PROGENEX RECOVERY:
Scientific Review of Whey Protein Hydrolysates and Sports Performance

Sports performance is associated with several physiological challenges:

dehydration, depletion of muscle fuels, increased oxidant formation, mechanical
damage to muscle, oxidation of essential amino acids leading to immune
suppression and low recovery from exercise.

Therefore, many athletes look for an edge to enhance performance, endurance,

stamina, muscle strength and/or decrease recovery time. Some individuals use
improved training, better nutrition, individual supplements or combination of
specific nutrients before, after or during training to target desired outcomes based
on scientific studies in the literature.

PROGENEX, a science-based company, has formulated RECOVERY using a whey

protein hydrolysate, with a very high percentage of di- and tripeptides, to improve
recovery time and speed tissue repair from eccentric exercise-induced muscle
damage.

Basic Facts about Protein Hydrolysates

Not all protein hydrolysates are created equal. While all protein hydrolysates are
produced from purified protein sources by heating with acid or preferably addition
of proteolytic enzymes followed by a purification process (1), each protein
hydrolysate is a complex mixture of peptides of different chain lengths along with
free amino acids. Two protein hydrolysates made by different methods may have a
similar degree of hydrolysis but their absorption kinetics based on their proportion
of di- and tripeptides are likely quite different.

Absorption of Protein Hydrolysates

Research in 1994 established that only di- and tripeptides are absorbed intact after
luminal and brush-border peptidase digestion (2). Longer chain peptides undergo
hydrolysis at the brush-border before they can be absorbed. More importantly, the
proportion of di- and tripeptides determines the absorption kinetics of a protein
hydrolysate (3). Adi-bi and Morse (4) established that tetraglycine undergoes
hydrolysis by brush border oligopeptidases in the human jejunum; the hydrolysis of
tetraglycine to either di- or tripeptides is the rate limiting step in the uptake of
glycine; greater glycine uptake occurs from di- and triglycine than from free
glycine. Protein hydrolysates containing a preponderance of di- and tripeptides,
such as whey protein hydrolysate, are absorbed faster than intact proteins and free
amino acids. Under conditions of rapid intestinal infusion, amino acids from protein
hydrolysates appear in the portal circulation faster than even free amino acids (5)

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Utilization of Whey Protein Hydrolysates

Fast-acting protein hydrolysates and/or amino acids supplements result in less
efficient uptake by the splanchnic bed—liver and portal-drained viscera (stomach,
intestines, pancreas and spleen)—increasing the magnitude of amino acids in the
systemic circulation that are available for muscle growth and repair (muscle protein
anabolism) (1). First pass extraction by splanchnic tissues describes the proportion
of ingested amino acids that is sequestered during its initial transit through the
splanchnic bed and not appearing in systemic blood (6). The portal-drained viscera
can account for between 20 to 35 % of whole body protein turnover and energy
expenditure (6). Therefore, the kinetics of amino acid absorption can substantially
modulate their ability to stimulate muscle protein anabolism. An oral supplement
containing 30g of carbohydrate and 15g of essential amino acids induces a
substantially greater anabolic effect than ingestion of a mixed meal containing a
similar amount of essential amino acids (7). Ingestion of whey protein hydrolysate
results in a larger increase in blood amino acids and mixed muscle protein synthesis
than soy protein or casein both at rest and after resistance exercise (8).

Whey Hydrolysates, Body Composition, Muscular Strength, Performance

And Recovery
During training: Recreational male bodybuilders supplemented their normal diet
with either whey protein hydrolysate or casein (1.5g/kg body weight/day) during a
10 week supervised resistance training program (9). The group supplemented with
whey hydrolysate achieved substantially greater gains in muscle strength and lean
body mass compared to the casein group (9).

Post training: To determine whether hydrolyzed whey protein speeds recovery

following isometric exercise, males performed 100 maximal eccentric contractions
of their knee extensors and then consumed either 24g of hydrolyzed whey protein
or intact whey protein. Peak isometric torque recovered fully in 6 hours for
individuals given the whey protein hydrolysate whereas it remained suppressed in
the group given intact whey protein (10).

Therefore, whey protein hydrolysates offer ergogenic benefits when consumed

during and after exercise.

Comparison Of Glucose Verses Glucose And Whey/Casein Hydrolysates Or

Branched Chain Amino Acids On Muscle Glycogen Resynthesis. (Animal
Studies)
Fully restored muscle glycogen levels are critical to recovery and future training. If
muscle glycogen stores are not fully recovered, the time to exhaustion diminishes
resulting in reduced training ability.

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Knowing what specific nutrients can boost muscle glycogen stores can improve an
athlete’s performance. Morifuji et al (11) fed male Sprague-Dawley rats either
glucose alone, glucose + whey protein, glucose + whey protein hydrolysate,
glucose + casein hydrolysate or glucose + branched chain amino acids immediately
after a glycogen-depleting exercise. Only the rats given the glucose + whey protein
hydrolysate had significant increases in skeletal muscle glycogen levels compared
to the other protein sources or BCAA.

Using rat L6 myotubes, Morifuji et al (12) showed that branched chain amino acid-
containing di-peptides in whey protein hydrolysate (Ile-Leu, Leu-Val, Val-Leu, Ile-
Ile, Leu-Ile, Ile, Leu) significantly stimulated glucose uptake using an in vitro
model. These researchers also demonstrated that the main di-peptide in whey
protein hydrolysate (Ile-Leu) stimulated glucose uptake in rat isolated epitrochlearis
muscles.

Therefore, whey protein hydrolysate enhances the effects of carbohydrate ingestion

on post-exercise muscle glycogen resynthesis for both in vivo and in vitro models.

Insulin Secretion And Skeletal Muscle Anabolism

The most important trigger for insulin secretion is glucose. However, secretion of
insulin can be induced by amino acids as well. Leucine is a potent insulintropic
molecule, but recent evidence suggests that a rise in glucose concentration is
necessary for leucine to stimulate significant insulin secretion (13).

Additional research has shown that insulin-induced increase in muscle protein

anabolism is age dependent. In young adults, insulin is mainly permissive rather
than stimulatory for muscle protein anabolism, whereas in older adults super high
levels of insulin appear to be necessary to stimulate muscle protein anabolism (14).

To learn more about PROGENEX’s high-quality whey protein hydrolysates visit

www.progenexusa.com

References:
1. Manninen, AH. Protein hydrolysates in sports nutrition. Nutr & Metab 2009,
6:38-43.

2. Grimble GK. The significance of peptides in clinical nutrition. Annul Rev Nutr
1994, 14:419-447.

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3. Grimble GK, Guilera SM, Sesay HF. The influence of whey hydrolysate peptide
chain length on nitrogen and carbohydrate absorption in the perfused human
jejunum. Clin Nutr 1994, 13:46.

4. Adi-bi SA, Morse EL. The number of glycine residues, which limits intact
absorption of glycine oligopeptides in human jejunum. J Clin Invest 1997,
60:1008-1016.

5. Monchi M, Rerat AA. Comparison of net protein utilization of milk protein milk
enzymatic hydrolysates and free amino acid mixture with a close pattern in the rat.
J Parenter Enteral Nutr 1993, 17:355-363.

6. Stoll B, Burrin DG. Measuring splanchinic amino acid metabolism in vivo using
stable isotope tracers. J. Anim Sci 2006, 84 (Suppl) E:60-72.

7. Paddon-Jones D, Sheffield-Moore M, Arasland A, Wolfe RR, Ferrando AA.

Exogenous amino acids stimulate human muscle anabolism without interfering with
the response to mixed meal ingestion. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 2005, 288:
E761-767.

8. Tang JE, Moore DR, Kuijbida GW, Tarnopolsky MA, Phillips SM. Ingestion of
whey hydrolysate, casein, or soy protein isolate effects on mixed muscle protein
synthesis at rest and following resistance exercise in young men. J Appl Physiol
2009, 107:987-992.

9. Cribb PJ, Williams CD, Carey MF, Hayes A. The effect of whey isolate and
resistance training on strength, body composition and plasma glutamine. Int J
Sport Nutr Exerc Metab 2006, 16:494-509.

10. Buckley JD, Thompson RL, Coates AM, Howe PR, DeNichilo MO, Rowney MK.
Supplementation with a whey protein hydrolysate enhances recovery of muscle
force-generating capacity following eccentric exercise. J Sci Med Sport 2010,
13:178-181.

11. Morifuji M, Kanda A, Koga J, Kawanaka K, Higuchi M. Post exercise

carbohydrate plus whey protein hydrolysates supplementation increases skeletal
muscle glycogen level in rats. Amino Acids 2010, 38: 1109-1015.

12. Morifuji M, Koga J, Kawanaka K, Higuchi M. Branched-chain amino acid-

containing di-peptides, identified from whey protein hydrolysates, stimulate glucose
uptake rate of L6 myotubes and isolated skeletal muscles. J Nutr Sci Vitaminol
(Tokyo) 2009, 55: 81-86.

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13. Kalogeropoulou D, Lafave L, Schweim K, Gannon MC, Nuttall FQ. Leucine, when
ingested with glucose, synergistically stimulates insulin secretion and lowers blood
glucose. Metabolism 2008, 57:1747-1752.

14. Fujita S, Glynn EL, Timmerman KL, Rasmussen BB, Volpi E. Supra-
physiological hyperinsulinaemia is necessary to stimulate skeletal muscle protein
anabolism in older adults: evidence of a true age-related insulin resistance of
muscle protein metabolism. Di-abetologia 2009, 52:1889-1898.

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