Abstract
The endurance-trained state is arguably the natural expression condition of human skeletal muscle [1]. Early humans experienced environmental selection pressure and migration out of Africa, that would have favoured a high physical endurance capacity [2, 3]. Improved endurance capabilities in early humans likely facilitated scavenging and persistence hunting and the co-emergence and increased post-exercise consumption of readily digestible protein and calorie intake [4]. Therefore, scavenging, hunting and gathering a high-protein diet [5] coupled with long-durations of endurance exercise (up to 8 h) supported not only the high energetic and tissue amino acid requirements of the musculoskeletal system, but also the metabolic demands of an increasingly larger brain mass contributing to social, cultural and technological development [5]. Animals would have been consumed within the hours following hunting, tracking or gathering, which is also when nutrient delivery to the exercised tissue is best because of transient increases in muscle blood flow, insulin sensitivity and glucose and amino acid uptake [6, 7]. Disturbances to muscle homeostasis from regular endurance exercise coupled with post-exercise hyperaminoacidaemia from a protein-rich diet might, therefore, be the normal environmental cues for adaptive remodelling in human skeletal muscle [8].
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Nelson, A.R., Karagounis, L.G., Rowlands, D.S. (2015). Leucine-Protein Supplemented Recovery and Exercise. In: Rajendram, R., Preedy, V., Patel, V. (eds) Branched Chain Amino Acids in Clinical Nutrition. Nutrition and Health. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1914-7_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1914-7_2
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