Research
Micronutrients & recovery
Deuterated water (D2O) ingestion is a valid and increasingly used method for measuring long-term muscle protein synthesis in humans, providing insights that complement acute tracer infusion methods.
For researchers, D2O is a reliable tool for measuring long-term muscle protein synthesis. For practitioners, this validates that consistent, long-term training and nutrition strategies are what drive muscle changes, rather than just acute post-workout spikes.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
the resurgence of deuterated water (D2O) have enhanced our understanding of human skeletal muscle protein turnover (proteostasis)... The D2O approach permits measurements of muscle protein synthesis (MPS) over days, weeks or even months
Why this rating
Supported by the authors' extensive use of the method and citations of prior studies.
Source
Turning over new ideas in human skeletal muscle proteostasis: What do we know and where to from here?
Changhyun Lim et al. · Experimental Physiology · 2025
DOI 10.1113/ep092353
narrative_reviewCited 8×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- In healthy young humans, changes in skeletal muscle mass in response to resistance exercise, disuse, and aging are primarily driven by alterations in muscle protein synthesis (MPS), while muscle protein breakdown (MPB) remains largely unchanged or plays a negligible role.Good
- In aging skeletal muscle, the progressive loss of mass (sarcopenia) is largely driven by anabolic resistance—a desensitized muscle protein synthesis response to stimuli like loading and protein ingestion—rather than increased protein breakdown.Good
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