Optimizing muscle protein synthesis: the crucial impact of protein quality and quantity, and the key role of resistance training | Luc van Loon, Ph.D.

**Peter Attia, MD** (0:11)
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My guest this week is Professor Luc van Loon. Luc is a professor of physiology and exercise and the head of the M3 research unit, which is a part of the Department of Human Biology at the Faculty of Health Medicine and Life Sciences at Master Rich University. He is internationally renowned for his research that is focused on skeletal muscle metabolism in humans, and he is focused on four main fields of interest, which include skeletal muscle metabolism, exercise metabolism, sports and clinical nutrition, and aging. I first came across Luc when I saw a video from a lecture he gave many years ago, and it's not common that I'm watching a video of somebody talking about protein where I'm actually stopping and watching it for great lengths because I'm actually learning something. So I immediately became hooked, became more and more familiar with his work and ultimately wanted to have him on the podcast. Luc received his PhD from Master Rich University in the Department of Human Biology, subsequently did an internship at the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education right here in Texas at the University of Austin, though long before I got here. And then he did a couple of postdoctoral fellowships, one in Australia and one back at Master Rich University. He is also the Associate Editor of the International Journal of Sports and Exercise Metabolism and is on the editorial board of the European Journal of Sports Science. In this episode, we talk about the role of insulin and glucose for endurance exercising. We talk about the role of protein in all of this. We speak about how different types of proteins in different forms will foster muscle protein synthesis in different rates. So we talk specifically, of course, about the absorbability, digestibility, amino acid quality and other features there. Of course, we talk again in length about some of the different types of protein. First of all, the difference between animal sources and plant sources, but using probably more helpful designations than that, we get into even specific types of protein. So for example, even if you're talking about milk-based protein, what are the differences between whey and casein? And we also talk about the use case, if at all, for collagen protein. Talk about how protein digestion is impacted, not just by the type of food, but even by the preparation of the food. And we cover the relationship between activity, lean mass, building muscle and protein from resistance training, and the role that protein specifically plays in that in terms of timing and type of protein. So without further delay, please enjoy my conversation with Luc van Loon.
Luc, thank you so much for being here. I know it's evening time for you, and as we were talking a moment ago, I think there's a decent chance we're not gonna get through all of this. You laughed when you saw my agenda of topics, so maybe we will have a little Austin reunion. We'll do the next one in person here in Austin. But let's give folks a little bit of your background. You have quite a storied resume. Can you give us a little bit of the highlight?

**Luc van Loon** (4:00)
Yeah, as many people, I didn't know where to go to college. As most of us exercise physiologists, we're all field athletes.
So we wanna know how our genetics can be actually just compensated for by science. And so I wanted to do movement sciences. So I studied movement sciences here at Maastricht, the Netherlands. After that, I went to Austin, Texas for my master internship to work with Jack Wilmore, who people in exercise physiology will obviously know at UT.
After that, I finished, did my PhD in Maastricht again. Then after that, I went to Melbourne to work with Mark Hargraves, also well-known to most people in this field. Spent some time in Melbourne and then came back and actually did the rest of my career here in the Netherlands. So from assistant prof to associate and to prof here. And that's already been like, I don't know, 13, 14, 15 years ago.