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Sunday, October 11, 2009

Why Does Whey Protein Help You Lose Weight?


Whey protein is the preferred protein supplement for weight lifters, people wanting to lose fat, and people looking for a healthy drink. It is made from dehydrated whey, which comes from dairy milk, and marketed as a protein powder.

All serious bodybuilders take whey protein as a supplement after a draining workout. Why is it so popular?

To help understand the popularity of whey protein, you need to understand it's composition. Whey protein is made up of of several different types of proteins: Alpha-lactoglobulin, Beta-lactoglobulin, Bovine serum albumin (BSA), Immunoglobulins, lactoferrin, and lactoferricin. It also is full of calcium, potassium, sodium, phosphorous and several vitamins.

First of all, whey protein is an extremely balanced source of amino acids and protein peptides. This means its nutritious and helps your body create muscle. Secondly it has a high efficiently for absorption by your body. It is easier to turn into new muscle than egg, soy, or other meat proteins.

The antioxidant, glutathione, cannot be produced unless you have plenty of an amino acid called cysteine. Luckily, whey protein is full of this particular amino acid cysteine.

In order to make new muscle tissue as quickly as possible, your body needs the branched-chain amino acids leucine, isoleucine, valine. Whey is full of the BCAAs, and especially with leucine it helps synthesize new muscle after a exhausting workout. This reason alone is enough to make whey protein an important post-workout supplement if you are really serious about gaining muscle.

The chemical glutamine is also found in whey protein. This molecule aids in muscle recovery and gets you back to the gym faster!

Compared against other proteins available, whey protein is the fastest to be absorbed by your body. In it's form of whey protein isolate it might be absorbed up to 3 times faster than other proteins like casein, cheese, meat, etc.

Another huge ancillary benefit of whey protein powder is that lactose, which is found in most whey protein mixtures, is used by your body too. Inside your intestines it becomes galacto-oligosaccharides - these chemicals are good for your intestinal bacteria. Without these bacteria your digestion would fail.

Source: EasyArticles

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