{"id":1881,"date":"2024-03-04T07:46:21","date_gmt":"2024-03-04T15:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/revitalizemetabolichealth.com\/?p=1881"},"modified":"2024-03-04T07:46:21","modified_gmt":"2024-03-04T15:46:21","slug":"are-you-getting-enough-protein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/revitalizemetabolichealth.com\/are-you-getting-enough-protein\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You Getting Enough Protein?"},"content":{"rendered":"
The importance of protein intake is far underappreciated, especially as we age.\u00a0 Perhaps due to misleading interpretation of low-quality research (epidemiological studies, in particular), people have come to believe that high protein intake is harmful.\u00a0 Instead, there is abundant research demonstrating that high protein intake is extremely beneficial and safe.<\/p>\n
Low protein diets are likely counterproductive to our health goals.\u00a0 In fact, in animal studies, to achieve the most weight gain, researchers have learned to do so by administering a low<\/em> protein, high carbohydrate diet.<\/p>\n When it comes to protein intake, it’s important to consider the total amount of protein, the absolute amount, rather than protein as a percentage of energy intake. This is especially important because of the tendency to under-eat protein.\u00a0 If focusing on protein as a percentage of energy intake, any attempts to reduce food intake will result in decreased protein intake.\u00a0 Our bodies, however, don\u2019t care about percentages, however; our bodies need an absolute amount of protein to support our lean body mass and for growth\/repair, etc.<\/p>\n When pursuing weight loss, people tend to restrict calories, and in so doing, that percentage point becomes a very low amount of protein which is inadequate for optimal health.\u00a0 Thus, if one is losing weight and restricting protein intake, there will be loss of both fat and<\/em> muscle, which is counterproductive and inevitably leads to weight regain.<\/p>\n Americans tend to consume most of their total daily protein at one meal, the dinner meal later in the day. \u00a0Typically, protein intake at breakfast is the lowest of the day, with an average 12 g of protein. \u00a0This amount of protein is not enough to stimulate protein synthesis and thus is effectively just contributing to calorie intake.\u00a0 Protein synthesis is essentially not happening until there is a sufficient spike in leucine intake, requiring about 2.5 grams of leucine, an amino acid that stimulates the mTor pathway. \u00a0It appears that 30 g of animal protein is required to obtain 2.5 g of leucine, and twice as much plant protein is required to do the same.<\/p>\n Particularly problematic is when people follow the common advice from dietitians to eat smaller meals multiple times per day.\u00a0 They are not getting the recommended 30 grams of protein per meal and thus will not be sustaining their muscle mass appropriately. \u00a0This dieting strategy, thus, leads to loss of muscle mass, which subsequently has negative effects on metabolism, functional status, and overall health.<\/p>\nAbsolute amount of protein matters most<\/h3>\n
Daily protein intake<\/h3>\n
Testing higher protein intake<\/h3>\n