Having just finished a fulfilling weight session at your local gym, you rack your weights  and head down to the change room to clean yourself up for the day ahead. While there, you overhear a couple of regular gym-goers, protein shake bottles in hand, discussing topics amongst themselves in between a flurry of sips and gulps. You may hear topics such as ‘Protein absorption window’ or ‘Maximum amount of protein per meal’ being discussed. Unfortunately you have just stumbled upon the world of the aptly named ‘Bro-Science’.

Bro-science, in a nutshell, is the kinda myth and legend that perpetuates within gym circles with regards to topics such as exercise regime and especially the understanding of metabolism.  These ideas tend to be passed via word of mouth and have doubtful scientific credibility, however,  they often go unquestioned and taken as fact if heard from someone who is seen as an experienced trainer, gym-goer or athlete. The term bro-science may originate as a derogatory dig at a stereotypical gym-goer however it stands for something much more: A lack of scientific education, scientific literacy and perhaps critical thinking.

One such example is the exaggeration of daily protein consumption. Once again, media such as fitness magazines without any sort of scientific backing, have started pushing out figures for protein consumption, before long these figures have reached the change room and are taken for fact. The latest figure that I have come across has been that, for gym-goers and active sportspeople, their daily intake of protein should be between 2.0g – 3.0g of protein per kilogram of body weight, anything less and you might as well give up as you’ll never reach your goal.

Let’s just put that into perspective for a second. If you currently weigh 70kg and are highly active , you will require between 140g to 210g of protein, daily. That is the equivalent of 20+ boiled eggs a day or perhaps 11 – 12 chicken drum sticks a day. A figure seen as impossibly large without any sort of protein supplementation yet people will follow it and seek to alter their diets extensively just to fit within this range.

Recently, the American College of Sport Medicine published research into the energy, fluid and nutrient recommendations for active adults and competitive athletes. They found that a range of 1.2g – 1.7g of protein per kilogram of body weight was recommended; where the bottom of the range encompassed the recommendation for a recreational athlete while the top end of the range was for elite-athletes. This range is far off from the figure being passed around the change room and in contrast it was found that the 2011-2012 Australian Health Survey showed that most Australian men and women were reaching these targets normally without the need for supplementation. There have been claims that the ludicrous figures of protein requirements are originally perpetuated by the supplementation companies themselves however this is little more then speculation. Never the less, facts like these pop up constantly and fall within the mentality that ‘more is always better’ so it must be true. Thus it is never questioned.

Yet another example of ‘bro-science’ is the idea that the maximum amount of protein that can be absorbed and used by our body for in a single sitting (single meal) is around 30g. This piece of information tends to govern many a meal times for avid athletes who are careful to plan multiple meals containing such requirements in order to make sure they maximize their in take, however, proof of this supposed limit is no where to be found.

We are able to discern that your body is in an almost sempiternal process of digestion and absorption as it may take anything from 12 – 24 hours for the complete digestion of one meal. Many different protein sources have different digestion rates such as raw egg may release around 1.3g/hour of protein while an amino acid mixture similar composition to pork may release 10 g/hour. Thus the time frame of ‘one meal’ or ‘one sitting’ isn’t as defined as one may think.

A study authored by Arnal et al put such a gym myth to the test. It tested whether a protein feeding pattern could affect protein retention in young women aged 24-26.

Initially each women underwent a 15 day adaptive period before starting a 14 day diet during which each would consume 1.7g of protein per kg of body weight, daily. Two groups were used; one group would consume protein in a pulse pattern , of which the majority of the daily protein would be consumed in a single meal. While the second group would consume protein in a spread pattern of which the the daily protein would be spread over 4 separate meals during the course of the day. After both the 15 day adaptive period and 14 day diet period, no significant difference in protein retention was detected.

This is but the tip of the iceberg behind perpetuated myths within the gym or sporting world. This is not to say that everything you have come across within a gym or sporting setting should be rubbished but rather each piece of information should be questioned , understood and backed up with credible evidence. Unfortunately the world of sport and fitness suffers from an infection of misinformation, everything from incorrect techniques to blatantly disproven diets. It’s up to you to be the judge, make informed decisions and prevent the spread of bro-science.

broscience

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=11.%20Arnal%20MA,%20et%20al.%20Protein%20feeding%20pattern%20does%20not%20affect%20protein%20retention%20in%20young%20women.%20J%20Nutr.%202000%20Jul;130(7):1700-4.

http://wannabebig.com/diet-and-nutrition/is-there-a-limit-to-how-much-protein-the-body-can-use-in-a-single-meal/

http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/by%20Subject/4364.0.55.007~2011-12~Main%20Features~Macronutrients~703

http://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/2009/03000/Nutrition_and_Athletic_Performance.27.aspx
https://theconversation.com/health-check-tips-on-eating-to-recover-after-exercise-19525
http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/here-s-what-you-need-know-about-protein-supplements