Timing and pattern of post-exercise protein ingestion affects whole body protein balance in healthy children: a randomized trial

The dose and timing of post-exercise protein ingestion can influence WBPB in adults, although comparable data from children are scarce. This study investigated how protein intake (both, amount and distribution) post-exercise can affect WBPB in physically active children. Thirty-five children (26 males; 9-13 years old) underwent a 5-d adaptation diet consuming 0.95 g protein·kg-1·d-1. To assess whole body protein kinetics over 6h and 24h of recovery, participants consumed 2 mg·kg-1 [15N]glycine before performing 3 × 20-min of variable intensity cycling. Fifteen grams of protein was distributed across 2 isoenergetic carbohydrate-containing beverages (i.e. 15 and 240 min post-exercise) containing reciprocal amounts of protein [i.e., 0 + 15 g, 5 + 10 g, 10 + 5 g and 15 + 0 g for Groups A-D, respectively]. Over the 6-h that included the exercise bout and the first beverage at 15 min post-exercise, WBPB (i.e. synthesis – breakdown) demonstrated a linear increase of 0.647 g·kg-1·d-1 per 1 g protein intake (PThe accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author