Protein Breakdown! Good or Bad?
“Protein breakdown!” Sounds scary. The word “breakdown” make us think something is wrong. And if protein breakdown is a bad thing, anything that prevents protein breakdown must be good for us, right?
In fact, the folks at your local supplement shop will tell you that something that prevents protein breakdown is worth $49.99 or more and is the key to building rock-hard muscle!
What do we really know about protein breakdown, though?
The breakdown of proteins in our bodies plays a big role in keeping us healthy. Breaking down proteins helps us maintain functional, non-damaged proteins in our bodies. Protein breakdown also helps build muscles and make us stronger.
Our bodies “tag” damaged or non-functioning proteins in our muscles. Those proteins are recycled, or broken down, and valuable amino acids are provided in their place. This is an important first step toward building muscles.
The breakdown process also provides amino acids used to build proteins in our internal organs and other important parts of our bodies. As much as 80 percent of amino acids that come from protein breakdown are re-used in protein-building metabolism.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, protein breakdown makes up as much as 70 percent of our resting metabolic rates. The recycling of amino acids in our bodies is a normal, ongoing process which helps keep us healthy and which burns many of our daily calories.
That doesn’t sound so scary anymore, does it?
Not all protein breakdown occurs in your muscles. Some tissues break down faster than others, and, in fact, relative to the rest of our bodies, very little protein breakdown actually occurs in our muscles.
During a 7-day fast, a person’s liver will lose 40 percent of its nitrogen, and his or her gastrointestinal system will lose up to 28 percent. During the same fast, only about 8 percent of the nitrogen in a person’s muscle, skin and skeleton is lost.
Protein breakdown is an essential part of a body’s metabolism. It also repairs tissues and builds new, healthy proteins for the body. It fuels the amount of calories burned each day, and it plays an important role in a person’s ability to build muscle – but it doesn’t break down muscles at an accelerated rate.