Why You Should Not Believe Claims Made by Protein Supplement Makers

If a little protein in your diet can make you strong, then surely adding even more protein through supplements can make you fit enough to step into the ring with ghost of Sugar Ray Robinson, right? You would think so, but unfortunately that is not necessarily true. The fact of biology is that all the cells in your muscles, tendons and ligaments-those parts of the body that work together to give one rippling muscles and a six-pack-depend on protein for daily maintenance.

In addition, the hemoglobin that carries much needed oxygen through the bloodstream is itself a protein. Protein is vital, no question. And that is why there are so many advertisements that protein shakes, protein powders, protein bars. If protein can be added to something, it exists: cookies, tablets, capsules. The list goes on. But do any of these things actually work? Are they necessary?

Back in the good old days before steroid shots could make a guy who'd never hit more than 25 roundtrippers in his entire career suddenly average 50 homers a year, athletes looked to good old-fashioned things like streak and eggs for protein.

What team doctors knew then hasn't changed. Protein is a necessity for both adding more muscle tissue as well as maintaining the musculature God gave you. That isn't to mention the fact that protein is necessary to all those other billions of cells inside your body that have little to do with hitting a baseball out of the park or knocking a 225 Adonis flat on the canvas.

Protein alone cannot do the job of stimulating the growth of muscle tissue. In fact, the human body is so efficiently designed that when excess amounts of protein enter into the mix, it is recognized for what it is and almost immediately gets transformed into fuel.

The result is that the protein is burned up to provide energy. If the protein is not needed for energy, it takes the alternate route: it converts to fat. In other words, ingesting more and more excess protein may not only NOT help to build muscle, it may actually contribute to gaining more fat.