Nutrition and muscle protein synthesis: a descriptive review

Doctors of Chiropractic frequently give therapeutic exercise and nutritional advice to patients. Skeletal muscle's role in health and disease is underappreciated. Creating synergy between protein consumption and exercise promotes protein synthesis and may impact patient outcomes. To review the literature describing protein metabolism and exercise as it relates to the practice of chiropractic health care. The PubMed and Web of Science databases were searched using the key terms protein metabolism, protein synthesis, exercise, whey, soy, and resistance training in various combinations. Limits excluded the use of papers that were not based on human subjects, included infants or disease, or were published before 1988. Thirty papers were ultimately included for analysis. The amount, type and timing of protein consumption all play critical roles in promoting protein synthesis. The intracellular mechanism behind protein synthesis has many interrelated, interesting components. An adaptation to exercise (protein synthesis) can be enhanced by controlling the type of protein, the amount of protein consumed and the timing of protein consumption. Doctors of Chiropractic may impact patient outcomes by using empirical evidence about protein consumption and exercise to maximize protein synthesis.