by Marion Nestle
Apr
17
2023
Industry-funded study of the week: whey and muscle strength
I give high praise to NutraIngredients.com for doing full disclosure in the title of an article: “Industry study concludes whey promotes muscular strength and endurance, independent of diet.”
Whey protein supplementation promotes muscle mass increase and selective increases in muscular strength and endurance from resistance exercise, independent of dietary influence, according to a new industry-funded study.
I looked up the study.
The Study: Effects of Whey Protein Supplement on 4-Week Resistance Exercise-Induced Improvements in Muscle Mass and Isokinetic Muscular Function under Dietary Control. Chae-Been Kim, Nutrients. 2023 Feb 16;15(4):1003. doi: 10.3390/nu15041003.
Purpose: to investigate the effect of whey protein supplementation under dietary control on improvements in muscle mass and function following resistance exercise training.
Method: Thirty-two men were randomly assigned to a whey protein supplementation group taking whey protein isolate (PSG, n = 17) and a placebo group (CON, n = 15). Participants were provided with three meals per day corresponding to the estimated individual daily energy intake. The supervised resistance exercise program was conducted 60 min per day, six days per week, for four weeks.
Conclusion: whey protein supplementation enhances resistance exercise-induced increase in muscle mass and overall muscular strength and endurance, independent of dietary influence.
Funding: This research was funded by Maeil Health Nutrition Co., Ltd.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Comment: Maeil Health Nutrition is a Korean company which makes and sells dairy-based sports supplements like the one used in this study. Two of the authors (the ones with ) work for this company. They have obvious conflicts of interest.
I won’t bother to dissect the details of the study except to note that the placebo group was taking a supplement with 20 fewer grams of protein per day.
