Plant Protein is as Good as Animal Protein for Building Muscle? New Study Breakdown! | Biolayne

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A new study just dropped demonstrating that a plent blend was as good as whey protein at building muscle over 12 weeks in untrained men undergoing a resistance training program. The headline may surprise some of you, but when I read the full study, I was not surprised at all… why?

Because the plant blend was matched to whey in leucine and total EAAs. When you equalize the actual anabolic signals, the gap closes — which is exactly what my PhD thesis showed nearly 20 years ago.
Study details (PMID: 41059835)
• Randomized, controlled trial in untrained men
• Whey vs. plant blend (pea + soy + added leucine)
• 12-week supervised resistance-training program
• Outcomes: quadriceps cross-sectional area (ultrasound), DEXA, lower-body strength
• Result: Both groups improved significantly, with no between-group differences in hypertrophy or strength.

This is in line with my PhD research which demonstrated that wheat (a poor protein for stimulating muscle protein synthesis) was as good as whey at stimulating MPS when leucine was added to wheat protein to match the leucine content of whey (PMID: 22818257)
Important nuance:
The plant blend used in this study is not commercially available, and appears that it was formulated + fortified to match whey’s leucine/EAA profile. That’s why it performed similarly, not because all plant proteins are inherently equivalent to whey for anabolism
If your plant protein is low in leucine or EAAs… the results won’t look like this. That said, a plant protein sources can still be as anabolic as animal protein sources if their leucine/EAA content is high enough or if you consume enough protein overall
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