Effects of Dietary Protein on Body Composition in Exercising Individuals.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review without systematic search or quantitative synthesis
PubMed 32630466 · doi:10.3390/nu12061890
What was done
This narrative review synthesized current literature examining the effects of dietary protein intake above the Recommended Dietary Allowance (0.8 g/kg/d) combined with chronic exercise on body composition (muscle, fat, and bone). It also evaluated acute and chronic pre-sleep protein consumption and the influence of exercise timing.
What was found
The abstract reports no quantitative values or effect sizes. It qualitatively reports that a high-protein diet appears to increase muscle accretion and fat loss, may benefit bone when combined with exercise, and shows no deleterious effects on muscle, fat, or bone in exercising individuals. Pre-sleep protein was identified as a viable strategy to meet daily protein goals.
Why it matters
It provides an overview of how protein intakes exceeding baseline recommendations may support body composition improvements and training adaptations in active populations.
Limits
The paper is a non-systematic narrative review without formal study quality appraisal or quantitative meta-analysis. The abstract provides no specific numerical values, dosing thresholds, participant counts, or total number of reviewed studies.
Cited by
- supports The minimum recommended dietary allowance for protein for the general population is approximately 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight (or 0.36 grams per pound).