You can't dry a protein while maintaining its secondary and tertiary structure, therefore it will be denatured by the action of drying.

Any protein has to be digested by chopping it into its component amino acids. These can then cross the gut wall. Full proteins cannot.

 

[Rob3rt]

http://ezinearticles.com/?Undenatured-Whey-Protein---Defined&id=586858

You can apparently reverse the process too, I read it somewhere earlier, dont know how credible the source was though.

edit: the source was the wiki page you linked, i read that page earlier this afternoon.


Im an Electronic Engineer/Plant/Soil science researcher, not a biologist or nutrition guru so I dont know much about this topic to be honest. Interesting discussion

 

[Alun]

I recommend a pint of denatured Guinness, and a packet of previously undigested cheese and onion crisps.

 

[battered]

Probably do you just as much good as a reconstituted whey powder milk shake!

Back to denaturation.

It may be reversible. Whey protein is pretty tough stuff, it's very inert with low functionality. That's why it's still intact after cheesemaking and stays in solution while the caseins solidify, drop out of solution and start turning into cheese.

The thing is that when it's dry it will be denatured. Can't be otherwise. If it comes back on rehydration then that's going to happen anyway, it's not as if our drinks powder manufacturer has done anythging clever. It is in that case a bit like a veg processor turning up a low fat lettuce or crunchy celery. They all are mate, already.

Further to this and on the subject of digestion, so what if it *is* denatured? It's got to be digested anyway and as soon as that happens the proteins will denature immediately they start getting chopped up. Milk caseins will curdle (denature) the minute they hit the stomach asa result of the acid content.

If you look at eggs, a cooked egg is denatured protein. It's irreversible, once it's set, that's it. The difference in nutrition value is zero, it's all still there. So unless there is a difference in digestion rate (doubtful by the time it's been in stomach juices) then it's identical. Certainly any stuff about carbohydrates carrying proteins into the muscles where they are needed is utter, utter bollocks. Frankly I don't know how the manufacturers get away with claims like that, it's an infringement of the food labelling regs.

 

[BSRU]

mmm aspartame. Consume it everyday, I'm not sure I believe all the controversy surrounding it but probably shouldn't consume so much. I almost have a years supply of robinsons special R in my house.

I do see aspartame as abit of a trade off. I hate drinking water, it makes me feel sick. If I were to drink sugary drinks everyday, I'd become obese which is not good for my health at all.

I think the amount you drink is important and there are other sweeteners with supposedly less potential side effects. For me I avoid aspartame because it gives me a guaranteed headache, thanfully Sainsbury's has stopped using it their fizzy pop drinks.

I friend of mine in the pharmaceutical industry has told me that when they want to test anti-diarrhoea tablets they use phenylalanine to recreate the diarrhoea as it always produces consistent and predictable results.

 

[BSRU]

"artificial sweetener called phenylalanine or aspartame known for it's laxative effects and many other potential side effects."

FUD. Cite evidence pls. You'll note the lack of Diet Coke drinkers exploding into giblets as my evidence that it's not eeebil.

Just One Side Effect Taken From an FDA submission:-
Aspartame Ingestion Causes Formaldehyde Accumulation in the Body
Excerpt from:

Trocho, C., et al., 1998. "Formaldehyde Derived From Dietary Aspartame
Vinds to Tissue Components in vivo," Life Sciences, Vol. 63, No. 5, pp.
337+, 1998


"These are indeed extremely high levels for adducts of formaldehyde, a
substance responsible for chronic deleterious effects that has also been
considered carcinogenic.
....
"It is concluded that aspartame consumption may constitute a hazard
because of its contribution to the formation of formaldehyde adducts."


"It was a very interesting paper, that demonstrates that formaldehyde
formation from aspartame ingestion is very common and does indeed
accumulate within the cell, reacting with cellular proteins (mostly
enzymes) and DNA (both mitochondrial and nuclear). The fact that it
accumulates with each dose, indicates grave consequences among those who
consume diet drinks and foodstuffs on a daily basis." (Neuroscientist

Russell Blaylock, MD)

 

[battered]

Phenylalanine is an amino acid, a nutrient. If it has a laxative effect it's probably an osmotic effect. AFAIK Phe is one of the essential AAs for humans, as in you die without it.

 

[Hont]

To the OP; as you can see there's a lot of information and opinion on what to do and not what to do, what works and what's just marketing guff. Personally I use Rego so if there is any science behind it I'm alright. If it is all nonsense then I still have a tasty drink with all the carbs and protein that you get from the milk and banana route plus a few extra vitamins for around 80p a portion (which isn't much more than a pint of milk + a banana anyway).

I can't state categorically that it helps me recover as I'm not measuring myself in a scientific way, but I have suffered far fewer colds and illness since starting on it and don't cannibalise my upper body muscle in the same way as I used to without it.