ONLINE DRIVERS MEDIA

One study wouldnt be enough to prove that pea is superior to whey as muscle builder, anyways.

In a recent study, French scientist investigated the effects of two types of protein supplementation on muscle thickness and strength in 161 moderate physically active (2–6 hours per week) male participants (mean age 22 years). More specifically, the scientists compared the effects of vegetable Pea protein (NUTRALYS®) vs. Whey protein and Placebo on biceps brachii muscle thickness and strength after a 12-week resistance training program. And as the headline already reveals: The pea protein had the upper hand, when it comes to biceps brachii size, but the way the gains were measured and superior strength gains in the whey group raise questions about whether the results of this study are practically relevant - meaning you have to switch from whey to pea.
These values are based on measurements of arm circumference of the right arm which were taken using a constant tension tape during maximal elbow extension at rest and during a maximal voluntary contraction (with maximal elbow flexion).

Figure 1: Overview of the study design.

"All subjects followed the same training routine, three times per week with a rest day between each session. Training was based on three exercises involving the elbow flexor and extensor muscles. The exercises soliciting the flexor muscles were arm curl and lateral pulldown. In the arm curl exercise, subjects sat with weights in their hands with a ~40° trunk/arm angle. They had to flex/extend the forearm over the arm. For the lateral pull-down, subjects sat with a bar in their hands above the head. They had to flex/extend the forearm over the arm with a vertical movement. The exercise soliciting the extensors was the bench press. Subjects were lying on their backs with a bar in their hands with a 90° trunk/arm angle, arms extended, and had to flex and extend their upper limbs vertically. Throughout the training program, the number of sets was progressively increased from 2 to 5 while the number of repetitions was reduced in parallel from 15 to 5 repetitions maximum (RM). In the final week, the subjects did three sets of 5 RM in order to preclude any fatigue for the D84 tests" (Babault. 2015).

Recovery between sets was identical for all workouts: 2–3 minutes. The load used for each exercise was regularly adapted during training depending on individuals’ maximum load (1-RM, one maximum repetition, evaluated every two weeks).

Figure 2: Muscle thickness in the 3 groups at baseline after 42 and 84 days. There was only a trend (£) for increased gains in the pea protein group (Babault. 2015).

Three measurements were made (at rest and contracted) along the length of the biceps, namely ¼, ½ and ¾ of the length of the upper arm (distance between the acromion process of the scapula and the lateral epicondyle of the humerus). Averaging was performed to obtain mean values for the circumference at rest and contracted.

Faulty measurements due to messed up timing?

That sounds great, but since the time of measurement is not mentioned, it may well be that all the values are fundamentally flawed. Why?

Well, as a SuppVersity reader you know that even in leg muscles, which are muss less prone to "the pump", "Cell Swelling Keeps Muscles "Pumped" For More Than 52h. Size Increases of Up to 16% After a Single Leg Workout!" (learn more).

Practically speaking, this means that the "size measurements" in the study at hand may be worthless if the scientists didnt wait for at least 72h-96h before they measured the sleeve sizes of their subjects.
The absence of information on the time-point at which the sleeve sizes were measured (suggestive of immediately post) and the fact that the strength gains do not reflect the alleged superiority of pea protein as muscle builders (see Figure 3) put a huge question mark behind the assumption that pea protein tends to produce greater muscle gains than whey.

Figure 3: It is strange that the "superior muscle builder" triggers the lowest gains in maximal isometric contractile force. Even the placebo group had greater strength gains - despite a lack of sign. differences at baseline (Babault. 2015).

Rather than "gains", the increases could in fact be a result of increased inflammation and the reduced "gains" in the whey group a result of its anti-inflammatory effects (Buckley. 2010; Sugawara. 2012; Kerasioti. 2013). The existing evidence of anti-inflammatory properties of pea protein (Ndiaye. 2012) does yet render this assumption questionable.
References:

• Babault, et al. "Pea proteins oral supplementation promotes muscle thickness gains during resistance training: a double-blind, randomized, Placebo-controlled clinical trial vs. Whey protein." Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition 12:3 (2015).
• Buckley, Jonathan D., et al. "Supplementation with a whey protein hydrolysate enhances recovery of muscle force-generating capacity following eccentric exercise." Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 13.1 (2010): 178-181. 
• Lang, Vincent, et al. "Satiating effect of proteins in healthy subjects: a comparison of egg albumin, casein, gelatin, soy protein, pea protein, and wheat gluten." The American journal of clinical nutrition 67.6 (1998): 1197-1204.
• Ndiaye, Fatou, et al. "Anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulating properties of an enzymatic protein hydrolysate from yellow field pea seeds." European journal of nutrition 51.1 (2012): 29-37.
• Kerasioti, Efthalia, et al. "Anti-inflammatory effects of a special carbohydrate–whey protein cake after exhaustive cycling in humans." Food and Chemical Toxicology 61 (2013): 42-46.
• Sirtori, Cesare R., et al. "Hypocholesterolaemic effects of lupin protein and pea protein/fibre combinations in moderately hypercholesterolaemic individuals." British journal of nutrition 107.08 (2012): 1176-1183.
• Smith, Christopher E., et al. "The effect of yellow pea protein and fibre on short-term food intake, subjective appetite and glycaemic response in healthy young men." British Journal of Nutrition 108.S1 (2012): S74-S80.
• Sugawara, Keiyu, et al. "Effect of anti-inflammatory supplementation with whey peptide and exercise therapy in patients with COPD." Respiratory medicine 106.11 (2012): 1526-1534.

Ever wondered, why you hit a plateau, "although" youve started to use this whey protein w/ extra aminos?

I have to admit this is not a new paper and though I have not written about it explicitly, some of you will probably have seen me cite it in previous posts. With some recent rambling about how great BCAAs were and that whey alone could never achieve what its overpriced, but revenue generating parts could do, I just felt inclined to dig into the archives of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research to bring back up one of those excellent randomized controlled, double-blinded long-term resistance training + supplementation studies, you wont find in the supplement write-ups very often, cause they would make most of the "great innovations" look pathetic.
In the case of the paper Chad D. Kersick et al. published in the March Edition of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research in 2006. The latter, i.e. the looking pathetic applies to the combination and addition of "extra-anabolic" amino acids in form of BCAAs and glutamine to a simple whey protein supplement.

Table 1: Overview of the resistance training progamm (Kersick. 2006)

And when I am talking about "looking pathetic" I do not refer to the packaging or the powder itself; no, not even to the strength gains, which were more or less identical in all of the 36 resistance-trained males men (mean age 31, 84kg, 17% body fat) who followed the 4-day training protocol you see in Table 1 for 12(!) weeks.

That was a pretty long time, and as you can see in Figure 1, it was long enough to produce significant results. Significant results that tell you that the only addition you want to make to your cheap whey protein is some (not so cheap) micellar casein to achieve what I outlined in Mai 2012 and on countless other occasions, a stable hyper-aminoacidemia (= elevated levels of amino acids in the blood) for several hours (learn more)

As you should be able to see even without scrutinizing the bars in Figure 1, the latter lead to significant increases in lean mass in an already resistant trained group of subjects.

Figure 1: Changes in total body mass, lean mass and fat mass

The addition of 3g of BCAAs and 5g of glutamine, on the other hand, "made" the whey protein as "anabolic" *lol* as the 48g of plain sugar the CHO control group was guzzling their shakes within 2h (ideally immediately after) their workouts.

"Thats not true, cause Ive had great success with bullocks advanced proteins!"

Now, I obviously know already that there are certain people who dont like to hear facts like this. These people who are actually oftentimes only unwilling to admit that they have been screwed who will now probably be freakin out about "what if"s like "What if the casein made them hungry, so that they ate much more" ... I hear ya, folks, but how would that explain that the fat mass of the whey + casein (WC) group increased by 100g, while the guys on the "advanced" formula gained 200 albeit statistically non-sigificant grams?

Table 2: Energy & macro-nutrient intake in the whey + casein (WC), whey + BCAA + glutamin (WBG) and the carbohydrate control (P) group (Kersick. 2006).

Furthermore, the data in Table 2 clearly indicates that the only significant difference in terms of the total energy intake and the macronutrient content of the diets was the intended difference in protein content between the WC & WBG group and the P, i.e. the carbohydrate control group.
References: 

• Bilsborough, Shane, and Neil Mann. "A review of issues of dietary protein intake in humans." International Journal of Sport Nutrition & Exercise Metabolism 16.2 (2006).
• Dangin, Martial, et al. "The digestion rate of protein is an independent regulating factor of postprandial protein retention." American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology And Metabolism 280.2 (2001): E340-E348.
• Kerksick, Chad M., et al. "The effects of protein and amino acid supplementation on performance and training adaptations during ten weeks of resistance training." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 20.3 (2006): 643-653.

When the satellite cells merge with the existing muscle cells to form new myonuclei this is more than muscle repair, its also the foundation for future muscle growth - beyond previous limits | more

If youve read the Intermittent Thoughts On Building Muscle (read it) you are beyond the simplistic view of muscle growth as a one-way process in the course of which muscle cells balloon up endlessly. Without the incorporation of "new" myonuclei (cell kernels) from the periphery your muscle would become dysfunctional sooner or later (learn more); and while myostatin will prevent that from happening the recruitment of new muscle cells from the satellite cell pool will provide the basis for future muscle growth.

I dont want to go into more detail, here. If you want to develop a better understanding of this process(es), I suggest you head back to the initially mentioned series about the physiological underpinnings of skeletal muscle hypertrophy.
Next to the inclusion of new myonuclei and facilitation of future muscle growth, the satellite cell pool will also provide the raw material for the repair or I should say replacement of damaged muscle cells. For strength trainees like you and me, its thus of paramount importance to ensure that our satellite cells are happy and healthy. And you know what? Thats not even difficult!

According to a recent study from the Aarhus University all it takes to  help your muscle precursor cells happily proliferating (grow, divide and mature to "real" muscle cells) is the mix of carbohydrates and whey protein youre probably consuming after each workout, anyway: A shake containing 28 g whey protein hydrolysate high in leucine (4 %) an 28 g of carbohydrate (4 %) - a 56h carbohydrate supplement served as control.

Figure 1: Overview of the experimental procedure (Farup. 2014)

As you can see in Figure 1 this supplement was not ingested once, but rather thrice a day - with the first serving being ingested immediately after the fasted subjects, 24 healthy young recreational active men,  initiated the exercise protocol, which lasted for approximately 30 min.

Its the whey that does the trick, but we dont know if we dont need CHOs as an adjunct

The provision of extra whey protein (but nor carbohydrates; white bars in Figure 2) lead to significant increases in satellite cell activity in both mixed muscle and type II fibers, but not type I fibers (not shown in Figure 2).

Figure 2: Number of satellite cells per muscle fiber (higher number = higher chance of incorporation; Farup. 2014)

Still, in view of the fact that regeneration is an energetically costly process, its not 100% certain that a certain amount of carbohydrates may be necessary to see the beneficial effects on satellite cell activity and the changes in maximal voluntary contraction force (not shown).
Reference:

• Farup, et al. "Whey protein supplementation accelerates satellite cell proliferation during recovery from eccentric exercise." Amino Acids (2014). Ahead of print.

Minimal effort, minimal results - While you can lose weight by just adding whey protein to your diet, your success will more than double, when youre willing to work (out) for it four times a week!

Its not a secret that things that diet and exercise are the keys to weight control and health in the 21st century. If you skip only one of the two you can hardly expect optimal results. In that, it is often said that weight, or rather fat loss requires a significant reduction of ones total energy intake; and for athletes and already lean individuals, this may in fact be the case. For the average "free-living overweight or obese" individual, however, the dietary changes that are required can be as simple as adding three servings of 21g of whey protein to their regimen on a daily basis (the scientists found no overall increase in energy intake, this means the 252 extra kcal/day from whey were effectively compensated for by the overweight subjects of the study at hand.
Before you go ahead and buy a bag of whey from the next best Internet supplement vendor, though, I have to tell you that why alone may have some beneficial effects. Without regular exercise, however, you are not going to shed those ~10% abdominal fat, the subjects in the PRISE, i.e. protein, resistance exercise, interval sprint exercise, stretching/yoga/ Pilates, and endurance exercise, group saw over the course of the 16-week study period.

Table 1: Overview of the exercise program in the PRT and the PRISE group (Arciero. 2014)

ASs you can see in Table 1, the subjects trained four times a week. They did so at different rates of perceived effort (RPE) and they performed

• upper-body resistance exercise (UB) for the chest, shoulders, biceps, triceps, and back,
• lower-body resistance exercise (LB) for the quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, and abdomen, 
• sprint interval training, and endurance training (type C) like walking, jogging, running, cycling, swimming, elliptical, rowing, rollerblading, cross-country skiing, etc. and
• supervised stretching, yoga and pilates workouts (in the PRISE group, only, where
  the four types of exercise were cycled on a weekly basis, such that participants performed each of the four exercises, 1 day/wk for a total of four exercise sessions/wk)

and one session (X), where they were free to chose whatever they wanted to do (i.e. resistance training, conditioning exercises, etc.).
During all sessions, the subjects use medicine balls, physioballs, rubber tubes, and bands, which were incorporated into a dynamic warm-up, footwork and agility drills, resistance and power movements, and core and body weight exercises (e.g., lunges, squats, and jumping rope).

Figure 1: Relative changes in body mass, fat mass (subcutanous, visceral and in the abdominal region) and waist circumference over the course of the 4 months study (Arciero. 2014).

If you think thats more than you can handle, you better take another look at the results in Figure 1. Are you really sure you dont have the guts (dont tell me you dont have the time, if you have time to watch TV and lie around lazily on your sofa) to work out on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday?
References:

• Arciero, Paul J., et al. "Timed-daily Ingestion of Whey Protein and Exercise Training Reduces Visceral Adipose Tissue Mass and Improves Insulin Resistance: The PRISE Study." Journal of applied physiology (Bethesda, Md.: 1985) (2014).