I wanted to share this for others who may be searching for answers to this. OK so this whole protien absorption thing has been plaguing my mind lately. There seems to be different opinions out there. I went searching on the internet and the only site I could find that discuss it are body builder sites not medical or bariatric. So I spoke to a friend of mine who is a food scientist today. He actually specializes in protien supplements for bariatric patients! For what it is worth he says that most protien is absorbed when the food is in your stomach although the intestines absorb as well not nearly as much. He doesn't know of any specific amount of protien that is too much but says the body will absorb what it needs and get rid of the rest as fecal matter. Now if you are eating huge amounts of calories the excess calories will be stored as fat, but whether it is the carbs the protien or the fat that gets stored first it is easiest to store the carbs so they would likely be first. So if you ate 5,000 calories of protien a day and no carbs much of that would be stored as fat but if you ate 1,000 cal of protien none of it would be stored as fat even if it was 200+g of protien I hope that makes sense the way I wrote it. There will probably continue to be differences of opinion on this but I now have peace of mind about it. Oh and next time I see my surgeon I am asking him too

Well this initially started as a search to find out if it was worth it to buy protien shakes that have 30g+ of protien in them. I am still not fully satisfied that say those 3oz shots of 42g of protien are a waste. I would love some real answers backed up by medical websites that are in plain english as to whether the body can use 42g of protien in one meal what is the magic number? Obviously obsene amounts of protien are a big mistake. But if we are supposed to have 60-80g a day why not have it all at once or in two meals? It seems to me that nomatter what it is calories in the end that determine weight gain or loss. Eating enough protien prevents our body from burning muscle eating too much protien can lead to other health problems like gout. We all know what a healthy per day total is for us from our nutritionists if no one else. But it still begs the question of how much can be absorbed from one meal. If it truly absorbs all the way through the intestines then it would be in our system for what like 24hr's? It seems that in that time it would make the argument moot whether a 42g shot of protien is a waste or not. I am not trying to be argumentative. I am just frustrated at the lack of solid information I have been able to find via the internet. Every source seems to disagree and most of the sources I have seen on the internet are body building sites and I'm sorry but I don't believe their info is necessarily correct for the general public at least. I just want real answers that are backed up by something that is written in lay language so that I can follow it. Jack I love you but with all your technical talk you lose me, I was a music major not a science major.

Now I know this is a stupid question and has probably been asked and answered before. And....sometime during my lengthy life someone has probably explained it to me before but...why can't we get Protein in a concentrated pill form?

Thanks for any input!

If Protein digestion isn't complicated enough, take a look at the Kreb's cycle to see what steps ARE involved in the enzymatic processing chain. Fascinating.

AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! NOOOOOO!!!!!! The mere mention of the term "Kreb's Cycle" makes me sweat and sends my sympathetic nervous system into overload!!

Oh those many nights trying desperately to understand it, or at least memorize it!

I was told that our bodies can only absorb 20-25 grams of Protein at a time, which is why i split those 42gram test tubes into two doses, one in the morning and one in the evening...

My question is this: if on day one i get 30g of protein and the next day I get 90g...does it all equal out in the end? will my body be negatively affected by not getting enough protein on day one? or will it not matter as long as I get it all in within a few days? ...hope that makes sense.

Thanks,

Virginia

Women should go for 60grams a day? Is that enough?

Jack, you are the coolest!!!

Thanks to all of you who are trying to make this difficult concept accessible, I really do appreciate it. My whole reason for liking to get about half of my days protien in the form of a shake is so that I have room in my little pouch for things like veggies! I try and eat one mostly veggie meal per day it may not actually be enough of them but it makes me feel better

I idd know that and I love V-8 juice but I do have a sensitive stomach to acids so am afraid to try it. I'm one of those that everytime I have something with a lot of tomato or garlic or even one bite of bacon i get heartburn, no other time just then. Maybe I should try it and just take a pepcid and have it over with, lol.