Research
Macro partitioning
Co-ingesting protein (0.3-0.4 g/kg) with sub-optimal carbohydrate amounts (<1 g/kg/h) accelerates glycogen synthesis by augmenting insulin release, but has no additional effect when carbohydrate intake is adequate (>1 g/kg/h).
If you cannot eat enough carbohydrates after exercise (less than 1 g/kg/h), adding 0.3-0.4 g/kg of protein can help speed up glycogen recovery by boosting insulin. However, if you are already consuming sufficient carbohydrates (1 g/kg/h or more), adding protein will not further increase the rate of glycogen storage.
GoodConditionalHIGH confidence
Protein intakes of around 0.3-0.4 g/kg appear to maximize this effect... However, as discussed by Betts and Williams (13), when CHO intake is adequate (e.g. >1 g/kg/h), the co-ingestion of protein has no further effect on glycogen synthesis
Why this rating
Supported by multiple studies cited in the review, though context-dependent.
Source
Postexercise muscle glycogen resynthesis in humans
Louise M. Burke et al. · Journal of Applied Physiology · 2016
DOI 10.1152/japplphysiol.00860.2016
narrative_reviewCited 223×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Post-exercise carbohydrate intake of approximately 1 g/kg body mass optimizes early-phase (0-4 h) muscle glycogen resynthesis rates.Strong
- High-glycemic index (GI) carbohydrates increase glycogen storage by ~30% over 24 hours compared to low-GI foods when total carbohydrate amount is identical.Good
- Creatine supplementation (20 g/d) augments post-exercise muscle glycogen storage when combined with a high carbohydrate diet, with effects evident as early as 24 hours post-exercise.Moderate
Related findings · Macro partitioning
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