Sports Med 2007; 37 (10): 895-906
R
EVIEW
A
RTICLE
0112-1642/07/0010-0895/$44.95/0
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2007 Adis Data Information BV. All rights reserved.
Nutritional Interventions to Promote
Post-Exercise Muscle
Protein Synthesis
RenŽe Koopman,
1
Wim H.M. Saris,
2
Anton J.M. Wagenmakers
3
and Luc J.C. van Loon
1
1 Department of Movement Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
2 Department of Human Biology, Nutrition and Toxicology Research Institute Maastricht
(NUTRIM), Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands
3 School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
Contents
Abstract . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 895
1. Resistance Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 896
2. Nutrition and Muscle Protein Synthesis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897
2.1 Carbohydrate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 897
2.2 Protein and Amino Acids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 898
3. Aging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 899
3.1 Aging, Muscle Function and Protein Turnover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 899
3.2 Interventions to Improve Muscle Protein Synthesis in the Elderly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900
3.3 Leucine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 901
4. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 902
Resistance exercise is a powerful stimulus to augment muscle protein anabo-
Abstract
lism, as it can improve the balance between muscle protein synthesis and break-
down. However, the intake of food during post-exercise recovery is necessary for
hypertrophy to occur. Therefore, athletes need to ingest protein following exercise
to attain a positive protein balance and maximise their skeletal muscle adaptive
response. The interaction between exercise and nutrition is not only important for
athletes, but is also of important clinical relevance in the elderly. Exercise
interventions combined with specific nutritional modulation provide an effective
strategy to counteract or reduce the loss of skeletal muscle mass with aging.
Physical activity, in particular resistance exer-
contractile protein within the muscle.
[1]
However,
cise, is a powerful stimulus to promote net muscle
the adaptive response to training can only occur
protein anabolism, resulting in specific metabolic
when muscle protein synthesis rates exceed protein
and morphological adaptations in muscle. This type
breakdown rates for a prolonged period of time.
of exercise can effectively increase muscle strength,
Interestingly, protein breakdown is stimulated to a
muscle mass and, as such, improve physical fitness.
greater extent than protein synthesis following ex-
The latter is attributed to an increased amount of
haustive exercise. Therefore, in the absence of food
Study 