The Smartest Way To Use Protein

There’s so much conflicting information about protein intake. This video will cover the most common questions about protein intake to maximize muscle performance and longevity, plus a pivotal new study that’s just come out.

Here are the links to the research papers referenced in the video:

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[DrBradStanfield]

Happy New Year everyone! Sorry for the delay in publishing the first video of 2024, I wanted to make sure that it was a BANGER.

[elizabethcrowley]

Saw this study analyzed elsewhere. Great info. It works for me. At 78 I have not found that my body is less efficient at making muscle. Ive been in a gym most days since I was 19.

[jenxsj]

Happy new year. To maintain muscle mass is crucial to optimal aging.

[markbristol]

Thanks Dr Brad, I know this information is accurate by how I, at 65, can gain more strength ( noticably) when lifting weights when I have enough protein in my daily diet.

[KevinCreegan-wqth]

as usual an outstanding video! I tell my friends it is really important to educate themselves about how to maintain/improve their health and how one excellent resource for doing this is to watch Dr Stanfield's videos!

[GenXMachine]

Repeat w/me kids - you are not a mouse.

[jojobe]

Thank you Dr Brad, from fasting to protein intake, amount required for gym workout, plant-base or not, and the effect on kidneys in long run, you have cleared all my questions I have for years since I have started gym workout decade ago. I have stopped protein intake for a while, and considering introducing it back, and also in internment fasting. I am glad that I get to learn from your research, after Erin Stein’s mentioning in her recent video.

[ivaylotachev]

I’m glad to see myself on the thumbnail 🙏❤️

[philipdavis]

Thanks for this excellent overview. The one question I would have is over Dr. Longo’s belief that low protein is best (he actually says that protein intake should rise as you grow older to help maintain muscle). His argument doesn’t just rest on the mice studies, but on population level data - it does seem very clear that the Blue Zone areas with high longevity are almost entirely low protein consuming regions. Even on a more local scale if you compare, say southern to northern Italy (low to high protein), or japan to Korea (low to high protein intake), its clear that the low protein consumption areas do better in terms of longevity. There could of course be other factors involved (such as the impact of saturated fats), but while I think the pro-high protein advocates have very strong arguments, I still think there are caveats - I think there is still much to learn.

[Dr_Boult]

The new study with 100g of protein in a setting was using casein proteins which are known to be far more slowly than most proteins and so the results may not generalized to other sources of protein.

[switzerland]

A) This video was so much needed, thank you
B) When can we get an AG1 competitor from you?

[SilverFank]

GREAT VIDEO. I'm glad youre getting lots of views and youtube success.

[MasterMetaphysician]

Exquisite research, Dr. Brad, thank you!!!

[Coromi]

Can I take leucin powder as a supplement and eat less meat/ protein powder?

[yvesdorfsman]

1.62 g per kg of "lean" body mass.
Is this lean as in 0% fat or an average lean person (say 12% fat)?

If the former, then an 80 kg person, assuming 12% fat, would require 114g of protein per day, not 130g. Still a lot but a big difference.

[Anna-mvew]

Very dubious message. mTOR and all its activators do decrease lifespan, including in humans. We are not different to mice in this regard. The focus should be on stopping muscle break down, not muscle gain, which are two different goals.

[Rockster]

Dr. Stanfield. In this video you strongly recommend including leucine which is very potent M-TOR activator and state that this is very important for muscle synthesis, while at the same touting rapamycin an very potent M-TOR inhibitor as a longevity agent ( and planning a human study with rapamycin). You cannot have it both ways. From observational diet studies in blue zones my approach is to use mostly plant protein and collagen (leucine poor) and confine animal protein to once a day to minimize M-TOR activation for most of the day. That would be an interesting study. BTW, at 155 lbs my goal is at least 150 gm of protein, about 100 gm from plant source (soy, pea and other legumes, grain) and 50 gm from animal source (greek yogurt, fish and some lean meat). I lift weights about 3 times a week and in the past year I almost doubled my weight on chest press (90-160 lbs).

[christianingram]

Whey protein? Is it still the best for muscle building?

[hwwilliams]

Very informative, thank you. Since pretty much your whole body is made of protein, I was wondering about the amount of protein the other parts of the body needs on a daily basis. It seems most studies only talk about how much you need to build muscle or effect lifespan, but not over all body requirements. For instance, I read that the body first uses protein in vital places, such as internal organs, bones, tendons, skin etc. and then uses the rest available for building muscle. The article said that most of the protein you eat doesn't even end up in building muscle. Is that true?

[brazenclips]

We need the 100g study done with more variation. It needs to be tried with multiple protein sources. Casein is a slow-digesting protein so of course its availability will be extended throughout the day. Ideally we’d study whey isolate, whey concentrate, soy isolate, meat, fish, fowl, eggs, and whole veggie sources. Not only that, but a morning, afternoon, and evening feeding variation. We should also do a 33.3/33.3/33.3 50/50 and 100 split to see what’s most effective for each source of protein. I have a feeling we’ll see quite the difference in effectiveness per-source in different windows. For example, whey isolate will probably do best multiple times a day, whereas whole food sources and casein will probably do best first thing in the morning or a couple hours before sleep in one big dose.

If I had to guess, a 50/50 split or a 1/3rd split between breakfast lunch and dinner will probably end up best across most protein sources. Whey isolate is a bit of an outlier due to how quickly it’s absorbed and casein is on the other end of that outlier-factor.

More than 3 protein-heavy meals a day seems like it could be problematic for absorption just due to not giving your gut a break. I know it’s popular with lifters but there’s probably better ways to achieve it when not solely relying on whey isolate.