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What are protein supplements supposed to do?

Step into any health-food store and you're likely to see stacks of protein-packed powders and bars, often accompanied by pictures of people with action-figure bodies. The message is clear: If you want to trade in your relatively normal body for the Mr. (or Ms.) Olympiad model, you can't live without products like Ultra Body-Building Protein Powder and Promax Bars. After all, it takes protein to build muscles, so megadoses of protein must result in megamuscles, right? Before buying into that premise, take a close look at the facts. In the end, you may not lose your normal body, but you won't lose your money either.

How much protein does an athlete really need?

It's true that weight lifters and other high-powered athletes need more protein than the rest of us. Recent studies suggest that a 200-pound athlete should eat between 120 and 180 grams of protein every day, while a 200-pound Internet writer can get by quite nicely on only 70 to 90 grams. To put it in perspective, a shot-putter could reach his maximum daily requirement by filling his plate with these items: eight ounces of firm tofu, one broiled pork chop, and one cup each of roasted peanuts, cottage cheese, chickpeas, oat bran, and ricotta cheese. The writer could skip the tofu, pork chop, and cottage cheese.

Of course, athletes also need more calories than the rest of us. A weight lifter or football player can easily go through 4,000 calories per day, compared with the roughly 2,000 calories a moderately active person burns. And in this country, it would take a real effort to consume 4,000 calories without getting 180 grams of protein. The typical American eats 50 to 70 percent more protein than necessary, and almost all athletes get their daily requirement in what they eat.

Whether you want to lose weight, gain weight, or hold steady, the Mayo Clinic recommends that you stick to the same formula: 45 to 65 percent of your calories should come from complex carbohydrates, 20 to 35 percent should come from fat, and only 10 to 35 percent from protein.

Do protein supplements help build muscle and strength?

Scientists have recently put protein supplements through rigorous tests, and the results have fallen far short of the promises. Two studies described in the February 1999 issue of the scientific journal Sports Medicine tell the tale. In one study, six inactive men and women and seven highly trained athletes spent 13 days on a diet that included a whopping 2.4 grams of protein for kilogram body weight (that's roughly 218 grams for a 200 pound person). They gained weight no faster than when they ate just 0.86 grams of protein per kilogram. An earlier study of 12 beginning bodybuilders, all men, produced similar results. During four weeks of intensive training, the subjects who got 2.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight each day didn't gain muscle or strength any faster than those who got only 1.4 grams of protein per kilogram. A 10-week study of 33 men in 2004 similarly showed no difference in strength between those who consumed a protein supplement and those who didn't.

After reviewing these studies, physician Richard B. Krieder of the University of Memphis reached the following conclusion: "Although it is important for athletes to get an adequate amount of protein . . . consuming additional amounts of protein does not appear to promote muscle growth."

Are protein supplements dangerous?

A little extra protein for most people won't do much harm, so feel free to have a protein bar now and then. But you can definitely overdo it. According to a report in the journal Clinical Pharmacy, a protein overload can cause stomach trouble, dehydration, gout, and calcium loss, as well as damage to the liver and kidneys. There's no clear-cut line between safe and dangerous amounts, but experts agree on this: Whether you're a writer or a weight lifter, it's better to get your protein from a balanced diet than from a supplement.

-- Chris Woolston, M.S., is a health and medical writer with a master's degree in biology. He is a contributing editor at Consumer Health Interactive, and was the staff writer at Hippocrates, a magazine for physicians. He has also covered science issues for Time Inc. Health, WebMD, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. His reporting on occupational health earned him an award from the northern California Society of Professional Journalists.