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Many of you reading this have likely watched “The Game Changers”. For those who haven’t, the movie’s basic claim is that plant-based protein is better than animal protein. Is that claim correct?
Disclaimer: I will not be addressing the ethical concerns relating to animal protein vs plant protein. I will only be covering what the research has to say in relation to muscle growth.
Is plant-based protein better than animal protein?
A study published at the end of 2019 [1] set out to find that answer. The study compared 24 grams of whey protein isolate (dairy protein) against three vegan protein mixtures.
Mixture 1: 34g pea protein and pumpkin protein
Mixture 2: 33g pea protein, pumpkin protein, sunflower protein, and coconut protein
Mixture 3: 34g hydrolized pea and pumpkin protein
Before getting any further, let me pause to explain why the plant-based protein shakes contained more protein than the whey protein shake. Most plant proteins are known as complimentary proteins because they do not contain all essential amino acids in sufficient quantities.
Amino acids are what make up protein. Essential amino acids are the amino acids our bodies cannot produce, meaning we have to obtain them through what we eat. Leucine seems to be the most important amino acid for muscle growth because it triggers muscle protein synthesis (muscle repair).
Since plant proteins have fewer amino acids, more total protein was needed in order to match the leucine content and total essential amino acid content of each shake as shown in table 1 from the study.
Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS) was also matched between all shakes. PDCAAS basically ranks proteins by comparing the essential Amino Acid (eAA) profile and digestibility of the protein. All shakes tested had a PDCAAS score of 1.0, which is the best.
Based on what I’ve said so far, you may believe the result was a tie due to leucine, PDCAAS, and eAAs being equal between groups. You may even believe the plant-based protein shakes came out on top due to the fact that those variables were matched, and the plant-based shakes had more total protein. If you guessed either, you’d be incorrect.
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The total sum of eAAs in the bloodstream over 4 hours was lower (approximately 30% to 40%) in the plant-based shakes compared to the whey shake. This led the researchers to conclude, “Equivalence could not be concluded between any plant-based product and WPI [whey protein isolate]”.
This research is in line with the current scientific consensus, which is that animal-source protein stimulates muscle protein synthesis (muscle repair) to a greater degree.[2][3][4][5]
How does this affect long term results?
This hasn’t placed the final nail in the coffin for plant-based protein quite yet though. Acute changes can sometimes make things seem grander than they really are once the big picture is taken into account. With that said, what do longer-term studies have to say? Does animal-sourced protein’s short-term superiority translate to better long-term results?
The short answer, yes. After combing through a dozen studies comparing long-term effects of plant- vs animal-based protein, the results are pretty clear. The overwhelming majority of the studies available show greater muscle growth when animal protein is utilized.
Of the 12 studies I read, 10 of them found animal-based protein to be superior to plant-based protein for muscle growth.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] Two studies showed similar results between the two.[16][17] None of the studies found plant-based protein to be superior.
The Bottom Line
The current scientific evidence does not support the claim made by The Game Changers. Plant-based protein is not superior to animal-based protein in terms of muscle growth or strength.
With all of this said, I’m not saying you can’t get big and strong using a plant-based diet. If you want to be a vegetarian or vegan, go for it! You will just need to be much more careful with your food choices and will have to maintain a much higher total protein intake in order to optimize your results.
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