Do we need to eat more protein? No, we don’t. With a modern diet, the majority of us get more protein than our bodies can use on a daily basis. The only people who need extra protein are world class athletes.
What is a protein? Proteins are molecules that are made up of chains of 300 or more amino acids. Different proteins are made up of different amino acids. There are over 500 amino acids in the world, but we only need 20 of them. Out of those 20, we can make 11 in our bodies, but we have to get the other 9 from food. These 9 are called essential amino acids because they are essential to our survival. Inside our bodies, the amino acids join into chains to form proteins and these proteins are vital for our bodies to function. Proteins do a vast number of jobs in our bodies and that job is dictated by the number and order of amino acids they are made of. The sequence of amino acids changes the shape of the protein, which changes its function. There are thousands of thousands of different proteins in our bodies and each one has a different purpose. Some of those purposes are making up the structure of cells, hormones, enzymes, immune cells, repairing muscles, helping the muscles to move, regulating DNA, and moving molecules around our bodies. There are many many more tasks that proteins do.
How much protein do we need? Different governments recommend different amounts, but they don’t differ by a lot. The recommended amount of daily protein is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body mass. That means I am 72 kg, so I need 57.6 grams of protein. I run every day, so my protein needs will go up a little bit, but I only run for about 40 minutes a day, which is not that far. The reason I will need protein is because my muscles will tear while I am using them and they need to repair themselves. They use protein for this repairing. However, I don’t need extra protein all of the time, just after the exercise.
If I round up my protein requirements to 1g per kg, that makes 72 g of protein. So, how much do I get a day, and is that enough? Here’s what I ate yesterday with the amount of protein in parenthesis. Yesterday, I had a pack of natto (19 g), a slice of whole grain toast with butter (13 g), coffee with milk (4 g – 6 cups a day), an apple (0.5 g), some prunes (1g), a piece of salmon (25 g), white rice (4 g), salad with olives (1 g), assorted vegetables (3 g), 250 g of yoghurt (8 g) with natural peanut butter (2 g) and oats (5 g). That’s 85.5 g of protein, which is easily enough for my daily requirements. I sometimes eat more protein because we have meat quite often and I eat more meat than I do fish. I have more bread at the weekends too, which increases the amount of protein I eat. I always exceed the amount of protein I need to eat and I don’t eat a huge amount of food. The average American eats about 100 g of protein a day just from their food, which is already over the necessary amount. If they take protein supplements as well, that is a lot of protein. We are all told that we “need more protein” to build muscle or to lose weight, without being told that we all already consume a lot of protein.
What happens to extra proteins? Our body cannot store proteins. It uses them when it has them or they go. That is why protein after exercise is good, but you can get that by just eating a meal and you don’t need a protein supplement. Because the body cannot store protein, it has to convert it. The nitrogen is removed and processed by the liver, and the protein is converted into fat and stored.
Protein requirements go up as people exercise more, or as they age and lose muscle mass. But, exercising more means very intensive daily exercise at professional level. The exercise that most of us do doesn’t really make much difference. And, we are all meeting our protein needs just by eating our daily food. The necessity of added protein bars and protein shakes has been created by the marketing departments of the food industry. Even pro athletes get enough protein because they tend to eat more food. If you are exercising, but still not losing weight, take a look at your protein powder. Many of them contain a lot of added sugar, and you are probably eating more protein than you need, so it is converted into fat. And this is what I learned today.
Try these next:
Sources
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/how-much-protein-do-you-need-every-day-201506188096
https://www.nal.usda.gov/human-nutrition-and-food-safety/dri-calculator/results
https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/understanding/howgeneswork/protein
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amino_acid
https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Amino-Acids
https://www.ajinomoto.com/amino-acids/what-are-amino-acids
https://www.bhf.org.uk/how-you-can-help/events/nutrition-for-sporting-events/protein-and-exercise
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