Does Protein Have Any Negative Health Effects
Protein has been unfairly blamed for a number of health problems.
Some people believe that a high protein diet can cause kidney damage and osteoporosis, but science does not support these claims.
Though protein restriction is helpful for people with preexisting kidney problems, theres no evidence that protein can cause kidney damage in healthy people (
31 ).
Overall, theres no evidence that a reasonably high protein intake has any adverse effects in healthy people trying to optimize their health.
Summary
Protein does not have any negative effects on kidney function in healthy people, and studies show that it leads to improved bone health.
The best sources of protein are meats, fish, eggs, and dairy products, as they have all the essential amino acids that your body needs.
Some plants are fairly high in protein as well, such as quinoa, legumes, and nuts.
However, most people generally dont need to track their protein intake.
If youre healthy and trying to stay that way, simply eating quality protein sources with most of your meals, along with nutritious plant foods, should bring your intake to an optimal range.
How To Calculate The Amount Of Protein In Typical Foods
Now that youve got a rough idea of how much protein you should be eating every day, youll want to estimate how much youre actually eating. I find it easiest to estimate the amount of protein in a meal in 25g units, and the amount for snacks in about 10g units.
Heres why. Common portions of many protein foods we eat at meals conveniently have about 25g of protein, and protein snacks tend to fall in the 10g range. So, it makes it easy to keep track. For example, 3 ounces of cooked fish or poultry has about 25g of protein, and a snack of a single-serve carton of yogurt, a protein bar, or a handful of roasted soy nuts would have about 10g of protein.
If youre a woman aiming for about 100g of protein a day, you can easily do that by taking in 25g at each meal, and have a couple of protein snacks. If youre a male aiming for about 150g a day, you can simply double up your protein units at a couple of meals in order to hit your target.
Question #1 How Do You Know How Much Protein You Are Eating
Question:
Thanks for another great article ! What I want to know is, how do you measure how much protein you are getting in your meals, as in, a piece of chicken breast contains x amount of grams of protein? I weigh 115 lbs w around 25% body fat right now but am looking to build and drop the percentage of fat.
TIA,
Elli
Answer:
- 3 oz. of meat is as big as a deck or cards, or a blackberry
- 1 ounce of cheese is about size of your thumb
- 1 cup is equal to the size of a baseball
- A teaspoon is the tip of the thumb to the first joint
- A tablespoon is three thumb tips
8 ounces of milk is 12 grams of protein, a cup of greek yogurt is around 22 grams or protein. For info on finding the amount of protein in various foods, try NutritionData.com. Hope thats helpful and good luck!
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How Much Protein Do I Need To Eat A Day The Evidence
Do you have any questions about how much protein you need a day to lose weight, build muscle, or maintain muscle while losing fat?
Or how many grams of protein you should eat for optimal health and function?
If so, youve come to the right place. In this evidence-based guide, Im going to cover everything you need to know about protein, including
Ready? Lets begin
People Looking To Maintain Muscles Mass While Losing Weight
If you’re aiming to lose weight healthily, ideally you want to reduce your body fat percentage while preserving as much lean muscle mass as possible.
Protein intake could play an important role here, as research suggest that diets containing 18%-25% protein can result in greater muscle maintenance when compared to lower protein diets .
Another study demonstrated that a moderate to high protein intake at 1.2 g/kg of body weight was shown to prevent muscle loss over a 4-week period when combined with calorie-restriction and resistance training .
Interestingly, research also demonstrated that people who consumed 2.4 g/kg protein per day again combined with resistance training and a calorie-restricted diet, saw an INCREASE in muscle mass over a 4-week period .
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How Could Eating Too Much Protein Prevent Ketosis
According to Sports Nutritionist Rudy Mawer, CISSN, Protein should be moderate, as a very high intake can spike insulin levels and lower ketones.
Theoretically, when you eat excess protein, it can trigger gluconeogenesis: the process which turns proteins into glycogen .
And the idea is that your body will use this glucose for fuel instead of using ketones, so you wont get the fat-burning benefits of ketosis.
Practical Tips To Help Measure Your Protein Intake
Here are my top tips and recommendations to help you track your protein intake.
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Optimal Daily Protein Intake For Pregnant Women
The protein RDA for pregnant women is 1.1 g/kg. This value was estimated by adding three values:
The RDA for a healthy adult
The amount of additional body protein a pregnant woman accumulates
The amount of protein used by the developing fetus
However, as we saw previously with non-pregnant healthy adults, the RDA may not be sufficient, let alone optimal. Theres some IAAO evidence that the RDA for pregnant women should be about 1.66 g/kg during early gestation and 1.77 g/kg during late gestation . Moreover, a meta-analysis of 16 intervention studies reported that protein supplementation during pregnancy led to reduced risks for the baby:
34% lower risk of low gestational weight
32% lower risk of low birth weight
38% lower risk of stillbirth
This effect was more pronounced in undernourished women than in adequately nourished women. Importantly, these values were determined from sedentary women carrying one child, meaning that pregnant women who engage in regular physical activity or are supporting the growth of more than one child may need even higher amounts.
Also, keep in mind that we can only tell you what the studies reported we cant possibly know about your health and your pregnancy specifically. Please be sure to consult with your obstetrician/gynecologist before making any changes.
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Are You Eating Too Much Protein
While we want you to get enough protein in you diet, you can also have too much of a good thing, and if you eat too much protein, you may be doing more harm than good. People that eat very high protein diets have a higher risk of kidney stones, while a high protein diet that contains lots of red meat and higher amounts of saturated fat has been linked to a higher risk of heart disease and colon cancer.
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How Much Protein To Build Muscle Ask An Rd
The main building blocks of your body,protein is used to repair and maintain your body tissues including muscle.
If your goal is to build muscle, then its important that youre getting the right amount of protein, as well as the right amounts of the other macronutrients, carbohydrates and fats.
The general strategy for calculating the minimum amount of protein that you need is 0.36 grams of protein per pound that you weigh. In a 165-pound adult, thats about 60 grams of protein per day.
But thats just the minimum recommended daily allowance .
You might be wondering if the minimum amount of protein recommended is enough to actually build more muscle. Below, well explore just how much protein you should consume per day to build muscle .
What Protein Actually Is
Protein is one of the three macronutrients . Unlike carbs and fat, protein is not usually a major energy source, although we definitely get some of that from itprotein provides four calories per gram. But protein is often referred to as a building block in the body because of its central role in growth and development.
Almost all animal-derived productsmeat, poultry, eggs, dairy, fishcontain a significant amount of protein, so they get labeled as protein sources when were talking about our diets and nutrition. But protein is also present in a lot of plant-based foods. Theres a good amount in beans, peas, nuts, and seeds, for instance, while vegetables and grains generally contain smaller amounts, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration . Whole grains will have more protein than refined grains, though, which are missing the part of the grain that often supplies a lot of the protein content, as SELF previously reported.
Proteins are made of small units called amino acids. There are 20 different amino acids in total, which can be broken down into two main groups, per the FDA. Nine of the 20 are what are referred to as essential amino acids, meaning that the body is unable to produce them itself and so we must get them from food. The other 11 are nonessential because the body is able to synthesize them out of the essential amino acids or the normal process of breaking down proteins, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine.
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How Much Protein Do You Need
Protein is essential for life it’s a building block of every human cell and is involved in the vital biochemical functions of the human body. It’s particularly important in growth, development, and tissue repair. Protein is one of the three major “macronutrients” .
So, consuming enough protein is required to stave off malnutrition it may also be important to preserve muscle mass and strength as we age. And, in recent years, some have advocated a higher protein diet to rev up metabolism to make it easier to lose excess weight, though success in this regard is highly variable.
- The ideal amount of protein you should consume each day is a bit uncertain. Commonly quoted recommendations are 56 grams/day for men, 46 grams/day for women. You could get 46 grams/day of protein in 1 serving of low-fat greek yogurt, a 4 oz. serving of lean chicken breast and a bowl of cereal with skim milk.
- A weight-based recommended daily allowance of 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight. For a 140-pound person, that comes to 51 grams of protein each day. . Active people especially those who are trying to build muscle mass may need more.
- Based on percent of calories for an active adult, about 10% of calories should come from protein
- To pay more attention to the type of protein in your diet rather than the amount for example, moderating consumption of red meat and increasing healthier protein sources, such as salmon, yogurt or beans.
Meal And Shake Ideas To Meet Your Protein Needs
Following a high-protein diet isnt as difficult as it may seem, we promise. If youre looking for foods and other sources of protein to add into your diet to boost your protein intake, here are some of our favorite dietary proteins:
Eggs
Nuts, like almonds and pistachios
Seeds, like pumpkin seeds
Lean meats like lean beef
Quinoa
Lentils
High protein veggies, like broccoli and Brussels sprouts
Another easy way to get your protein is through drinks like a smoothie or a protein shake. Bonus: Liquids are easier to digest, so your body is able to absorb and use the protein in protein shakes and smoothies much quicker. Opt to create your drinks using a protein powder made from fast-absorbing proteins, like whey protein or pea protein, for an even speedier absorption rate.
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Determining Your Protein Needs
How Much Protein Per Meal
Muscle protein synthesis is the process of building new skeletal muscle tissue. When MPS chronically exceeds muscle protein breakdown , resulting in a positive net protein balance, we can expect muscle growth over the long term. Each time you eat represents an opportunity to promote muscle growth through the stimulation of MPS.
Protein-feeding studies using various doses of whey protein suggest that 0.24 g/kg/meal will maximize the MPS of the average young adult, whereas 0.40 g/kg/meal will maximize the MPS of most young adults. For older adults, these two values jump to 0.40 and 0.60 g/kg/meal.
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Do You Need Supplements
You should be able to get all the protein you need from a healthy diet.
Protein powders like whey isolate and foods marketed as being protein-heavy are now commonplace, and protein shakes can add substantial amounts of extra protein to the diet.
For sportsmen and women, protein helps muscle development and recovery after exercise, but some studies say that a healthy diet alone can provide the protein needed for muscle recovery.
How Did We Calculate Your Protein Intake
Bodybuilding.com’s protein calculator starts with the Mifflin St. Jeor equation, which is considered by our nutritionists and dieticians to be the “gold standard” of calorie calculators. Here’s how it works:
Calculate basal metabolic rate , or the calories your body burns simply by being alive. For men: 10 x weight + 6.25 x height â 5 x age + 5 For women: 10 x weight + 6.25 x height â 5 x age -161
Then, this BMR count is multiplied, depending on your activity level:
Sedentary = 1.2
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So What Does This Mean For Vegans/vegetarians
It mostly just means that youre at a bit of a disadvantage in this context, and eating an ideal amount of protein per day is going to be some degree harder for you.
But the good news is that its still definitely doable. Its just going to require a little more effort, planning and food combinations to make happen.
Also keep in mind that there are now plenty of plant-based protein powders available, so thats another option to consider if youre having trouble meeting your daily needs with whole foods alone.
Can Too Much Protein Be Harmful
The short answer is yes. As with most things in life, there can be too much of a good thing and if you eat too much protein, there may be a price to pay. For example, people that eat very high protein diets have a higher risk of kidney stones. Also a high protein diet that contains lots of red meat and higher amounts of saturated fat might lead to a higher risk of heart disease and colon cancer, while another high protein diet rich in plant-based proteins may not carry similar risks.
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Protein For Losing Fat
Eating protein helps with losing fat, for a few reasons.
1. When you eat more protein, you tend to feel fuller longer.
Protein stimulates the release of satiety hormones in the gut. So when you eat protein, you naturally tend to eat less, without feeling hungry.
2. Protein makes your body work to digest it.
Not all nutrients take the same energy to digest. Fat and carbohydrates are pretty easy for your body to digest and absorb, but protein takes more energy to digest and absorb.
If you eat 100 calories of protein, youll only use about 70 calories of it. 3. Protein also helps you hang on to lean mass while youre losing fat.
When youre in a significant energy deficit , your body tries to throw out everything fat, muscle, bone, hormones, etc. all the stuff you need. It doesnt tend to throw out just fat and keep muscle unless you eat lots of protein.
Lets take a deeper look: Protein, lean mass, and energy restrictionA recent study at McMaster University in Canada explored what would happen if people who were on a very low-calorie diet , ate a lot of protein, and worked out hard.
For 4 weeks, a group of young men in their 20s were basically starved, but on a high-protein diet about 2.4 g/kg.
So, for instance, a 200 lb , relatively active young man whose energy needs would normally be 3000 calories per day might get:
- 1800 calories per day
- 218 grams of protein per day
This means that out of those 1800 calories per day, about 48 percent of them were from protein.
