Even though whey protein made muscles build faster, it didn’t change the usual ‘on/off’ switches in muscle cells that are supposed to control growth—suggesting other mechanisms are at play.

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Whey protein but not collagen peptides stimulate acute and longer-term muscle protein synthesis with and without resistance exercise in healthy older women: a randomized controlled trial.

Randomized Controlled Trial

Human

2020 Mar 1

This study didn’t check the specific muscle signals mentioned in the claim, but it did find that whey protein helps older women build more muscle than collagen, with or without exercise — so the claim might be missing something important.

Source Study

Whey protein but not collagen peptides stimulate acute and longer-term muscle protein synthesis with and without resistance exercise in healthy older women: a randomized controlled trial.

Score: 66

DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/nqz332

Similar Assertions

Whey protein made muscles grow faster, but it didn’t turn on the usual ‘growth switches’ in the cells—meaning it must be working through a different, unknown way.

84%

After drinking whey protein shakes every day for a week, older women’s muscles kept building up new protein even on days they didn’t exercise—collagen protein didn’t do this at all.

83%

Even with daily exercise, collagen protein shakes didn’t help older women’s muscles build new protein over a week—whey did, but collagen didn’t.

80%

When one leg got whey protein and exercise, the other leg (which didn’t exercise) still showed similar muscle-building activity—meaning the effect was happening all over the body, not just where the exercise happened.

79%

Doing leg exercises helps whey protein build muscle even more—but even with exercise, collagen protein still can’t match whey’s muscle-building power.

79%