Proteins are chemical compounds made up of chains of amino acids which are essential for tissue growth and repair in the body. The RDA (recommended daily allowance) is approximately 0.5g/500g of body weight an adult recreational exerciser. Good sources of natural protein include meat, fish, beans and pulses, and dairy products.

Traditionally protein rich foods have been the mainstay of gym users’ diets and the common steak and egg white diet is a common stereotypical combination for gaining weight. However it is important to stress at this point, protein does not build muscle, resistance training does.

Now, it doesn’t take a rocket science to work out that eating copious amounts of meat, fish and dairy products is a logistical nightmare, not to mention a strain on the digestive system. It is far easier to get your fix of protein from a supplementary drink or other nutritional product.

Protein drinks or ‘shakes’ as they are referred to by the weight gaining fraternity are artificial (not from foodstuffs) sources of protein designed to provide the consumer with an increased capacity to repair muscle after exercise. Supplementary protein is usually consumed into two forms, whey protein and soy protein. Whey protein is a milk based product containing the essential amino acids, isoleucine, leucine and valine. These are important during exercise because they can be immediately used by the muscles as an alternative energy source therefore enabling the muscles to work at higher intensities for longer periods. Soy protein comes from soybeans and is low in calories, fat and cholesterol. It is thought that the health benefits of soy protein outweigh those of whey but the latter is more suited for gym users who wish to gain weight quickly.

If you go into any gym you are guaranteed to see somebody with a shaker (protein shake dispenser) and it appears to be the ultimate health and fitness accessory. Due to the fact that so many people are seen taking protein supplements it is unsurprising that so many of my clients have suggested to me that they too should be drinking protein shakes. And it is this that has prompted me to write this article. 

My argument is do they really need to be supplementing protein?

In the next section I intend to explore the fact that so many gym users walk around sipping on their protein shakes regardless of whether they are body builders or not and find out whether they are genuinely adding to the benefits of training or wasting their time and money.

Firstly let’s look at a sports nutritionists view. The following is an extract from Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook:

'Most athletes who eat moderate portions of protein-rich foods daily get more protein than they need. Any excess protein is burned for energy and stored as glycogen as fat'.

These ‘most athletes’ are the people who I see every day drinking their shakes after their training session. An average adult recreational exerciser weighing 70 kg (11 stone) would have a RDA (recommended daily allowance) of 70g. They could consume their protein requirement with two tuna fish sandwiches, two boiled eggs and yoghurt. Alternatively they could drink two servings of a whey protein drink.

Whey has to undergo a long and complicated pasteurisation process before it can be used as a supplement and Paul Chek has identified the following detrimental effects of this process.

• Promotes rancidity of unsaturated fatty acids.
• Destroys vitamins. Vitamin C loss is usually more than 50%, while the loss of other water soluble vitamins can be as high as 80%, and Vitamin B12 is totally destroyed.
• Reduces availability of minerals such as calcium, magnesium and potassium.
• May alter lactose, making it more readily absorbable (aiding in lactose intolerance).
• Destroys all enzymes, making Calcium from milk difficult to absorb. Chek (2005)

All this added to the fact that popular whey products contain added salt, artificial sweeteners and vegetable oil. I know I would choose the tuna, eggs and yoghurt every time.

Nancy Clark also identifies that the RDA for an adult building muscle mass is 0.7g/500g of body weight and the maximum useable amount of protein for adults per day is approximately 0.9g/500g of body weight. Let’s take a 100kg (16 stone) adult body builder with the above RDA. This person would have to take between four and five whey protein serving (shake) per day to consume the RDA, and many products recommend just two a day.

My last point refers to the price of these protein supplementation products. 2.5 kg of whey usually costs around £40.00. That works out at about £1 for our 70 kg adult recreational exerciser’s RDA. The equivalent amount of protein would cost about 80p for two tins of tuna.  

This rather crude experiment has proved that one; your average Jo gym user does not need to drink protein shakes as long as they eat moderate amounts of protein-rich foods and that whey and other similar products are only useful for body builders and weight gainers, and even then they have to drink more than the recommended amount to consume their RDA. And two; that it is healthier and slightly cheaper to eat natural protein in the form of meat, fish, dairy products and beans and pulses. 

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