Why you might be eating too much protein (how to make sure you aren’t harming yourself)
You have just started training,
or you have been training for some time,
all of the jacked guys at the gym and on the internet are telling you to eat more protein.
Then you come home, and your dad is reaming you saying,
“Too much protein will damage your liver”
You are lost and confused and don’t know what to do.
Is protein hurting my body or helping me get gains?
It is possible to be eating too much protein?
I am willing to bet that you might be.
Let me explain.
What to do with protein?
Firstly, before we need to understand too much or too little,
we need to understand what protein is and why we need it.
Protein is one of the three primary macronutrients found in our foods.
Micronutrients are those concerning vitamins and minerals.
Considering it is one of the three primary major food groups means that it must have some significance in the body as almost every living creature, including us, needs to eat it.
Protein can be found in most foods that contain,
nuts, legumes, beans, dairy
and even,
you guessed it,
meat.
We are comprised of protein.
Our muscles are comprised of protein.
This is why the bloke with no neck at the gym is telling you to eat more protein,
because after all,
you are what you eat.
Protein or proteins are found in almost every major structure of our body,
from the muscles, tissues, and organs, to even the cellular level.
Since we are comprised of protein,
it is an easy assumption to make,
(as well as verify with any sort of scientific literature or science textbook)
that we need to eat the nutrient that comprises the majority of our body.
This is because in the process of digestion,
we break down the nutrient-protein and utilise it to repair and restore our own body.
Now the real question that needs answering is,
how much do we need?
How much is too much or too little?
To determine this,
we need to find a reputable source of information.
Our first point of reference is to look at government guidelines,
as they often suggest recommendations for exercise and dietary behaviours.
The most recent dietary behaviours regarding protein intake in Australia were released in 2006.
The suggestions are in the paper titled “Protein” under the Nutrient Reference Values
for Australia and New Zealand recommend (1):
0.84g/per kg for men
and
0.75g/per kg for women.
So a solved case then.
Anything over that is too much protein?
Not necessarily.
As we know,
at the time of writing this in February 2024,
a lot can happen in 18 years of scientific discoveries…
On the contrary.
If you do a quick Google search trying to find recommended protein requirements,
you will find countless articles from government websites suggesting an adherence to this guideline which was released in 2006.
In actually seeking truth,
I decided to utilise my incomplete science degree skills to scour the internet and find the answer.
Each of the articles I read continues to push this guideline proposed in 2006 that anything over this recommended dosage is not necessary or even harmful to the body.
Even an article that was updated in 2022 concluded points about protein intake (2).
“People who exercise vigorously or are trying to put on muscle mass do not need to consume extra protein. High-protein diets do not lead to increased muscle mass. It’s the stimulation of muscle tissue through exercise, not extra dietary protein, which leads to muscle growth.”
And
“Some fad diets promote very high protein intakes of between 200 and 400 g per day. This is more than 5 times the amount recommended in the Australian Dietary Guidelines.
The protein recommendations in the Guidelines provide enough protein to build and repair muscles, even for bodybuilders and athletes.
A very high-protein diet can strain the kidneys and liver. It can also prompt excessive loss of the mineral calcium, which can increase your risk of osteoporosis.”
This government article has been updated and referenced to keep the information up-to-date.
But from examining the references listed in this article, you start to see a different image.
Take reference 3 below which is a referenced paper in the original article mentioned above.
Titled “The effects of a high protein diet on indices of health and body composition--a crossover trial in resistance-trained men” it stated:
“An acute exercise stimulus, particularly resistance exercise, and protein ingestion both stimulate muscle protein synthesis (MPS) and are synergistic when protein consumption occurs before or after resistance exercise.”
and
“In resistance-trained young men who do not significantly alter their training regimen, consuming a high protein diet (2.6 to 3.3 g/kg/day) over a 4-month period has no effect on blood lipids or markers of renal and hepatic function.”
In simple terms,
reference 3 states that it is dietary protein paired with resistance training that causes the development of muscle mass.
And further to this,
it concluded the safety of consuming protein at a dosage 3-4 times higher than the government guidelines on liver and kidney function.
This is a complete contradiction to what was mentioned in the parent article.
So what is going on here?
Pushing an agenda.
I believe most people think that whatever is government releases is the correct way to do things.
However,
systems get old,
methods become obsolete.
new information comes to light.
I am sure in trying to give a whole population of people the right information, it would be smart to play on the side of conservatism.
Especially when it comes to official government pages and documentation that you can easily find and access.
But as you can see,
these guidelines are old and outdated.
18 years outdated to be exact.
That is a long time to be without a review.
So all of the subsequent articles and information have been framed around these guidelines that anything over a couple of servings of protein is your daily requirement.
So this is what I mean when I say you are eating too much protein.
It depends on the metric by which you are measuring.
By government standards, anyone who goes to the gym and supplements a protein powder is likely consuming too much protein.
But this is far from true.
So what do I do?
There are going to be many conflicting opinions on the topic,
but this is a general overview of what I can find.
When considering protein intake you have variations in the total amounts that people require based on their circumstances.
For example,
frequency of training,
age, lean vs fat mass
are all factors that can affect protein intake requirements.
This is because simply put, someone that trains more is going to need more protein to repair the muscles from the excess activity.
As we age, our muscles tend to waste away from a condition known as sarcopenia which means older folks require more protein to circumvent this.
On top of this, people with higher fat-free mass require more protein because they have more muscle relative to fat.
Just examining a few articles I could find,
the consensus is that 0.8g per/kg is insufficient to circumvent sarcopenia (4)
A good range of protein intake as a minimum recommendation varies between 1.2g - 1.6g per kg/day (5).
But also, that elderly individuals, or people who are sick may be recommended to go as high as 2g per kg/day (6).
That last article also states that:
“Since it has been estimated that 0.5–1% of muscle mass is lost annually from the age of 50, an increased dietary protein intake may be required earlier in life in order to mitigate the muscle ageing process.”
This means that even consuming as high as 2g per kg/day can be recommended in younger adults to circumvent the aging process.
So given that there has been a lot of new information in the past 18 years regarding protein intake,
It would be safe to assume that you can have a bit more protein in your diet to aid in your training endeavors.
If none of this article made sense to you,
you could sit there and struggle on your own for a long time trying to figure out what this all means.
Or,
you could get the most out of your training as quickly as possible learning from people who have walked the path before you.
If you want to start today to get the most out of your training,
feel free to contact us.
The choice is yours.