Bromelain and other proteolytic enzyme supplements?

[SNC]

Has anyone tried a proteolytic enzyme supplement and noticed any difference? I am looking for a way to increase protein uptake.

 

[mike8675309]

Do you have a medical condition that results in your pancreas not creating enough enzymes on its own? If you want to try to take in such enzyme's you could do it cheap and easy to see if you notice results. Just buy a whole pineapple , cut off the peal, quarter it and include the core. Chunk it and make smoothies with it. Bromelain is the protease enzyme found in the juice and stem of the pineapple.

 

[SNC]

Do you have a medical condition that results in your pancreas not creating enough enzymes on its own? If you want to try to take in such enzyme's you could do it cheap and easy to see if you notice results. Just buy a whole pineapple , cut off the peal, quarter it and include the core. Chunk it and make smoothies with it. Bromelain is the protease enzyme found in the juice and stem of the pineapple.

Condition no, unless old age and time can be considered a condition. What prompted my question was while searching for protein absorption rates I came across a few sites that referenced a "study" by a Helen Kollias, Ph.D.,



Kollias says that you can improve whey protein absorption in your body by supplementing certain digestive enzymes to make the digestion process more efficient. She mentions two digestive enzymes in particular, Aspergillus niger and Aspergillus oryzae, which when consumed alongside whey protein showed a much higher absorption rate. Ingesting 5 g of these digestive enzymes with whey protein resulted in nearly a 100 percent improved absorption rate compared to if you were to ingest 2.5 g of the same digestive enzymes with whey protein.

I was just wondering if anyone here had experience with any of the proteolytic enzyme supplements. If a higher absorption rate can be had just by supplementing a few enzymes, it might be worth a try.

 

[mike8675309]

The only people I have ever been aware of that have issues with absorption of protein are those with an actual genetic issue that makes it harder for their body to absorb protein or in the elderly who do develop issues with their pancreas and along with their often decrease in nutritions and eating enough calories will have issues with protein.

There are no medical reports of protein deficiency in the general population regardless of how much protein content in processed foods is used as an advertising ploy.

Those trying to accelerate strength training or bodybuilding may need to increase their caloric intake with a higher percentage of their macros being protein. That can mean adding more beans or lentils to your diet. For example, I lift heavy to gain strength. This past Sunday I was out of protein powder which I usually add to my post workout smoothie. So instead I added a can of well rinsed navy beans. With the beans, mangos, strawberries, bananas, and spinach added to my smoothie I had about 1200 calories for that meal with around 30g of protein.

 

[SNC]

The only people I have ever been aware of that have issues with absorption of protein are those with an actual genetic issue that makes it harder for their body to absorb protein or in the elderly who do develop issues with their pancreas and along with their often decrease in nutritions and eating enough calories will have issues with protein.

There are no medical reports of protein deficiency in the general population regardless of how much protein content in processed foods is used as an advertising ploy.

Those trying to accelerate strength training or bodybuilding may need to increase their caloric intake with a higher percentage of their macros being protein. That can mean adding more beans or lentils to your diet. For example, I lift heavy to gain strength. This past Sunday I was out of protein powder which I usually add to my post workout smoothie. So instead I added a can of well rinsed navy beans. With the beans, mangos, strawberries, bananas, and spinach added to my smoothie I had about 1200 calories for that meal with around 30g of protein.

So I'm not talking about issues per say with absorption, I'm trying to get info on increasing the natural rate of 15-18 grams per hour. With only 1.5 hours that the protein has to be absorbed, that is only 22-32 grams that can be used the rest is passed in the form of waste. What I'm wondering is; is there a way to increase the uptake per serving with a simple increase in enzymes.

 

[mike8675309]

I ate my smoothie over 2 hours. If you want to get more value from your shake, drink it slower?
I understand now what you are trying to do, I just do not see the value of it. Since anecdotally no one really talks about it generally it seems to be something that isn't worth worrying about unless your training is suffering.

 

[SNC]

I ate my smoothie over 2 hours. If you want to get more value from your shake, drink it slower?
I understand now what you are trying to do, I just do not see the value of it. Since anecdotally no one really talks about it generally it seems to be something that isn't worth worrying about unless your training is suffering.

Again, I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel here, but if a small increase of very inexpensive enzymes can contribute to the uptake of more expensive protein, it deserves looking into. Unless we are just going to stop and live the words of Charles Duell and just give up.
I get your point, you don't think it will help.

 

[Ancalagon44]

So I'm not talking about issues per say with absorption, I'm trying to get info on increasing the natural rate of 15-18 grams per hour. With only 1.5 hours that the protein has to be absorbed, that is only 22-32 grams that can be used the rest is passed in the form of waste. What I'm wondering is; is there a way to increase the uptake per serving with a simple increase in enzymes.

Not whey protein. See here.

Whey protein is one of the highest quality proteins available to us as humans, and thus one of the best absorbed. The protein in peanut butter, for instance, might not be completely absorbed, but not whey protein.

Fun fact - when you eat protein of any kind, your body deliberately slows down digestion in order to extract as much nutritional value as it can.

When people talk about digestion issues with whey protein, as far as I know they are referring to the lactose in it and not the protein. Some whey protein mixes are hydrolyzed, which means they have been partially broken down (denatured) already. That does make it slightly easier for your body to absorb. But as I said, whey protein is already the best protein available - it literally has the highest PDCAAS score available.

Anyway, the point is this - your body is pretty efficient at absorbing protein, and whey protein happens to be an excellent source of protein.

 

[mike8675309]

Anyway, the point is this - your body is pretty efficient at absorbing protein, and whey protein happens to be an excellent source of protein.

Whey protein is only an excellent source of protein in relation to the OP's request. Health wise there are much better sources of protein than whey protein. Many of which are simply eating plenty of protein rich whole plant foods.