Too much protein?

mjenne74

Hello,

I am simply wondering if you can have too much protein? If I go over, I usually balance my natural sugars with protein. Today I got all my protein in and went over by like 60g. The rest of my day is perfect. I am not doing weight lifting or anything but will be shoveling about 5 inches of snow for at least half an hour. I know protein heals muscles. But can you have too much?

Thanks!

Michelle

BarackMeLikeAHurricane

It's possible, but not likely.

"It has been observed that the human liver cannot safely metabolise much more than 285-365 g of protein per day (for an 80 kg person), and human kidneys are similarly limited in their capability to remove urea (a byproduct of protein catabolism) from the bloodstream. Exceeding that amount results in excess levels of amino acids, ammonia (hyperammonemia), and/or urea in the bloodstream, with potentially fatal consequences,[1] especially if the person switches to a high-protein diet without giving time for the levels of his or her hepatic enzymes to upregulate. Since protein only contains 4 kcal/gram, and a typical adult human requires in excess of 1900 kcal to maintain the energy balance, it is possible to exceed the safe intake of protein if one is subjected to a high-protein diet with little or no fat or carbohydrates. However, given the lack of scientific data on the effects of high-protein diets, and the observed ability of the liver to compensate over a few days for a shift in protein intake, the US Food and Nutrition Board does not set a Tolerable Upper Limit nor upper Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range for protein.[2] Furthermore, medical sources such as UpToDate[3] do not include listings on this topic."

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_starvation

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