The anabolic window closed once daily totals were matched
Pooled raw, training studies showed a benefit from protein eaten near a workout. Those groups had also been fed more protein per day, and adjusting for that erased it.
What the study found
Timing's edge vanished once daily protein totals were accounted for
Pooled raw, twenty-odd training studies showed a size benefit from protein eaten near a workout. The timing groups had also been fed more protein per day, and adjusting for that erased it. Trials randomising people to before or after training find lean mass and upper-body strength unmoved.
The caveat · Hours-apart timing never tested
Only the immediate before-versus-after contrast has been tested this way; nobody has randomised protein eaten hours from training. The direct-comparison review had five studies to work with, and in it lower-body strength did favour eating beforehand at p = 0.048, before the subgroup test declined to confirm it. The ten-week trial had 21 men, too few to prove equivalence. The author group behind two of these is publicly associated with the position they support.