Even though sugar and alanine make insulin go up, that doesn’t stop your muscles from breaking down any more than protein alone does.

46

Pro

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Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

46

Community contributions welcome

46

Addition of carbohydrate or alanine to an essential amino acid mixture does not enhance human skeletal muscle protein anabolism.

Randomized Controlled Trial

Human

2013 Mar

Even when people took amino acids plus sugar or alanine (which made their insulin spike high), their muscles didn’t break down any less than when they took just amino acids. So, high insulin didn’t stop muscle breakdown like some thought it would.

Contradicting (0)

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No contradicting evidence found

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

Addition of carbohydrate or alanine to an essential amino acid mixture does not enhance human skeletal muscle protein anabolism.

Score: 46

DOI: 10.3945/jn.112.168203

Similar Assertions

Adequate dietary protein intake stimulates sufficient insulin secretion to maximize suppression of muscle protein breakdown, rendering additional carbohydrate intake redundant for insulin-mediated anabolic signaling.

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Even if you pump insulin into a healthy young person’s body and boost certain amino acids by 150%, their muscles still won’t grow more—because insulin needs other amino acids too to make muscle.

33

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Insulin doesn’t make your muscles grow bigger after lifting weights—it just helps stop your muscles from breaking down, especially if you’ve eaten enough protein.

1

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