Ep 313 - Is More (and More, and More) Protein Better for Muscle Retention?

Iron Culture

The MASS Crew

Sports & Recreation, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 827 Ratings

🗓️ 5 February 2025

⏱️ 103 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of Iron Culture, hosts Dr. Eric Helms and Dr. Eric Trexler are joined by Dr. Martin Refalo to discuss their recent meta-regression study on protein intake and its effects on muscle hypertrophy. They cover Martin's background, the initiation of the project, the methods used, and key findings, followed by a discussion of some critiques that have been generating discussion on social media platforms. The conversation emphasizes the importance of understanding statistical approaches in research and the implications of their findings for the fitness community. In this conversation, the Erics and Martin discuss the complexities of statistical modeling in nutrition research, the importance of parsimony, the risks of overfitting, and the challenges of controlling for covariates. The conversation also touches on the debate surrounding scaling protein recommendations by fat-free mass versus total mass, critiques of previous research on protein requirements for hypertrophy, and the ways in which these new findings support (and contradict) the authors’ previously held biases. Throughout the episode, they reflect on the evolution of research in the fitness industry and the importance of engaging with critiques and feedback. Ultimately, they emphasize the need for thoughtful, contextualized, individualized application of their findings while acknowledging key limitations of their work.

Time stamps:

00:00 Music

13:00 Introducing Dr Martin Refalo Iron Culture Ep. 197- Training To Failure: A Comprehensive Overview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oa8Z-fUuiNU

18:23 How did we get to the meta-regression and an overview of the methods

Refalo 2025 Effect of Dietary Protein on Fat-Free Mass in Energy Restricted, Resistance-Trained Individuals: An Updated Systematic Review With Meta-Regression https://journals.lww.com/nsca-scj/fulltext/9900/effect_of_dietary_protein_on_fat_free_mass_in.179.aspx

Helms 2014 A systematic review of dietary protein during caloric restriction in resistance trained lean athletes: a case for higher intakes https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24092765/

33:44 The main findings

43:53 Addressing the critiques

57:03 Scaling protein recommendations to fat-free mass vs body mass and why there was no break-point analysis

Morton 2018 A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28698222/

Tagawa 2020 Dose-response relationship between protein intake and muscle mass increase: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33300582/

Nunes 2022 Systematic review and meta-analysis of protein intake to support muscle mass and function in healthy adults https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35187864/

1:20:40 The practical recommendations

1:35:44 Types and the categorization of data and the secondary analyses

Murphy 2022 Energy deficiency impairs resistance training gains in lean mass but not strength: A meta-analysis and meta-regression https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34623696/

1:51:57 Quick Q&A Software for systematic reviews and meta-analyses

1:53:40 Final thoughts on the research and closing out

Where to find Martin: Instagram @mrfitness__ https://www.instagram.com/mrfitness__/?hl=en

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everybody. Welcome to Iron Culture presented by Mass. It is Monday night my time. Who knows what time it is for the esteemed gentlemen that are joining me. It's really impossible to say. But anyway, it is absolutely a pleasure to be here as always. And what a
0:22.8	treat, because I am joined not only by the good Dr. Helms, but also by our colleague, our dear friend,
0:32.0	Dr. Martin Ruffalo, who was the, really the brains behind our recent meta-regression, which covered protein intake,
0:41.7	with many caveats and details and qualifiers and so on. But before we get in all the big stuff,
0:47.4	I just want to welcome everyone. Martin, since you're new here, welcome. How are you doing tonight?
0:53.5	I'm, yeah, so it's my 11 a.m. here in
0:56.7	Melbourne. It's nearly 33 degrees, so it's getting pretty hot, and I'm doing well. Thank you for
1:02.2	having me. And that's 33 degrees Celsius, which is actually, interesting fact, cannot be converted to
1:09.8	Fahrenheit. Really? Yeah yeah not by me not by
1:13.8	anyone I know but I'll take your word for it that it's more it's hot and Martin why don't
1:19.2	you tell the good folks about your background tell them about yourself where you've been
1:22.5	what you do all that kind of stuff for sure so I recently graduated from my PhD supervised by Dr. Jackson
1:29.0	Vife here in Melbourne and my personal supervisor was Dr. Eric Helms. We were, you know, fortunate
1:36.0	enough to be able to conduct many studies across the PhD period, which I know sometimes students
1:42.1	don't get the chance to do, especially during COVID. It was very hard, so it was fortunate to have a good experience.
1:47.2	And, yeah, since graduated, I conducted a lot of research looking at the influence of
1:51.9	proximity to failure on muscle hypertrophy.
1:53.9	And this really is the kind of, really marks a decade of me studying exercise science.
2:02.0	And throughout that whole time period,
2:03.5	I've also been working in the industry,
2:06.4	you know, varying from full-time to part-time doing what I can to balance both,
2:09.9	but I'm also a full-time coach, both face-to-face and online.
	...

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