Protein is essential
Protein is essential for your everyday nutritional needs. You may be wondering, well how much? What type, plant proteins or animal proteins? Which one is best? What about for athletes and children? What about protein supplements? Well what you are about to learn is a crash course on protein sources, how to calculate your own personal protein needs, why should you eat protein daily and when? I do not promote foods that are not tested for purity nor foods that lead to inflammation. Protein accounts for nine essential amino acids, five non-essential amino acids and six conditionally essential amino acids. In order to have benefits of the essential amino acids you must consume them in your daily diet. Essential amino acids are used for many different functions of our cells in order to keep everything in the body balanced. However, two of the non-essential amino acids, glutamine and tyrosine do become essential at times for burn victims (glutamine) and phenylketonuria (tyrosine). Also please know that protein needs are based off of healthy individuals, if you have any health issues please reach out to a licensed professional or doctor for individual health needs/assessment.
So let’s gets started. Let’s first dig in with effects of consuming little protein.
Brittle nails, thin hair, skin problems
Anemia
Fatigue
Low immune system
Loss of muscle mass
Food cravings
Slow recovery
Brain fog
Serious effects of low protein
Muscle wasting (sarcopenia)
Low blood pressure and heart rate
Nutrient malabsorption
Liver problems
Stunting growth
Many more physiological issues (this list is not limited)
Protein is absolutely vital for optimal health and body composition, with many people needing more protein than they are currently eating. Daily protein requirements are dependent on how much body mass we need to SUSTAIN not based on energy requirements (known as calories).
.8-1.0 g/kg for sedentary adults (current research is showing for weight loss, it should be higher) - Recommended daily allowances (RDA’s )
1.2–1.6 g/kg for overweight and obese adults
1.6–2.2 g/kg for active adults
2.2–3.3 g/kg for active adults dieting or bulking up
Calculating protein needs:
You absolutely do not need to eat a meat-heavy diet to achieve these levels of protein, but including some animal proteins in your diet can make it easier. If you are vegan, then using appropriate plant-based protein powders can make a world of difference. So how to calculate your own protein requirements?
For example: 145lb athletic female building muscle mass
First you want to convert your weight in lbs. to kilograms (kg)
145lbs / 2.2kg = 66kg
66kg x 2.2g/kg (active/building muscle) = 145grams of protein/day
Researchers are now gaining clear evidence on what protein needs work best for clients! In one study consuming 1.1-1.6g/kg of protein led to more fat loss, less muscle loss, greater satiety, and a lesser reduction in metabolic rate compared to eating less protein each day. In another study eating this much protein led to greater fat loss and less muscle loss compared to eating less protein. In fact, 80% of the higher protein group lost more than 70% of their weight as fat mass, compared to only 50% of the lower protein group. Eating a diet higher in protein significantly reduces several cardiometabolic risk factors, including waist circumferences, blood pressure, and triglycerides, while also increasing satiety (keeping you fuller).
For someone who is trying their hardest to build up muscle mass (body builders), but cut fat mass, current research is showing that for average body builders consuming 2.2-2.5g/kg is recommended. For those who are in contest prep consuming 2.7-3.3g/kg of protein is known to be helpful in obtain goals of gaining lean body mass, cutting fat mass, and helping with satiety. This is good time to share that to consume this much protein it is recommended to break daily meals into 6-7 or maybe even 8 small meals per day for the best bioavailability! Macronutrients are pretty complicated. So basing your goals and current lifestyle into play, each individual person is different. I felt the need to share these calculations with you because I wanted you to see how much protein you or friends/family needs when obtaining their goals. KEEP IN MIND AS LONG AS YOU ARE HEALTHY, HIGHER PROTEIN NEEDS, DO NOT EFFECT YOUR KIDNEY FUNCTION! Prevention is key for having healthy kidneys! a normal weight, no smoking/drinking, and consistent exercise and healthy nutrition overall is very important to preventing most metabolic diseases.
Vegans
When only eating plant based proteins keep in mind that plant sources also come with consuming more calories. For example, plant based protein contain higher carbohydrates as you are trying to increase your protein requirements. Not shaming nutritional beliefs at all, but something to know. Animal based proteins consistently demonstrate a much higher bioavailability rate (up to 90%) higher than plant based options. Although I very much understand the many reasons of veganism, at the end of the day knowing the truth and just sharing this information with the general public is important, especially for athletes who might be at risk of malnutrition on a vegan diet. The best plant-based protein have a digestibility rate of 60-80%. The reason being is the digestibility is due to antinutrients that inhibit protein digestion, and absorption, such as trypsin inhibitors, phytates, and tannins. However, protein density and bioavailability issues can be solved by using plant based protein powders!
Are all protein sources created equal?
That answer is no. Protein can be found in plant or animal foods, but at the end of the day animal proteins are the most bioavailable form that our body breaks down most efficiently to prevent muscle loss in the average person and athlete. If you were to eat only a vegan/plant based diet as an athlete, you would need to make sure that you are consuming a plant base protein supplement that does fulfill your daily protein requirements, keep in mind, protein needs for athletes are typically much higher than the average person. With that behind said there are so many different option on the market for protein supplements. Be sure that when choosing a supplement, you read the ingredients for purity and see that the company provides a certificate of analysis (COA), which will provide clarity if what you are purchasing does not contain heavy metals, bacteria, pesticides, and herbicides, as well as contain the amount of protein the company says they use. If you are unsure of the safety of your supplement do not hesitate to send an email to the supplement company. When researching, and with help of a friend, thanks DANA on the vegan protein investigation! Here are the COA of the two protein supplements mentioned in this months “Protein for athletes” newsletter. Be sure to subscribe to the news letters so you can be able to print out the newsletter to have on hand.
Whichever type of protein you choose to consume, always keep in mind of the best sources. If you are consuming a animal based protein here a few tips for eating clean and more humane sources: choose wild caught fish, hormone/grass fed meats, free ranged chicken and a whey or egg based protein supplement as the cleanest sources for your body. If you are consuming protein from plant based sources, be sure those plant based sources are organic and like mentioned before, I cannot stress enough to ask the company for a COA, due to heavy metals, and pesticides/herbicides used in farming, which then is used in the processing to create the plant based protein. For vegetable sources try your best to either do a veggie/fruit rinse or buy organic produce to reduce the amount of herbicides and pesticides ingested. Choosing to purchase fruit and veggies in season will help lower the cost.
What do I as a Licensed Dietitian recommend for most clients:
First off, I personalize everyone’s nutritional needs based off lifestyle, current eating habits, vegan/meat eater, and of course I meet everyone where they are. With that being said, I encourage most clients to space out protein needs throughout the day in your meals and snacks. Your gut only absorbs roughly 25 grams of protein at a sitting and this is depending on a healthy gut or not. I love recommending smaller/balanced meals throughout the day. Whatever you calculated protein needs are (your calculations above), I would say depending on your recommendations it would likely be 4-7oz of meat at each meal and again depending on your protein needs, maybe 2-3 oz. with snacks (or as I like to call it mini meals). Again what I recommend for average person vs. body builder or jiujitsu athlete varies with nutrient timing and exercise schedule. I hope you enjoyed this blog! For a print out of my monthly newsletter don’t forget to subscribe!
Lastly, I accept BCBS and United Health Care please reach out, or schedule a discovery call to learn more about my services! Tele-health and in-person appointments are available.
Certificate of Analysis for Twenty 2 Nutrition Vegan Vanilla Protein Powder:
Puori Grass Fed Whey Protein
https://cleanlabelproject.org/transparency-project-details/?query=59000145
References:
Chappell, A.J., Simper, T. & Barker, M.E. Nutritional strategies of high level natural bodybuilders during competition preparation. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 15, 4 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-018-0209-z
Jäger, R., Kerksick, C.M., Campbell, B.I. et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition Position Stand: protein and exercise. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 14, 20 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-017-0177-8
Kim, J. E., O'Connor, L. E., Sands, L. P., Slebodnik, M. B., & Campbell, W. W. (2016). Effects of dietary protein intake on body composition changes after weight loss in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Nutrition reviews, 74(3), 210–224. https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuv065
Morton RW, Murphy KT, McKellar SR, et al,. A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression of the effect of protein supplementation on resistance training-induced gains in muscle mass and strength in healthy adults. British Journal of Sports Medicine 2018;52:376-384. https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/52/6/376
Stephan van Vliet, Nicholas A Burd, Luc JC van Loon, The Skeletal Muscle Anabolic Response to Plant- versus Animal-Based Protein Consumption, The Journal of Nutrition, Volume 145, Issue 9, September 2015, Pages 1981–1991, https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.114.204305
Wycherley, T. P., Moran, L. J., Clifton, P. M., Noakes, M., & Brinkworth, G. D. (2012). Effects of energy-restricted high-protein, low-fat compared with standard-protein, low-fat diets: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 96(6), 1281–1298. https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.112.044321
