The Very Real Risks of Consuming Too Much Protein

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  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    Patttience wrote: »
    Well Mercola maya not be the best source of information but he wouldn't be the only person saying this. I agree too much protein is not healthy.

    Too much of *anything* (including water) isn't healthy. You don't need to be a quack like Mercola to figure that one out!

    The point is if someone's going to start a 'scare' thread, at least use a credible source for the basis of it. ;)

  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    Most people need 40 to 70 grams of protein per day (the CDC's general protein recommendation for adults is 46 g a day for women, and 56 g a day for men). Rarely does a person than this—the exception for those who are aggressively exercising (or competing) and pregnant women.

    "Rarely than a person does this" means what?
    Rarely does an average person even eat the recommended amount of protein? Rarely does an average person exceed these amounts? Rarely does a person go below these amounts- unless they are athletes or pregnant women?
    I can't think of something to plug in that sentence that doesn't contradict the idea that people are eating 3 to 5 times more protein than they need.




  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
    I imagine that link has been posted here by some one paid to increase the the in-bound links to his article to boost its rank on google. hence increasing the site traffic and money made from the site (he has a shop). You can pay a person who works in search engine optimisation business to post links to your articles / website in forums to help increase its search rank :-) The more replies you post - the more credible the inbound link will be and the better his google rank will be. So if you hate the article - try not to reply to it and they will be deprived some google rank hopefully!
    Nope, because rel="nofollow"
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    LOL
    Mercola

    Correct response.
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  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    That said, there is an upper limit to how much protein your body can actually use. On average, Americans consume three to five times more protein than they need.

    When you consume too much protein, your body must remove more nitrogen waste products from your blood, which stresses your kidneys.

    Most people need 40 to 70 grams of protein per day (the CDC's general protein recommendation for adults is 46 g a day for women, and 56 g a day for men). Rarely does a person than this—the exception for those who are aggressively exercising (or competing) and pregnant women.

    Too much of anything is bad.

    But I've never seen any evidence that more than the minimum (about .8 g/kg of bodyweight, or 45 g for me, at 125) would be "too much," and I have seen evidence that more is desirable if one is trying to build muscle or retain muscle at a deficit, up to about .6-.8 g/lb of bodyweight (for someone in the normal weight range). I've even seen some suggestions that more, especially near exercise, could be beneficial for someone older, as in over 40 or so.

    Moreover, whether it's actually helpful or not, if it's not harmful the question becomes whether the person is better off eating it vs. increasing carbs or fat. There are warnings about eating too much sat fat too, and beyond that for some of us fat isn't that satiating. Protein is much more so, so I personally feel better getting a little excess protein (or a lot, if I use the minimum necessary number) vs. lots more fat or carbs. (And if I exchanged protein for carbs and kept my calories at the correct number and my fat where I feel good, I'm sure Mercola would claim I had an awful high carb diet, sigh.)

    As for the ridiculous 3 to 5 times the protein we need, the average American eats about 15% protein. If a 180 lb man needs about 65 g of protein (.8*180/2.2), and is eating 3-5x that, or between 195 and 325 grams, and that's 15% of his overall calorie intake, that would mean his total calorie intake is between 5200 and 8667 calories, which is insanely high even compared to the insanely high real numbers. AND, of course, if he was eating that much, his protein intake would hardly be the first issue.

    Therefore, I have to conclude that Mercola's claims make no sense.

    Or, as someone else so succinctly put it: LOL, Mercola.
  • galgenstrick
    galgenstrick Posts: 2,086 Member
    The CDCs recommendation makes sense for the minimum requirement for the average sedentary individual sitting on their *kitten* all day. But if you're working out, lifting some weights or doing high intensity cardio then your body needs the amino acids from protein to properly repair and build. This has been shown time and time again to be a lot more protein than the CDCs recommendation.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    DavPul wrote: »
    http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/09/03/too-much-protein.aspx

    From Dr Joseph Mercola....Eating more protein than your body needs can interfere with your health and fitness goals, including weight gain, extra body fat, stress on your kidneys, chronic dehydration, and leaching of important bone minerals.

    Your body needs protein, the primary building block for cells, muscles, and bones. It also helps preserve lean muscle that is typically lost with age. High quality proteins from pasture raised animals are more easily used by your body than those from plants.

    That said, there is an upper limit to how much protein your body can actually use. On average, Americans consume three to five times more protein than they need.

    When you consume too much protein, your body must remove more nitrogen waste products from your blood, which stresses your kidneys.

    Most people need 40 to 70 grams of protein per day (the CDC's general protein recommendation for adults is 46 g a day for women, and 56 g a day for men). Rarely does a person than this—the exception for those who are aggressively exercising (or competing) and pregnant women.

    So......you're finding that Americans are typically consuming 200-350 grams of protein daily?

    That's what I was thinking too.
  • johnnylakis
    johnnylakis Posts: 812 Member
    edited July 2015
    I'm back
  • johnnylakis
    johnnylakis Posts: 812 Member
    edited July 2015
    On average, Americans consume three to five times more protein than they need.

    Most people need 40 to 70 grams of protein per day (the CDC's general protein recommendation for adults is 46 g a day for women, and 56 g a day for men).

    So......you're finding that Americans are typically consuming 200-350 grams of protein daily?

    That's what I was thinking too.
    Without resorting to name calling, i will explain to those of you who lack a proper high school education (and for that matter, who also lack manners) and who cannot do basic math, the average of 46 and 56 is 51. 51 times 3 is 150, 51 times 5 is 250. So......based on what people are posting here on MYF, at 1g of protein per pound of body weight, I am finding that Americans are typically consuming 150-250 grams of protein daily. Again, this is based on what MYF users are posting voluntarily.
  • labohn91
    labohn91 Posts: 113 Member
    While no defined intake level at
    which potential adverse effects
    of protein was identified, the
    upper end of AMDR based on
    complementing the AMDR for
    carbohydrate and fat for the
    various age groups. The lower
    end of the AMDR is set at
    approximately the RDA..

    http://iom.nationalacademies.org/~/media/Files/Activity Files/Nutrition/DRIs/New Material/8_Macronutrient Summary.pdf
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    edited July 2015
    That said, there is an upper limit to how much protein your body can actually use. On average, Americans consume three to five times more protein than they need...
    Most people need 40 to 70 grams of protein per day (the CDC's general protein recommendation for adults is 46 g a day for women, and 56 g a day for men).

    SAD protein intake is right at 100g/day. On what planet is that "3 to 5 times" more than 46g?

    An article that can't even get simple things like that right is not an article I'm going trust.
  • johnnylakis
    johnnylakis Posts: 812 Member
    Mr_Knight wrote: »

    SAD protein intake is right at 100g/day. On what planet is that "3 to 5 times" more than 46g?
    By SAD, you are referring to the Standard American Diet. I will repeat myself, I did not refer to SAD, I was quoting actual MYF members.

  • johnnylakis
    johnnylakis Posts: 812 Member
    annette_15 wrote: »
    Lol... I'm 108lbs and eat 120-150g protein and I dont even try, its just how I eat :joy:

  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
    edited July 2015
    Mr_Knight wrote: »

    SAD protein intake is right at 100g/day. On what planet is that "3 to 5 times" more than 46g?
    By SAD, you are referring to the Standard American Diet. I will repeat myself, I did not refer to SAD, I was quoting actual MYF members.

    From the OP...

    On average, Americans consume...

    That by definition is referring to SAD.

    The article is ****.
  • johnnylakis
    johnnylakis Posts: 812 Member

    All that is instantly shot down by our ancestors through the hunter/gatherer phase, who ate animals for food most heavily,
    Our ancestors, even 50 years ago, did not eat meat pumped full of antibiotics and hormones.

  • johnnylakis
    johnnylakis Posts: 812 Member
    The quality of protein being consumed today is poor at best. By consuming too much of it, you increase your health risks. Those who consume too much protein and suffer bad health will remember my post in 30 to 40 years.
  • longtimeterp
    longtimeterp Posts: 614 Member

    All that is instantly shot down by our ancestors through the hunter/gatherer phase, who ate animals for food most heavily,
    Our ancestors, even 50 years ago, did not eat meat pumped full of antibiotics and hormones.

    well keep up that great work and keep getting skinnyfat eating your 50g or p a day.

    protein.jpg
  • SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish
    SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish Posts: 831 Member
    edited July 2015

    All that is instantly shot down by our ancestors through the hunter/gatherer phase, who ate animals for food most heavily,
    Our ancestors, even 50 years ago, did not eat meat pumped full of antibiotics and hormones.

    While this is true, it does not change the fact that this alone shoots down the entire idea. Yeah you added additional factors too, so what? Now you need to prove that by adding antibiotics and hormones that protein over 40-70g/day causes health problems, where it didn't before. Go on...

    And even one could prove this, you would only prove that its the addition of the other factors, not protein over 40-70g/day that caused the problems...
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,224 Member

    All that is instantly shot down by our ancestors through the hunter/gatherer phase, who ate animals for food most heavily,
    Our ancestors, even 50 years ago, did not eat meat pumped full of antibiotics and hormones.

    Way to shift the goal posts.
  • mckat08
    mckat08 Posts: 79 Member
  • johnnylakis
    johnnylakis Posts: 812 Member

    And even one could prove this, you would only prove that its the addition of the other factors, not protein over 40-70g/day that caused the problems...
    Again, I did not say protein over 40-70 was a problem. I said protein at 3 to 5 times more than that amount is a problem. I bolded 3 to 5 times in my original post.

  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member

    And even one could prove this, you would only prove that its the addition of the other factors, not protein over 40-70g/day that caused the problems...
    Again, I did not say protein over 40-70 was a problem. I said protein at 3 to 5 times more than that amount is a problem. I bolded 3 to 5 times in my original post.
    But that is wrong. As was pointed out. "The average American" does not consume 3 to 5 times that amount, and that amount is also the minimum recommendation as to not become deficient, not an upper maximum. You should not eat LESS than that. Furthermore, if you'r exercising (you know, what pretty much everyone on here does) that amount is not enough as has been stated many times.
    http://www.usada.org/resources/nutrition/proteins-role-as-a-team-player/
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