Ever read the bodybuilding magazines to catch a glimpse of the diet employed by professional bodybuilders? It seems they’re downing 50 to 70 grams of protein per meal, and eating every three hours. How can any human eat 400 grams of protein per day? Well, their articles claim they do. As a fan who emulates their methods for your own training, you try to copy the food regimen. What happens?

You don’t feel so good. Your urine smells and often becomes dark. Your digestion slows and your flatulence is offensive. You move slowly and you feel groggy. You’re suffering from a fairly harmless yet very common condition among natural bodybuilders known as ‘protein overdose’. Your body simply cannot handle this much protein.

Protein assimilation rates are confusing things. How can a professional bodybuilder consume and benefit from 400 to 500 grams of protein per day, yet you train just as hard, and your body stops efficiently using all that protein at just a little over half of the amount of protein grams? Surely genetics cannot be the sole factor. How are these men and women able to ingest and effectively use so much more protein than those of us who are mere mortals?

The reason, of course, is that anabolic steroids increase the body’s ability to effectively use a greater amount of protein. A commonly ignored fact is that bodybuilders who use anabolic steroids are able to utilize up to 100 more grams of protein per day, than their natural counterparts, and sometimes more. That’s a lot of protein.

Why wouldn’t magazines state this very important and very true fact to its young readers before they go out and spend $150 on protein powders? Look around the magazines. You’ll notice that 40 to 60% of their pages contain ads for what particular product? Protein. Powders and drinks. If readers realized their body – as a natural bodybuilder – could only digest 300 grams of protein per day, they wouldn’t buy as much protein powder. Supplement company sales would fall, as would advertising revenue available to the magazines. So, they prefer to keep this information from readers.

In addition to using AAS, protein assimilation rates can be increased through the use of added fiber to the diet, and increased cardiovascular exercise, which boost metabolism and nervous system. Still, the natural bodybuilder will never be able to assimilate as much protein from a daily diet as a man on AAS.