Protein is the macro du jour, if you happen to ask well being and wellness influencers. Throughout social media, private trainers and registered dietitians are actively creating numerous recipes the place cottage cheese and puréed beans stand in for extra conventional cream sauces and protein powder is stirred into truffles, cookies, and pancakes. And it’s not simply those who run in wellness circles — in a 2024 survey of three,000 adults, 71 p.c mentioned they had been actively attempting to devour extra protein1.
Right here’s what these influencers gained’t essentially inform you: an extreme consumption of this important macronutrient might find yourself having damaging repercussions in your well being.
However extra isn’t essentially higher, in terms of protein. Relying in your gender, age, and exercise stage, you could already be consuming sufficient.
And right here’s what these influencers gained’t essentially inform you: an extreme consumption of this important macronutrient might find yourself having damaging repercussions in your well being.
Are We Consuming Too A lot Protein?
Protein is a vital constructing block of our our bodies. As soon as ingested, it’s damaged down into amino acids — a lot of that are important to get from meals, because the physique can’t produce them by itself. These amino acids are utilized by the physique to construct or restore muscle, contributing to progress, features, and continued well-being.
However consuming an excessive amount of protein can have damaging well being results, notably in your kidneys. In 2024, researchers from Madrid printed analysis in Sports activities Drugs indicating that high-protein diets might result in eventual kidney failure, even in in any other case wholesome folks2.
The researchers highlighted the really useful each day allowance of .83 grams of protein per kilogram of physique weight per day — about 55 grams of protein for a 150-pound lady. Because the common protein consumption for People in 2015-2016 was 97 grams for males and 69 grams for girls, it’s very attainable that most individuals are consuming sufficient (or much more than sufficient!) protein.
What Occurs If You Eat Too A lot Protein?
Once we devour extra protein than we have to restore our muscle groups and cells, the remainder is often burned to provide vitality. However burning protein results in the buildup of a waste product referred to as urea, which have to be filtered out of the bloodstream by the kidneys.
The extra protein you eat, the extra urea you produce, and the tougher your kidneys must work to filter it out. Even wholesome folks see damaging negative effects of an excessive amount of protein, based on 2020 analysis within the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology4. So is an excessive amount of protein dangerous? Effectively, since 14 p.c of U.S. adults are estimated to have continual kidney illness, these results are undoubtedly price protecting in thoughts5.
Different Dangers of Protein Overconsumption
Kidney well being isn’t the one potential facet impact of consuming an excessive amount of protein. In accordance with 2016 analysis in Meals & Perform, continual excessive protein consumption (outlined as greater than 2 grams per kilo of physique weight) might additionally result in vascular abnormalities6.
Overconsumption of protein may result in weight achieve7 or digestive abnormalities like constipation8 or diarrhea. It could even trigger the event of dangerous metabolites that may result in gastrointestinal problems9, notably if a high-protein weight-reduction plan doesn’t additionally comprise sufficient fiber. And a few research have discovered {that a} increased consumption of protein, notably animal protein, might contribute to elevated danger of breast most cancers10 and kind 2 diabetes11.
An Argument in Favor of Extra Protein
Not everyone seems to be as cautious of the dangers of consuming an excessive amount of protein. Carolyn Ketchum, writer of the forthcoming The Protein Benefit, notes that whereas the our bodies of youthful adults use protein extra effectively, many specialists consider that older adults might have a bit extra.
“The lack of lean muscle mass begins in our thirties and will increase exponentially over time,” she says, “and attributable to a phenomenon referred to as anabolic resistance, older adults want extra each day protein to keep up the identical quantity of muscle as youthful people.”
“[Daily protein recommendations] had been by no means meant to be the optimum or goal quantity of any nutrient. As a substitute, it refers back to the least quantity a person ought to devour.”
Carolyn Ketchum, writer of The Protein Benefit
Day by day protein suggestions, she continues, are an insufficient measure of the true consumption of a given nutrient every particular person actually wants, seeing as they’re generalized to the complete inhabitants, no matter age, gender, and exercise stage. “It was by no means meant to be the optimum or goal quantity of any nutrient,” she says. “As a substitute, it refers back to the least quantity a person ought to devour.” In different phrases, the query of how a lot protein you must eat in a day needs to be dealt with on a person stage.
She cites a rising physique of analysis, together with a 2023 analysis evaluate in The Journal of Diet12 and a 2022 analysis evaluate in Ageing Analysis Critiques13, that signifies that extra protein — maybe even double the quantity at present really useful — might be a greater goal for older adults.
Certainly, increased each day protein consumption has proven to cut back frailty in older girls, based on 2011 analysis within the Journal of the American Geriatric Society14. A 2016 report in Meals & Perform indicated that whereas 1.6 g of protein per kg of physique weight was very best for folks doing intense bodily exercise15, “Lengthy-term consumption of protein at 2 g per kg BW per day is protected for wholesome adults, and the tolerable higher restrict is 3.5 g per kg BW per day for well-adapted topics.”
Protein Isn’t a Magic Bullet
However even Ketchum notes that protein is way from the answer to all our ills. “It’s human nature to desire a magic bullet, the one factor that cures all of the ills and solves all the issues,” she says. “Many individuals generally tend to go overboard. Simply rising protein with out contemplating your different vitamins or getting some train isn’t going to magically make you wholesome and robust.”
She notes, quite the opposite, {that a} high-protein weight-reduction plan have to be coupled with train to reap the total advantages. “The connection between protein consumption and bodily exercise is a extremely synergistic one,” she says. “To have interaction in a single with out the opposite is addressing solely a part of the equation. Performed in tandem, they create a constructive suggestions loop that helps preserve and even construct lean muscle mass effectively into our sixties and seventies.”
The right way to Supply Your Protein
The protein renaissance has led to a plethora of protein powders on {the marketplace}, providing a easy technique to incorporate extra of this nutrient into your weight-reduction plan. However whereas some protein powders are cleaner than others, on the entire, Ketchum is cautious of an over-reliance on these extremely processed sources of the macronutrient.
“There may be nothing inherently improper with protein powders, they usually may also help fill in any dietary gaps when life will get busy,” she says. However she additionally notes that many are full of sugars and components. Some protein powders have even been discovered to comprise heavy metals like lead. She recommends sourcing clear protein dietary supplements and consuming them mindfully. “Use them along with, somewhat than as a alternative for, wholesome excessive protein meals,” she says.
As a substitute, she recommends getting most of your protein from high-quality, entire meals sources like meat, cheese, and eggs (which have lately been vindicated by the FDA to be included within the new definition of “wholesome”). The perfect sources of protein are usually pure. Plant-based protein sources like chickpeas, lentils, and beans have additionally been discovered to have much less impression on linked well being points like elevated danger of breast most cancers and kind 2 diabetes. Selecting your protein sources mindfully, and pairing protein with different important vitamins like fiber and wholesome fats, will result in the perfect, most holistic dietary strategy.
Sources:
- https://foodinsight.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2024-IFIC-Meals-Well being-Survey.pdf
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39196487/
- https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/80400530/pdf/DBrief/29_Protein_Intake_of_Adults_1516.pdf
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7460905/
- https://www.cdc.gov/kidney-disease/php/data-research/index.html
- https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content material/articlelanding/2016/fo/c5fo01530h
- https://www.clinicalnutritionjournal.com/article/S0261-5614(15)00091-6/summary
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38651659/
- https://asm.org/press-releases/2024/june/high-protein-diet-impact-gut-microbes-body-comp
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7768926/
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6893550/
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022316623725297
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36087703/
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2924946/
- https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content material/articlelanding/2016/fo/c5fo01530h
