Protein and Adolescent Athletes

Protein is important in muscle growth and repair, immune function, and our ability to maintain adequate energy levels. Given the continuing development of adolescent athletes and the frequency at which they are breaking down and rebuilding muscle tissue, maintaining adequate protein intake is essential. However, it is rare that adolescent athletes aren’t naturally taking in enough protein. In fact, the current trends for protein intake are 2 to 3 times higher in the United States and Europe than is currently recommended.  

Despite this high protein intake, recent studies have found that up to 50% of teenage boys and 20% of teenage girls had used a protein supplement in the past year (Svantorp-Tveiten et al., 2020). The common belief is that higher protein intake promotes increased muscle growth and faster recovery.  With this in mind, protein supplements and creatine have been a popular trend since the early 1990s. This raises the question of how much protein an adolescent athlete needs and what the source of this protein should be to support growth and performance best.

How much protein should an adolescent athlete consume?

If young athletes adequately meet their energy consumption needs, a .6 to .7 g/lb (1.5 g/kg) of protein is a good rule of thumb (Hecht et al., 2023). While it is common for young athletes to focus on consuming large amounts of protein during meals, dispersing protein consumption evenly throughout the day is a more effective strategy.  With an emphasis on ensuring protein intake at breakfast, a practical strategy is to focus on spreading protein intake throughout the day at 3 to 4-hour intervals.  This can include core meals and a couple of snacks.  This balanced approach will support muscle growth and recovery.  

Does consuming excess amounts of protein help build muscle?

Despite the common perception, consuming high amounts of protein beyond your recommended intake does not support muscle growth.  It can cause a number of health complications, including gastrointestinal issues, dehydration, and kidney damage.  When our body metabolizes protein, it breaks it down into amino acids, forming new proteins that support cell growth and repair.  Consuming more protein than we need inhibits this process. The excess protein is stored as fat and can cause an adverse metabolic effect on our skeletal system, kidneys, and liver.  

What food items are good sources of dietary protein?

It is currently estimated that over half the adolescents in the United States do not meet their basic nutritional requirements.  This especially concerns adolescent athletes with higher nutritional needs based on their energy output and growth.  Focusing on quality instead of quantity will allow a young athlete to ensure their intake of essential vitamins and minerals necessary to ensure a healthy metabolism.  Poultry, fish, beef, eggs, dairy products, beans, nuts, and seeds are all good sources of high-quality protein.  The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA)  MyPlate website is a good resource for more information on protein sources.

Protein Supplements

Despite not being recommended, if an adolescent athlete does decide to use a protein supplement, there are several factors to consider.  First, what are the other nutritional characteristics of the product?  For instance, some protein powders contain as much as 23 grams of added sugar per serving.  Also, introducing supplements into the dietary habits of an adolescent could create an early reliance on supplements instead of nutrient-rich food sources. Lastly, the FDA loosely monitors these products, leading to inaccurate packaging and misrepresentation of the nutritional content.  A dietician, nutritionist, or health professional must be consulted before the use of supplements.

Here is an easy, crowd-pleasing recipe for a teen athlete to get a jump start on their protein consumption at breakfast. Depending on substitutions, this recipe will provide 20 to 30 grams of protein as well as a number of other nutrients.  

Ingredients

2 Tbsp. Peanut Butter

1 medium-sized Banana (Frozen)

1 cup milk

⅓ cup Rolled Oats

½ cup Greek Yogurt

1 to 2 Tbsp. of Maple Syrup or Honey as a sweetener

1 to 2 Tbsp. Hemp seed, chia seeds, or flax Seed to add nutritional value

Directions

1. Blend all ingredients to a smooth texture.  Add extra milk to thin the consistency or more oats to thicken.

2. Serve immediately

Nutritional Notes

● Hemp seeds, chia seeds, and flax seeds each provide a nutritional boost to your smoothie, providing added protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and a number of other important micronutrients.  

● Changing the milk or yogurt to a plant-based or varying the fat content (nonfat, 2%, whole, etc.) can significantly impact the total calories of this recipe.