Protein Needs and Essential Amino Acids For Young Soccer Players

Amino Acids

The base of protein needs for young soccer players is made up of chains of amino acids. There are twenty-two different kinds of amino acids in the body. Of these, nine are known as essential amino acids.

These are histadine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine. They are essential because they cannot be synthesized (produced) in the body.

The Importance of Protein for Soccer Nutrition

Protein is essential for building and maintaining muscles, as well as repairing damage that occurs during training. Protein is also needed to make red blood cells, produce hormones, boost your immune system and help keep hair, fingernails and skin healthy.

The question now becomes how much are the protein needs of the body. The current RDA for protein is 0.8g/kg of body weight for a “normal” individual. Currently many researchers believe that athletes need between 1.2g/kg to 2.0g/kg of protein per body weight depending on their activity.

Excess protein may be harmful to your health. Too much protein requires extra water to breakdown protein, which leads to dehydration and an increase in urinary calcium loss.

You do not need to eat more than 2.0g/kg of body weight. Thus if my weight is 70kg I do not need to eat more than 140g of protein.
Excess protein will be converted into fat or carbohydrate.It is important to monitor your protein intake both for the amount and type. This may be done through a journal. Increased protein in the diet may have some, but not limited to, the following benefits:

• increase metabolic rate

• increase the muscle–fat ratio due to increase thermal effect

• increase in the use of fat for energy

• increase in muscle growth

• decrease in cardiovascular risk

Protein Supplementation