Whey Protein Improves Marathon-Induced Injury and Exercise Performance in Elite Track Runners
Open accessAbstract
Whey protein has been widely applied to athletes and the fitness field for muscle growth and performance improvement.Limited studies focused on the beneficial effects of whey on aerobic exercise according to biochemical assessments.In the current study, 12 elite male track runners were randomly assigned to whey and maltodextrin groups for 5 weeks' supplementation.The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of whey protein on physiological adaptions and exercise performance.During this period, three time points (pre-, post-, and end-test) were used to evaluate related biochemical parameters, body composition, and performance.The post-test was set 1 day after a marathon for injury status evaluation and the end-test was also assessed after 1-week recovery from endurance test.The results showed that the whey group exhibited significantly lower aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, lactate dehydrogenase, and creatine kinase indicators after the marathon (post-test), as well as at the end-test (p<0.016).The endurance performance in twelve-minute walk/run was also significantly elevated (p<0.012)possibly due to an increase in the muscle mass and amelioration of exercise injuries.In the current study, we demonstrated that whey protein can also be used for aerobic exercise for better physiological adaptation, in addition to resistance training.Whey protein could be also a potential nutrient supplement with a variety of benefits for amateur runners.
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Co-ingestion of carbohydrates and protein during post-exercise may confer additional benefits, including positive nitrogen balance leading to increased whole-body muscle protein synthesis, increased protein content related to mitochondrial biogenesis, reduced muscle damage markers, and accelerated post-exercise rehydration.
“it may confer additional benefits, including positive nitrogen balance leading to increased whole-body muscle protein synthesis [93], increased protein content related to mitochondrial biogenesis [94], reduced muscle damage markers [95], and accelerated post-exercise rehydration [96]”
From Nutritional Strategies to Improve Post-exercise Recovery and Subsequent Exercise Performance: A Narrative Review (2025) · cites this paper as [95]
The Discussions report lower CK, LDH and AST after the marathon in athletes given whey protein than in the placebo group, supporting the cited point about reduced muscle-damage markers. However, the Methods (Experimental design) describe whey protein versus maltodextrin, not carbohydrate–protein co-ingestion, so the study does not establish that benefit for the combination. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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References 30 · Cited by 54
- Authors
- Huang, W.-C., Chang, Y.-C., Chen, Y.-M., Hsu, Y.-J., Huang, C.-C., Kan, N.-W., & Chen, S.-S.
- Affiliations
- National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Science (TW)
- National Taiwan Sport University (TW)
- Taipei Medical University (TW)
- Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital (TW)
- Corresponding author
- Kan, Nai-Wen
- Chen, Sheng-Shih
- Venue
- International Journal of Medical Sciences
- Publisher
- Ivyspring International Publisher
- Published
- 2017
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 648-654
- ISSN
- 1449-1907 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5562115
- OpenAlex
- W2735553125
- Cited by
- 54
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 3
- FWCI
- 3.42
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc
- Locations
- International Journal of Medical Sciences (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Council (NSC102-2628-H179-001-MY2)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Muscle metabolism and nutrition
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Rehabilitation › Exercise and Physiological Responses
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Orthopedics and Sports Medicine › Sports Performance and Training
- Keywords
- whey protein, marathon running, exercise-related injuries, exercise performance, endurance performance, maltodextrin, amino acid supplementation, creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, muscle damage, body composition, muscle mass
- MeSH terms
- Whey Proteins, Adult, Creatine Kinase, Humans, Male, Running, Sports Medicine, Exercise, Muscle, Skeletal, Dietary Supplements, Athletes
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