Research
Macro partitioning
Male endurance athletes oxidize a significantly greater amount of leucine during submaximal exercise compared to female endurance athletes, suggesting higher protein utilization for energy in males.
Men may burn more protein for fuel during endurance exercise than women do at the same relative intensity. This suggests men might need slightly higher protein intakes than women to offset this increased oxidation, although total protein needs are still driven by the need to maintain nitrogen balance.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Males oxidized a greater amount of leucine during exercise than females (P < 0.01).
Why this rating
Robust isotopic tracing methodology, small sample size.
Source
Gender differences in leucine kinetics and nitrogen balance in endurance athletes
Stuart M. Phillips et al. · Journal of Applied Physiology · 1993
DOI 10.1152/jappl.1993.75.5.2134
crossover · n=12Cited 277×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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