Whey or casein before and after your workout?
It makes precious little difference whether you put whey or casein in the shakes that you drink before and after a strength training session. Sports scientists at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor draw this conclusion from a study in which they gave 16 female basketball players whey or casein before and after their strength workouts.
It makes precious little difference whether you put whey or casein in the shakes that you drink before and after a strength training session. Sports scientists at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor draw this conclusion from a study in which they gave 16 female basketball players whey or casein before and after their strength workouts.
Casein is made up of long chains of amino acids that don’t dissolve in water. In the stomach casein forms a mass that is digested relatively slowly. The amino acids appear gradually in the blood after ingesting casein.
Whey on the other hand consists of short amino acid chains that do dissolve in water. The amino acids appear quickly in the blood after ingesting whey, but the ‘amino acid peak’ is shorter.
For this reason trainers advise athletes to use fast whey when working out and casein to bridge longer periods where no intensive exercise is undertaken. During and immediately after intensive exertion, muscles benefit from a high concentration of amino acids in the blood.
The researchers decided to test this theory on female basketball players who did weight training four times a week and short ‘sport specific conditioning’ sessions with ‘agility, jumping and sprint work’ three times a week.
Half of the women were given 24 g whey half an hour before the training session and again just afterwards. The other half were given the same amount of casein before and after the session.
Before the supplementation started, and for eight weeks afterwards, the researchers measured the women’s body composition. The figure below shows that the women who had been given whey had lost a tiny amount more fat and had gained a tiny amount more lean body mass than the women who had been given casein. However, the differences between the two groups were not significant.
The figure below shows the increase in maximal strength in both groups. The whey group did minimally better than the casein group but, again, the differences are not significant.
Female athletes who want to boost their performance level by doing strength training can benefit from protein supplementation, the researchers conclude. “There does not appear to be a difference in the performance enhancing effects of whey versus casein proteins, and both prove to be beneficial to athletic performance in female athletes for both strength and body composition”, they write.
The Effects of Pre- and Post-Exercise Whey vs. Casein Protein Consumption on Body Composition and Performance Measures in Collegiate Female Athletes.
Wilborn CD, Taylor LW, Outlaw J, Williams L, Campbell B, Foster CA, Smith-Ryan A, Urbina S, Hayward S.
Abstract
Two of the most popular forms of protein on the market are whey and casein. Both proteins are derived from milk but each protein differs in absorption rate and bioavailability, thus it is possible that each type of protein may contribute differently to the adaptations elicited through resistance training. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the potential effects of ingestion of two types of protein in conjunction with a controlled resistance training program in collegiate female basketball players. Sixteen NCAA Division III female basketball players were matched according to body mass and randomly assigned in a double-blind manner to consume 24 g whey protein (WP) (N = 8, 20.0 ± 1.9 years, 1.58 ± 0.27 m, 66. 0 ± 4.9 kg, 27.0 ± 4.9 %BF) or 24 g casein protein (CP) (N = 8, 21.0 ± 2.8 years, 1.53 ± 0.29 m, 68.0 ± 2.9 kg, 25.0 ± 5.7 %BF) immediately pre- and post-exercise for eight weeks. Subjects participated in a supervised 4-day per week undulating periodized training program. At 0 and 8 weeks, subjects underwent DXA body composition analysis, and at 0 and 8 weeks underwent one repetition maximum (1RM) strength, muscle endurance, vertical jump, 5-10-5 agility run, and broad jump testing sessions. Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA, and presented as mean ± SD changes from baseline after 60 days. No significant group x time interaction effects were observed among groups in changes in any variable (p > 0.05). A significant time effect was observed for body fat (WP: -2.0 ± 1.1 %BF; CP: -1.0 ± 1.6 %BF, p < 0.001), lean mass (WP: 1.5 ± 1.0 kg; CP: 1. 4 ± 1.0 kg, p < 0.001), fat mass (WP: -1.3 ± 1.2 kg; CP: -0.6 ± 1.4 kg, p < 0.001), leg press 1RM (WP: 88.7 ± 43.9 kg; CP: 90.0 ± 48.5 kg, p < 0.001), bench press 1RM (WP: 7.5 ± 4.6 kg; CP: 4.3 ± 4.5 kg, p = 0.01), vertical jump (WP: 4.1 ± 1.8 cm; CP: 3.5 ± 7.6 cm, p < 0.001), 5-10-5 (WP: -0.3 ± 0.2 sec; CP: -0.09 ± 0.42 sec, p < 0.001), and broad jump (WP: 10.4 ± 6.6 cm; CP: 12. 9 ± 7.1 cm, p < 0.001). The combination of a controlled undulating resistance training program with pre- and post-exercise protein supplementation is capable of inducing significant changes in performance and body composition. There does not appear to be a difference in the performance- enhancing effects between whey and casein proteins. Key pointsFemales can experience and increase in performance makers from consuming protein after resistance training.Females can have a decreased body fat composition when ingesting protein with daily resistance training and conditioning.There was no significant difference in performance markers between whey and casein.
PMID: 24149728 [PubMed] PMCID: PMC3761774
Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24149728
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