In the nutrition world this seems to be a polorising issue, that I have found to be simplified into two types of thought.
1.We only need around 15% of our daily intake to be protein or less (Dr Collin Campbell, Dr Weil etc.). Too much protein is harmful, especially from animal sources.
Or
And there seem to be lots of “health influencers” who appear to be thriving on both sides of the spectrum.
Just wanted to ask for opinions and thoughts on the matter!
Harvard Health recommends no less than 0.8 g / kg per day, and says that it’s “probably best to aim for no more than” 2 g / kg per day “unless you are an elite athlete or heavily involved in body building”.
The main concrete risk they mention of a high protein diet is a higher risk of kidney stones. The main reason is because a high-protein diet increases the rate at which you pee out calcium; and the more calcium there is in your urine, the more likely it is that you’ll form stones out of those minerals.
There are many more risks known for a low protein diet; although true deficiency is rare in developed countries, muscle wasting and bone breakage are more common in people with lower intakes. These are less important in the young, but get increasingly important with age, and so are important from the perspective of longevity.
The main question is whether a high-protein diet has benefits that are more important than the kidney stone risk. To answer that, there’s just not enough information yet.
We’re all individualized I guess but saying too much protein(in this case over 15% daily intake) especially from animal sources is bad, it just doesn’t make any sense, evolutionary speaking. I’d side with the second opinion on this one. After all, your muscles are made of protein, and your body requires adequate protein in the diet in order to have the building blocks it needs to build up muscle mass. That doesn’t mean you can’t build muscles on a low protein diet, but it certainly isn’t optimal. And it would also depend on your current muscle mass and if you’re a trained individual or not.
Intake recommendations are not a blanket statement. They are individualized to the person. Yes protein is important for many reasons, but it is dependent on your medical hx. For example if you have kidney disease protein is not good for you in high quantities.
I would say that for most people anywhere from 0.6 grams to 1.2 grams per Lb of bodyweight would be good. I personally seem to do quite well right around the 1 gram per lb target, but everyone has their own target zone that works best for them specifically.
I would say that as long as you are moving towards your goals, and not away from them, you’re probably fine. That’s my opinion, anyway.
I’ve been having about 150-200g of protein a day recently for the past 3 weeks. My appetite for sugar and junk has gone down from extremely high to pretty much zero. Before I started having this much protein, I honestly think I had like 75g or less a day.
I don’t have the science to back it up but it’s probably out there, but I feel like overeating could be attributed to not having enough protein that your body needs. So it keeps craving food (protein) but you’re feeding it junk/sugar and it is never satisfied.
Anyone who suggests low protein diets, I would be highly skeptical unless you have serious kidney problems.
With this increase of protein, I’ve been able to build muscle and lose fat at the same time.
Layne Norton made a great point in a recent Huberman podcast that one can easily point to negatives on aging from carbs and from fat, so that focusing on negative effects of protein (e.g., MTOR) does not seem to be a very valid argument. This is just a brief comment – listen to the podcast for more details.
I had the unfortunate experience of driving by cattle penned in on acres and acres of farm land in which to roam freely, yet were restrained. I now understand all the noise about methane emissions. The odor was unbearable, even with car windows up. I know that doesn’t answer your question, but it’s something else to consider on either side. (I’m not vegetarian or vegan, btw.)