Too Little Protein In Diet Could Lead To Too Much Body Fat
Options
daisymae9801
Posts: 208 Member
Is it true that a higher protein diet burns more fat?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/04/protein-body-fat-diet-_n_1183516.html?ref=diet-and-nutrition
By Anne Harding
People who consistently consume more calories than they burn each day will lose lean muscle and accumulate body fat more easily if their diets contain too little protein and too much fat and carbohydrates, suggests a study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study included 25 people who lived in a carefully controlled research facility for up to three months, exercising very little. For two of those months, all of the men and women intentionally ate about 1,000 calories per day more than they needed to maintain their weight, but they consumed different amounts of protein.
People assigned to a low-protein diet gained roughly half as much weight during the experiment as those assigned to a standard or high-protein diet, but body fat -- rather than lean body mass, which includes muscle -- accounted for a much higher percentage of their weight gain.
In the low-protein group, approximately 90 percent of the extra daily calories were stored as body fat, but in the other groups just 50 percent of the added calories became fat and most of the remainder were burned off. People on the low-protein diet lost an average of 1.5 pounds of lean body mass, while those in the normal- and high-protein diets gained about 6 and 7 pounds, respectively.
The findings debunk a decades-old theory, supported by more recent research, that low- or high-protein diets can fight weight gain by tricking the body into shedding excess calories without storing them, says study author George A. Bray, M.D., chief of clinical obesity and metabolism at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, in Baton Rouge, La.
"You don't fool nature by adding more or less protein," he says. "You may fool the scale, but you don't fool the metabolic processes which store excess calories as fat."
The results suggest also that the minimum protein intake federal health officials currently recommend -- 46 grams per day for women and 56 grams per day for men -- may not be enough to maintain muscle mass in some people. The study participants needed to consume at least 78 grams of protein per day to avoid losing muscle, Bray and his team found.
David Heber, M.D., director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition, in Los Angeles, says most people should get about 20 percent of their total calories from protein. (By comparison, the three groups in the study got roughly 5 percent, 15 percent, and 25 percent of their calories from protein; people on the low-protein diet ate just 47 grams of protein per day.)
Hitting the 20 percent target doesn't require eating a high-fat, high-protein Atkins-style diet, however. By relying on low-fat, high-protein foods such as white meat, ocean-caught fish, Greek yogurt, and nonfat cottage cheese, people can ensure they get enough protein while staying within their calorie budget, says Heber, who coauthored an editorial accompanying the study.
"Protein both helps control your appetite and maintain your lean body mass," he says.
Though extremely small, the study is actually relatively large for its type. Finding large numbers of people who are willing to move into a research facility for three months is difficult, and the staff and technology needed to closely monitor their diets and body fat is very expensive, Bray says.
The study participants were healthy and relatively young (age 18 to 35), and although some were overweight, none were obese. Before the protein experiment began, they each spent about two to three weeks working with researchers to identify the daily calorie intake that would maintain their current weight. And the researchers discouraged the participants from exercising.
"They were basically young couch potatoes," Bray says.
In the second phase of the study, when the participants were randomly assigned to one of the three protein levels and began overeating, the researchers tracked their body weight and the number of calories each participant burned while at rest. Every two weeks, the researchers also measured their body fat and lean body mass using a type of X-ray.
People in the low-protein group gained about 7 pounds, on average, compared to 13 pounds for the normal-protein group and 14 pounds for the high-protein group. All three groups gained roughly the same amount of body fat, but only the low-protein group actually lost muscle mass.
At the end of the study, moreover, people who had been on normal- or high-protein diets were burning more calories while their bodies were at rest, whereas resting calorie expenditure stayed the same for the low-protein group.
"A lot of the extra energy expenditure that we found probably reflects the increased requirements for protein storage," Bray says, explaining that the body uses up more calories when it stores muscle than when it stores fat.
People in the United States and other industrialized countries tend to eat a high-fat, high-carb, low-protein diet, and the findings show that overeating on this type of diet causes people to pack on fat, even if they're not necessarily packing on pounds, Heber and his coauthor note in their editorial.
In addition to losing weight, people who are overweight or obese should consume adequate protein and focus on improving their ratio of body fat to lean muscle, Heber says. Adequate protein is increasingly important as we age, he adds, because people tend to lose muscle mass as they get older.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/04/protein-body-fat-diet-_n_1183516.html?ref=diet-and-nutrition
By Anne Harding
People who consistently consume more calories than they burn each day will lose lean muscle and accumulate body fat more easily if their diets contain too little protein and too much fat and carbohydrates, suggests a study published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The study included 25 people who lived in a carefully controlled research facility for up to three months, exercising very little. For two of those months, all of the men and women intentionally ate about 1,000 calories per day more than they needed to maintain their weight, but they consumed different amounts of protein.
People assigned to a low-protein diet gained roughly half as much weight during the experiment as those assigned to a standard or high-protein diet, but body fat -- rather than lean body mass, which includes muscle -- accounted for a much higher percentage of their weight gain.
In the low-protein group, approximately 90 percent of the extra daily calories were stored as body fat, but in the other groups just 50 percent of the added calories became fat and most of the remainder were burned off. People on the low-protein diet lost an average of 1.5 pounds of lean body mass, while those in the normal- and high-protein diets gained about 6 and 7 pounds, respectively.
The findings debunk a decades-old theory, supported by more recent research, that low- or high-protein diets can fight weight gain by tricking the body into shedding excess calories without storing them, says study author George A. Bray, M.D., chief of clinical obesity and metabolism at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, in Baton Rouge, La.
"You don't fool nature by adding more or less protein," he says. "You may fool the scale, but you don't fool the metabolic processes which store excess calories as fat."
The results suggest also that the minimum protein intake federal health officials currently recommend -- 46 grams per day for women and 56 grams per day for men -- may not be enough to maintain muscle mass in some people. The study participants needed to consume at least 78 grams of protein per day to avoid losing muscle, Bray and his team found.
David Heber, M.D., director of the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition, in Los Angeles, says most people should get about 20 percent of their total calories from protein. (By comparison, the three groups in the study got roughly 5 percent, 15 percent, and 25 percent of their calories from protein; people on the low-protein diet ate just 47 grams of protein per day.)
Hitting the 20 percent target doesn't require eating a high-fat, high-protein Atkins-style diet, however. By relying on low-fat, high-protein foods such as white meat, ocean-caught fish, Greek yogurt, and nonfat cottage cheese, people can ensure they get enough protein while staying within their calorie budget, says Heber, who coauthored an editorial accompanying the study.
"Protein both helps control your appetite and maintain your lean body mass," he says.
Though extremely small, the study is actually relatively large for its type. Finding large numbers of people who are willing to move into a research facility for three months is difficult, and the staff and technology needed to closely monitor their diets and body fat is very expensive, Bray says.
The study participants were healthy and relatively young (age 18 to 35), and although some were overweight, none were obese. Before the protein experiment began, they each spent about two to three weeks working with researchers to identify the daily calorie intake that would maintain their current weight. And the researchers discouraged the participants from exercising.
"They were basically young couch potatoes," Bray says.
In the second phase of the study, when the participants were randomly assigned to one of the three protein levels and began overeating, the researchers tracked their body weight and the number of calories each participant burned while at rest. Every two weeks, the researchers also measured their body fat and lean body mass using a type of X-ray.
People in the low-protein group gained about 7 pounds, on average, compared to 13 pounds for the normal-protein group and 14 pounds for the high-protein group. All three groups gained roughly the same amount of body fat, but only the low-protein group actually lost muscle mass.
At the end of the study, moreover, people who had been on normal- or high-protein diets were burning more calories while their bodies were at rest, whereas resting calorie expenditure stayed the same for the low-protein group.
"A lot of the extra energy expenditure that we found probably reflects the increased requirements for protein storage," Bray says, explaining that the body uses up more calories when it stores muscle than when it stores fat.
People in the United States and other industrialized countries tend to eat a high-fat, high-carb, low-protein diet, and the findings show that overeating on this type of diet causes people to pack on fat, even if they're not necessarily packing on pounds, Heber and his coauthor note in their editorial.
In addition to losing weight, people who are overweight or obese should consume adequate protein and focus on improving their ratio of body fat to lean muscle, Heber says. Adequate protein is increasingly important as we age, he adds, because people tend to lose muscle mass as they get older.
0
Replies
-
High protein doesn't actually burn fat. A moderate calorie deficit under TDEE burns fat. A high protein diet along with a good resistance training program will retain as much LBM as possible while you burn fat from the calorie deficit.0
-
Everybody knows that high protein turns into fat. Sheesh! :grumble:High protein doesn't actually burn fat.0 -
Everybody knows that high protein turns into fat. Sheesh! :grumble:High protein doesn't actually burn fat.
Only if you take Dinabol in the buttocks.0 -
Sorry to burst your bubble, dude, but I don't swing that way. I'm flattered anyway.
Only if you take Dinabol in the buttocks.
Everybody knows that high protein turns into fat. Sheesh! :grumble:High protein doesn't actually burn fat.0 -
Protein has a high thermic effect, basically it's taxing on the body and requires more calories for digesting...generally about 30% of the calories from protein is used in it's digestion. If your comparing a high protein diet to one that is comparable to a high carb diet compounded by one that is also high in refined carbs and processed foods, then we could say that a higher proein diet does have a metabolic advantage on a calorie for calorie basis. Saying that if you eat a natural diet but low in protein the difference in minimal and body fat is really about calories in vs out, so accumulation of body fat is from eating in excess. To complicate the issue further if your also not exercising and in a deficit and consuming that high carb processed carb diet more fat will be accumulated on a calorie for calorie basis based from the fact of that thermic effect and the possibility that your body will convert your existing amino acid reserves (muscle) to make sure other more important functions are looked after first. imo
EDIT: Now that I actually read the study you posted I'm pretty much in agreement.0 -
Protein has a high thermic effect, basically it's taxing on the body and requires more calories for digesting...generally about 30% of the calories from protein is used in it's digestion. If your comparing a high protein diet to one that is comparable to a high carb diet compounded by one that is also high in refined carbs and processed foods, then we could say that a higher proein diet does have a metabolic advantage on a calorie for calorie basis. Saying that if you eat a natural diet but low in protein the difference in minimal and body fat is really about calories in vs out, so accumulation of body fat is from eating in excess. To complicate the issue further if your also not exercising and in a deficit and consuming that high carb processed carb diet more fat will be accumulated on a calorie for calorie basis based from the fact of that thermic effect and the possibility that your body will convert your existing amino acid reserves (muscle) to make sure other more important functions are looked after first. imo
EDIT: Now that I actually read the study you posted I'm pretty much in agreement.
People really OCD on this protein stuff.0 -
1 gram of protein per 1lb of lean body mass is suggested0
-
I was just rambling at the mouth. Now if you want to talk food, I'm a chef, I'm sure I can make that sound confusing too. lolProtein has a high thermic effect, basically it's taxing on the body and requires more calories for digesting...generally about 30% of the calories from protein is used in it's digestion. If your comparing a high protein diet to one that is comparable to a high carb diet compounded by one that is also high in refined carbs and processed foods, then we could say that a higher proein diet does have a metabolic advantage on a calorie for calorie basis. Saying that if you eat a natural diet but low in protein the difference in minimal and body fat is really about calories in vs out, so accumulation of body fat is from eating in excess. To complicate the issue further if your also not exercising and in a deficit and consuming that high carb processed carb diet more fat will be accumulated on a calorie for calorie basis based from the fact of that thermic effect and the possibility that your body will convert your existing amino acid reserves (muscle) to make sure other more important functions are looked after first. imo
EDIT: Now that I actually read the study you posted I'm pretty much in agreement.
People really OCD on this protein stuff.0
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 392.1K Introduce Yourself
- 43.6K Getting Started
- 259.9K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.7K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.4K Fitness and Exercise
- 403 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.8K Motivation and Support
- 7.9K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.4K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.4K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions