Why take protein every 3 hours?

Have you often heard that it is necessary to consume protein every three hours? Nutrimuscle accompanies you to tell you more. Why do you have to take your protein every three hours?

Why is it better to take your protein every 3 hours?

What is the ideal distribution of your protein intake to gain muscle? Should you take a lot of protein infrequently or is it better to use little at a time, but very often?

This is the question answered by a very good study published in 2012.

Regular strength-training men had to ingest 80g of whey protein isolate over a 12-hour period after a thigh workout (1).

Three different distributions were tested:

• Method 1 : 8 doses of 10 g each, spaced 1h30 apart.
• Method 2 : 4 doses of 20 g each, 3 hours apart.
• Method 3 : 2 doses of 40 g each, 6 hours apart.

For the 8 very divided intakes (method 1), the level of protein synthesis (anabolism) is higher by:

• 32%, compared to the double dose (method 3).
• 19%, compared to 4 shots (method 2).

If method 1 produces the most anabolism, it is unfortunately also that which also induces the most catabolism; the level of protein destruction is higher by:

• 57%, compared to the double dose (method 3).
• 51%, compared to the intermediate dose (method 2).

When the overall assessment is made, the strategy which allows the most anabolism for the least catabolism remains method 2, with its splitting into 4 doses of 20 g of whey each. It is also this method that bodybuilding practitioners have instinctively adopted for a long time.

Science therefore confirms what athletes have developed empirically.

Scientific references