Whey Makes Muscles Stronger Than Collagen
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.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
When older women drank whey protein, their muscles grew better than when they drank collagen powder — even when they exercised.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 566 / 90
Evidence Score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
When older women drank whey protein, their muscles grew better than when they drank collagen powder — even when they exercised.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 566 / 90
Evidence Score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Publication
Authors
Oikawa SY, Kamal MJ, Webb EK, McGlory C, Baker SK, Phillips SM
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Claims (10)
Even though both protein shakes had the same amount of protein, the whey one made the key muscle-building amino acid (leucine) in the blood much higher than the collagen one.
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.
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.
When older women drink whey protein shakes, their muscles start repairing and growing faster—especially if they also do leg exercises—while collagen protein shakes don’t do much unless they exercise, and even then, it’s much weaker.
Leucine activates the mTORC1 signaling pathway to initiate muscle protein synthesis.