Algae as a surprising meat alternative and source of environmentally friendly protein

The University of Exeter study has been published in The Journal of Nutrition and is the first of its kind to demonstrate that the ingestion of two of the most commercially available algal species are rich in protein which supports muscle remodeling in young healthy adults.

- 

Their findings suggest that algae may be an interesting and sustainable alternative to animal-derived protein with respect to maintaining and building muscle. Foods rich in protein and essential amino acids have the capacity to stimulate muscle protein synthesis, which can be measured in the laboratory by determining the incorporation of labelled amino acids into muscle tissue proteins and translated to a rate over time.

Animal-derived protein sources robustly stimulate resting and post-exercise muscle protein synthesis.

However, because animal-based protein production is associated with increasing ethical and environmental concerns, it's now been discovered that an intriguing environmentally friendly alternative to animal-derived protein is algae.