Research

Hormonal

Immobilization induces anabolic resistance in human skeletal muscle, meaning that increasing amino acid availability (via infusion) fails to fully restore myofibrillar protein synthesis rates to normal levels, contributing to muscle atrophy.

If you are immobilized or bedridden, eating more protein or taking amino acid supplements will not stop muscle loss. The muscle becomes resistant to the anabolic signals from food. The only effective intervention to counteract this specific mechanism is mechanical loading (exercise), not nutrition alone.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
We confirm that 14 days of immobilization reduces MPS in the post-absorptive state and this diminution is reduced but not abolished by increased provision of AA, even at high rates. The immobilization-induced decline in post-absorptive MPS with the ‘anabolic resistance’ to amino acids can account for much of immobilization-induced muscle atrophy.
Elisa I. Glover et al. · The Journal of Physiology · 2008

Why this rating

High-quality human study with rigorous controls (unilateral immobilization, within-subject design), though limited to short-term (14 days) and specific population (young healthy).

Source

Immobilization induces anabolic resistance in human myofibrillar protein synthesis with low and high dose amino acid infusion

Elisa I. Glover et al. · The Journal of Physiology · 2008

DOI 10.1113/jphysiol.2008.160333

rct · n=12Cited 407×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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