Wheat Protein Failed to Trigger Muscle Growth Until Leucine Added Norton Says

What was said

"We saw that in the wheat and soy group, they did not increase muscle protein synthesis, but the egg and whey group increased muscle protein synthesis. Now what's really interesting is we went back and we took wheat and added free leucine to it to match the leucine content of whey, and the protein synthetic response was identical."

Norton described research comparing protein sources where wheat and soy failed to stimulate muscle protein synthesis at typical dietary protein levels, while egg and whey succeeded. When researchers added supplemental leucine to wheat to match whey's leucine content, muscle protein synthesis became identical to whey, strongly suggesting leucine is the primary driver of muscle building rather than protein source per se.