Influence of amino acids, dietary protein, and physical activity on muscle mass development in humans

Abstract

Ingestion of protein is crucial for maintenance of a variety of body functions and within the scope of this review we will specifically focus on the regulation of skeletal muscle mass. A quantitative limitation exists as to how much muscle protein the body can synthesize in response to protein intake. Ingestion of excess protein exerts an unwanted load to the body and therefore, it is important to find the least amount of protein that provides the maximal hypertrophic stimulus. Hence, research has focused on revealing the relationship between protein intake (dose) and its resulting stimulation of muscle protein synthesis (response). In addition to the protein amount, the protein digestibility and, hence, the availability of its constituent amino acids is decisive for the response. In this regard, recent studies have provided in-depth knowledge about the time-course of the muscle protein synthetic response dependent on the characteristics of the protein ingested. The effect of protein intake on muscle protein accretion can further be stimulated by prior exercise training. In the ageing population, physical training may counteract the development of "anabolic resistance" and restore the beneficial effect of protein feeding. Presently, our knowledge is based on measures obtained in standardized experimental settings or during long-term intervention periods. However, to improve coherence between these types of data and to further improve our knowledge of the effects of protein ingestion, other investigative approaches than those presently used are requested.

Figure 1

Illustration of muscle protein synthesis (MPS, blue curve) and muscle protein breakdown (MPB, red curve) rates in response to graded intake of protein. With increasing protein ingestion, MPS increases fast but reaches a plateau (at approximately 20 g high quality protein). In contrast to the MPS, MPB are hypothesized to decrease slightly but continuously with increasing protein or amino acid intakes. Therefore, the net muscle protein balance can possibly benefit from an even greater protein intake than known to stimulate MPS maximally (illustrated by the extra net balance area marked with green).

Figure 2

Illustration of the muscle protein synthetic (MPS) response to protein intake at rest (solid curves) and with prior completion of resistance exercise (dashed curves) in young (green curves) and elderly (blue curves) individuals. In the young, MPS is stimulated already at small doses (~5 g) of protein intake and the response reaches a plateau at approximately 20 g of protein intake. In the elderly, a higher amount of protein intake is necessary to simulate MPS and to obtain the maximal MPS response. The MPS response to protein intake can be enhanced by prior completion of resistance exercise, although the effect of resistance exercise is somewhat reduced in elderly compared to young individuals. Furthermore, the red curve illustrates that the MPS response to protein intake is reduced in immobilized muscle.