Research

Hormonal

Ingestion of 20–30 g of leucine-rich protein stimulates skeletal muscle protein synthesis and activates the mTORC1 pathway within 2 hours, an effect potentiated by prior resistance exercise.

To maximize muscle growth, consume 20–30 grams of high-quality protein (like meat, eggs, or dairy) per meal. This amount is sufficient to trigger your muscles' growth machinery (mTORC1). Doing this after resistance exercise helps, but you don't need massive amounts of extra protein beyond this threshold for each meal.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
The ingestion of a meal containing 20–30 g leucine-rich proteins induces the activation of mTORC1 and the stimulation of skeletal muscle synthesis within 2 h, and this effect is reinforced by regular physical training.
Daniel Tomé et al. · Proceedings of The Nutrition Society · 2020

Why this rating

The paper is a review citing multiple primary studies (Refs 26, 30, 122-124) establishing the dose-response relationship.

Source

Protein metabolism and related body function: mechanistic approaches and health consequences

Daniel Tomé et al. · Proceedings of The Nutrition Society · 2020

DOI 10.1017/s0029665120007880

narrative_reviewCited 30×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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