Not only men, whey protein benefits women as well: Study
Agreed, that it is not a very common sight to spot a girl sweating out in the gym. Still, noticing a girl lifting weights, doing push-ups, perfecting squats is quite a visual delight for most gym-goers. So possibly, all you girls aspire to get those enviable abs, well-sculpted back and toned legs. But rewind a bit! To achieve all this, there is loads of hard work involved. Your dietary intake together with exercises plays a key role here.
While you may include all healthy diet options to curb the fat and provide the necessary energy, you may still need some supplements to help you achieve your fitness goals. To cope up with all the stress your body undergoes in the gym, supplements like Whey Protein help you immensely.
It is a well-known fact that men benefit a lot from the consumption of protein supplements, the same can be said for the women for the first time. According to a study conducted by the Purdue University, whey protein supplements and exercise help women improve body composition.
"There is a public perception that whey protein supplementation will lead to bulkiness in women, and these findings show that is not the case," said Wayne Campbell, senior author on the study. "Whey protein supplementation favors a modest increase in lean mass of less than 1 percent, while not influencing fat mass."
The study was led by Robert Bergia and associate Joshua Hudson also contributed.
"Whey protein supplementation, when combined with physical activity, is shown to be an effective strategy to achieve a leaner body composition in men, but notably, females are underrepresented in this line of research. Sixty-eight percent of studies in the most-cited whey protein supplementation review included only males and we wanted to focus on what this means for women," Campbell said.
More than 1,800 nutrition articles were screened across journal databases to identify 13 suitable studies with 28 intervention groups that were related to this topic.
The studies were selected based on specific factors including the inclusion of healthy women participants, consumption of whey protein supplements, exercising, information on changes in lean body mass, and a minimum of six weeks' duration for each of the studies.
"Although more research is needed to specifically assess the effects of varying states of energy sufficiency and exercise training, the overall findings support that consuming whey protein supplements may aid women seeking to modestly improve body composition, especially when they are reducing energy intake to lose body weight," Bergia said.
The study appears in the journal Nutrition Reviews.
( With ANI Inputs)
