Magnesium vs Whey Protein for recovery
Short answer: For recovery, users rate them about the same: 97% report improvement with Magnesium (32 reports) and 100% with Whey Protein (31 reports).
Magnesium has 82 meta-analyses and 210 randomized trials on PubMed; Whey Protein has 97 and 691.
Based on 2,391 reports about Magnesium and 305 about Whey Protein. Not medical advice.
| Magnesium Supplement | Whey Protein Supplement | |
|---|---|---|
| Users say it helped | 73%helped956 reports · high confidence | 83%helped128 reports · high confidence |
| Verdict | Mostly positive | Mostly positive |
| Research | AResearch: Strong | AResearch: Strong |
| Meta-analyses / RCTs | 82 / 210 | 97 / 691 |
| Mainly used for | ||
| Sleep % reporting improvement | 88% (430) | — |
| Anxiety % reporting improvement | 90% (289) | — |
| Mood % reporting improvement | 82% (118) | 67% (3) |
| Energy % reporting improvement | 75% (83) | 100% (2) |
| Performance % reporting improvement | 88% (17) | 100% (51) |
| Common side effects | diarrhea, drowsiness, stomach issues, vivid dreams | stomach issues, acne, constipation, throat tightness |
| Typical dose reported | 500 mg / daily | 30 g / 2x daily |
This review confirms that the quality of literature is substandard for physicians to make well-informed recommendations on usage of oral magnesium for older adults with insomnia. However, given that oral magnesium is very cheap and widely available, RCT evidence may support oral magnesium supplements (less than 1 g quantities given up to three times a day) for insomnia symptoms.
BMC Complement Med Ther, 2021 ↗“after supplementing with 400mg of Magnesium daily. Winter blues hit me hard and my multivitamin wasn't doing any justice, but once I began supplementing Magnesium, everything changed.”
Analysis revealed that chronic and without professional guidance use of whey protein supplementation may cause some adverse effects specially on kidney and liver function. Presented data support a need for future studies co-relating the use of different types of whey protein with and without exercise to better see the impact on human physical health.
Appl Physiol Nutr Metab, 2021 ↗“Coffee with cream, has to be a cream or fake creamer with a whey protein, doesn't. It gives me a gentle but potent energy boost with no headache and no jitters.”
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Percentages come from first-hand user reports and are not clinical outcomes. Talk to a doctor before starting, stopping or combining anything. How we rate