The Evaluation of Canola Protein and Whey Protein to Support Muscle Conditioning in Vivo in Young Females

Screening and pre-testing To assess whether volunteers are eligible to participate in this study, we will invite them to the University for a screening. At the start of the screening session, the entire experimental trial will be explained and any potential questions will be answered. Thereafter, the volunteers are asked to read, fill out, and sign the informed consent form. After signing the informed consent form, the participant's eligibility will be assessed based on the in- and exclusion criteria. To further assess their eligibility, participants will be asked to fill out a medical questionnaire to assess their general health, use of medication, habitual food intake, and physical activity (Appendix F1.1). Next, blood pressure will be assessed. Body mass (with accuracy of 0.1 kg) and height (with accuracy of 0.01 m) will be determined, and body composition will be assessed via a Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) scan. A DEXA scan is a simple, non-invasive procedure. At the beginning of the procedure, subjects will be asked to lie down on a scanning table wearing underwear and they need to remain motionless during the measurements. As the scanner moves, a dual energy beam passes through the targeted skeletal muscle section and is measured by a detector. This procedure is repeated until the whole body is scanned and takes approximately 3 minutes.

The screening sessions will take place in the morning and participants are instructed to not have any breakfast in the morning in order to avoid perturbations in the DEXA scan.

In the event of an unexpected medical finding during the screening, subjects will always be notified. If a subject does not want to receive this notification, she cannot participate in the study.

Next, subjects will be familiarized and tested for bilateral strength on the exercise machines. First, participants will warm up on a cycle ergometer for 5 minutes at 100W. Subjects will be instructed on proper weight-lifting technique on each exercise machine (leg-press and leg-extension) and complete a standardized testing protocol to determine a measurement of maximal strength (1RM) for each exercise machine. In short, subjects will be seated on a leg press and leg extension machine and start with a warm-up of 2 sets of 10 repetitions with self-chosen weights. Then the load will be increased above the warming-up weight. The load will be increased after each successful lift, until failure, to determine maximal strength. A repetition is classified as "valid" if the participant is able to complete the entire lift in a controlled manner, without assistance.

When the screening is successfully performed, the test day will be scheduled. In order to prevent major impact from the menstrual cycle on the measurements of protein metabolism, the test day will be scheduled to take place in the first 10 days of the follicular phase.