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This is Harvard Health Publishing, they say I need about 0.8 grams of protein everyday, now, that means I would have to consume about 70 grams of protein everyday (minimum) to stay healthy, now, I live in India and don't consume that much, but I consider myself pretty healthy.
So, what's the amount one should realistically be aiming towards? If I were to take 70 grams of protein everyday, what measurable changes can I expect in my life🤔?
I mean, you have your answer right there. It's not like Harvard is a particularly untrustworthy source for diet recommendations.
Why are you doubting the number? If you feel fine and don't want to change, don't. Everybody is different and has different needs, and you might just need less, but anyone reputable is going to give the same rough range.
A lot less than Americans think. Going from memory it's about 6-8% of calories.
Do you eat enough in general (eg 3 meals a day, you don't feel hungry most of the time)? It's not hard to meet the basic nutritional goals by just eating what you want when you want. Protein is in everything so it'd be quite hard to be significantly deficient if you're not starving.
I eat a protein low diet, 400 grams of rice and maybe 200 grams of what and some dal (which is protein rich but I eat very less quantity of it). One egg, and this is the best case scenario and I don't think that will get me more than half of what they say I need to be healthy.
People get a significant amount of their protein intake from sources that aren't usually considered "proteins". Lentils (and mung beans if you don't think of them as lentils), wheat, rice etc all have significant amounts of protein (especially lentils). Yogurt and cheese has lots of it too. Not sure what part of India you're in or what sort of food you're mostly eating but my guess is you're getting more protein than you realize.
People dont always calculate their total protein intake correctly, because things like wheat (12% protein) and rice and potatoes (3%) have protein although thought of as carbs. Studies say 50g of protein per day is ok, but some people say more is better, particularly if trying to build muscle mass etc
Is "grams per pound" really the way you say it?
Like, if you know the concept of gram, why do you need a pound?
In the US, we weigh ourselves in pounds. But nutritional information about food is in grams.
Imo, the fact that the numerator and denominator units are incompatible isn't a big deal since the message "eat .08% percent of your body weight in protein each day" is not the intuitive way to think about how much to eat. It's much easier to use a unit in the numerator that is common measuring nutrition and a unit in the denominator that is common for measuring body weight.
My question is essentially as to why you use two systems at once
If you know what gram is, you can imagine a kilogram as well: the conversion is easy, measurements are consistent with each other and the entire world, and it makes it very clear both units are tied together and represent mass.
It's not actually that intuitive when you don't use kilograms. An American might know what a gram is, but mentally multiplying the conception of one gram by 1000, it's hard to imagine. You really need experience with kilograms to understand kilograms.
As an analogy, say you don't know Fahrenheit. I can tell you that 32 °F is the freezing point of water, and 100 °F is a really hot day. Is 300 °F the right temperature to cook chicken at? In theory, you can mentally extrapolate, but in reality it's hard to say without direct experience with Fahrenheit in cooking (it's not right, it's too cold).
I see your point, thanks!
~~but seriously, go metric already, nearly an entire world managed to~~ (light-hearted)
I agree! My country is so fucked because we're caught between metric and American units. Worse than just Imperial.
Same reason we know what a liter is but still use pints and gallons. Because we recognize the value of the easy precision of metric when it's needed but prefer imperial for our day to day lives.
If u wanna build muscle eat at least 1g per pound of body weight (or 2.2 per kg).
Make sure ur getting enough carbs and fat too though, they're equally important.
Make sure ur getting enough carbs
What do the carbs do for body builders? Force anabolism?
Carbs are the basic molecules used in your energy metabolism (i.e. almost everything gets converted into glucose through one pathway or another).
If you'd try to meet your calorie requirements with a high protein intake you'd just put unnecessary strain on your kidneys and I don't think you'd enjoy your food as much (don't get me started on keto people)
(don’t get me started on keto people)
Please! I want to know more
There are specific medical conditions where a ketogenic diet has shown some promise, but for the most part it's not great for you. Essentially you needv blood sugars, and converting them from protein or fat takes a higher toll on your body than converting them from carbs. It barely counts as converting, a complex carb is really just a chain of sugars
The body eats up muscle as the first response to being deprived of substance.
I havent seen the research showing that the body eats muscle when not consuming carbs.
Not carbs in specific. But muscle along fat is very quick on the cut list of things your body does away with when having deficiencys. Just look at people doing hunger strikes
Too much protein can fuck up your sleeping schedule. Especially if it’s lean protein with little fat. Happened to me when I was eating too many chili cheese smoked sausages all the time because I was lazy. They’re delicious though.
I don’t mean to pry but sausage in general, especially seemingly chili cheese sausage, has an incredible amount of fat (that is not to say the fat is bad, subtypes and fatty acid chain length are important to note), wouldn’t this be counter to your point? Unless the chili cheese smoked sausages are some Franken-Sausage (lol) that is super lean.
I am... ALMOST sure they're making a joke about farting keeping them awake.
😅🤦 I feel like a fool
This is a good question but you're going to get a wild range of information because of a number of factors.
That number is a good starting point but it's likely low especially if you're physically active or using a vegan/vegetarian source.
Also, something one must keep in mind is that the vast majority of research in the field is built on the fundamental assumption carbs should be the largest part of the diet which is likely wrong as the body seems to run better the less sugar you give it.
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE8LmUoWei5Qp5Nz7C4FMNs6hGNx7M3Jg
That's a great lecture, thanks for sharing
Best AskLemmy question I've seen in years
Hehe... Thank you!
If your recommend protein intake is 70 grams per day (meaning you weigh about 195 pounds / 87 kg) and you’re only getting 20 grams per day, then you are likely already experiencing health issues.
From https://www.verywellhealth.com/protein-deficiency-symptoms-8756264 you could expect to experience:
Not all of those are immediately noticeable.
However, I’m with the other commenter who said that they think it’s likely that you’re under-estimating your daily protein intake. What method did you use for tracking and calculating it?
Also, thanks for the detailed answer!
I have a very monotonous food that I am fed, so, I just calculated how much protein I am getting from it and it turned out to be no more than 20 grams average per day. Boy, I need to add more proteins to my diet, can protein powders be digested by the body well or should I look for natural sources of protein?
Just eat more beans, put milk in tea, some meat if you eat that, you don't need protein powder. Food will give you more nutrients than a protein isolate. A balanced diet is the way to go.
Powders can be good, but they can also be garbage. It depends on the brand. But with whole foods like legumes or animal meats, you can be sure you're getting quality protein.
I mean most powders are from natural sources. Pea protein, whey comes from milk. Depends on the person, some people have digestive issues if they start taking a ton of protein and don't adjust bit by bit. If you're lactose intolerant, watch out for powders that are Whey based, some contain enough lactose to upset your gut. Some say lactose-free.
Im going to say the Harvard estimate is probably pretty close. It is probably a bit higher than what you would need on a day to day basis for survival, but enough to help your body maintain some muscle over the long term.
Its not enough for someone wanting to be fit or muscular though.
if you eat the recommended amount of protein (and a little extra as a buffer) then you would not notice any particularly striking change, but statistically your quality of life will improve for myriad subtle reasons. Hormone production will be more stable, you will be less likely to get diseases associated with protein deficiency, you will build muscle slightly more easily, your brain will technically function slightly better in subtle metabolic ways, as with all your other organs. etc. You will likely, not notice any of it. But across your life it will statistically make a difference in your health outcomes. this is true of all phytonutrients, not just protein.
The recommended amount contains a buffer. No need to add your own buffer as well
based on the screenshot, it does not seem to include a buffer, and is unlikely to imo because that requires taking a stance on the size of that buffer.
https://www.dietdoctor.com/food-policy/protein
2g per kg ideal body weight, look at citation 5 for references
Not all sources of protein are the same, you need ALL the essential amino acids to actually be able to use protein. Most food protein is based on a nitrogen estimate and not measured amino acids!!! (This is called crude protein)
A good way to see what food are bioavailable protein is to reference it's DIAAS score.
https://www.diaas-calculator.com/
If you eat your daily target of protein but it's missing amino acids, your body can't use it, and you haven't actually eaten your target protein.
You could also use a tool like cronometer to map out your food and amino acids as well
That diet doctor recommendation feels wildly high for a "what is actually necessary" request. Like 2 g/kg is near the target for bodybuilders.
It might be a good idea for many people to hit that to maximize muscle development in preparation for aging (where muscle deterioration is chief concern), but not a good estimate for anyone who isnt worried about that.
They also say two further things which ding their credibility:
First is this comment: "Because there appears to be a limited amount of protein that can be absorbed at a meal, it may be best to evenly space out your protein throughout the day, if possible."
This is not really a concern even for bodybuilders. You dont need to overthink spacing.
Second is the comment about vegetarians/vegans. Protein intake is not a huge concern for the average vegetarian, if you are not aiming for that unnecessarily high target - as long as they are regularly including some protein in their meals (soy, beans, nuts, eggs). Even for non-vegetarians, that higher target requires you to monitor of your protein intake to hit it regularly with overeating.
Like 2 g/kg is near the target for bodybuilders.
Big difference between body builders and normal people is that the advice is for ideal body weight, where bodybuilders consume per current bodyweight. The advice has to be high to account for the highly variable metabolism, and diets of the general population. Some people simply don't eat bioavailable complete proteins, at all.
“Because there appears to be a limited amount of protein that can be absorbed at a meal, it may be best to evenly space out your protein throughout the day, if possible.”
Here is there reference for that advice: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3197704/ Moderating the portion size of a protein-rich meal improves anabolic efficiency in young and elderly - Randomized Trial; Moderate evidence.
Second is the comment about vegetarians/vegans.
Here is their reference for that advice: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5521049/ Determination of the protein quality of cooked Canadian pulses - [mechanistic study; ungraded]
Although the quality of protein in different legumes varies, many appear to be about 20-50% less digestible than animal protein
They cited references and papers for each of their comments, which improves their credibility. I would have liked them to mention DIAAS scores, for completeness, rather then referring to a paper on pulses, but that doesn't remove from their advice.