Research

Macro partitioning

Whey protein supplementation (total 1.2 g/kg/d) during diet-induced weight loss does not produce clinically important improvements in muscle mass or strength in middle-aged postmenopausal women with obesity.

If you are a postmenopausal woman losing weight, eating more protein (up to 1.2g/kg) than the standard recommendation will not save your muscle mass or strength. You will still lose muscle, and your strength will not improve, regardless of whether you take whey protein supplements. Do not rely on protein alone to preserve muscle during a diet.

WeakRefutesHIGH confidence
Whey protein supplementation during diet-induced weight loss does not have clinically important therapeutic effects on muscle mass or strength in middle-aged postmenopausal women with obesity.
Gordon I. Smith et al. · Obesity · 2018

Why this rating

Randomized Controlled Trial with objective MRI measures of muscle volume and strength testing.

Source

Effect of Protein Supplementation During Diet‐Induced Weight Loss on Muscle Mass and Strength: A Randomized Controlled Study

Gordon I. Smith et al. · Obesity · 2018

DOI 10.1002/oby.22169

rct · n=70Cited 35×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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