Dr. Rhonda Patrick

Compared to the other component of milk protein like casein, whey protein is more rapidly digested and stimulates muscle protein synthesis

more effectively at rest and after exercise, making it a go-to protein source for many athletes.

The slower digestion of casein compared to whey isn't necessarily a downside because this means casein provides a prolonged release of amino acids that can be helpful for sustaining the muscle protein synthesis response for a longer period of time.

Whey and casein protein are both much higher quality protein sources than collagen, which has a lower quality amino acid profile.

It's rich in glycine and proline, but lacks essential amino acids like leucine.

Furthermore, collagen does not significantly enhance muscle protein synthesis,

or muscle connective protein synthesis at rest or after exercise, making it a suboptimal protein choice for those engaged in resistance training and wanting to improve skeletal muscle protein synthesis.

It should be clear from our discussion thus far that dietary protein, especially when optimized to suit your individual goals and needs, has an array of health benefits for nearly everyone.

It's performance enhancing, anti-aging from the standpoint of frailty prevention,

and can help you lose weight however this might come as a surprise to many but there is a school of thought within the aging community that too much dietary protein increases cancer risk and contributes to accelerated aging yet today many athletes consume a high protein diet and the fact of the matter is being an athlete even a recreational one is one of the best things we can do to age well

This is both intuitively and scientifically obvious.

How do we reconcile these facts?

Let's get into it.

Some researchers argue that a high protein intake, especially for meat, accelerates aging and even raises the risk of cancer and early death.

This idea stems largely from laboratory studies showing that restricting protein intake extends lifespan in animals and observational data linking high animal protein diets

to a higher mortality rate.

Supporting this idea, one study found that middle-aged adults consuming high-protein diets where 20% of their calories came from protein were 75% more likely to die from any cause and four times more likely to die from cancer.

This is a pretty shocking statistic and animal evidence corroborates some of this at the mechanistic level.

However, there is more to this story.

In another major study, middle-aged adults consuming high protein diets did show increased mortality rates, but only if they had other unhealthy lifestyle factors like obesity, smoking, heavy drinking, or being sedentary.