all posts post new thread

Low protein diet

Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)

Mmabjj

Level 4 Valued Member
Hey, a new research in Germany says, that a low protein intake (20 to 50 g daily) improves a human metabolism. The metabolism works faster on a carb rich, moderate fat diet. The bloodsugar and blood fats decreased signifacantly after 4 Months. Further they say, that an athlete doesnt need more than maximal 100 g protein a day. They say, you should go on maximum protein only after a hard/ long training session, because the body can safe only 100 grams of amino acids a day and they are depleted after 90 min plus sessions. That says, that a normal strength athlete doesnt need a lot of protein.

Nlanother point they say is, that its easier for the body to maintain the weight on a low protein diet.
 
A link to the paper would have been helpful.
There's been a lot of research over the years indicating that calorie restricted diets & low protein diets have positive metabolic effects. From what I've seen the test subjects aren't the type of people engaging in heavy anaerobic work like weightlifting though. A lot of "experts" promote high protein diets but I think most of it is commercially driven to sell products, sure some people need more than average but for most people a high protein diet is just a waste of money.
If you're a highland games or ultimate strongman competitor who's 6'6" you're obviously going to need a much higher calorie and protein intake than a 5'4" office worker but for the average man or woman the recommended dietary is a good starting point, some people need a bit more other people function well on less.
I've done fine on less than 100g of protein a day for decades but my training typically finishes in about an hour. When I want to start training for a new PR I'll bump it up a bit but that's only to around 120g to 150g a day max.
 
If I'm shooting to build lean mass or have recently done so I tend to shoot for about 160g per day at about 190 + a few pounds. I encounter substantial difficulty trying to gain muscle at anything under about 140g. At maintenance that drops to 100-120.

I think 20g of protein or even 50 per day is going to be a big mistake if you are even remotely active, and if you're not, you'll soon have bigger problems than too much protein in the diet. As you get older, protein macros that low will leave you sorely depleted of muscle.

A link is def in order, many times the issue with "high protein" diets is the amount of fat that accompanies that protein and the activity level of the subjects, not the protein itself.

The upper limit of aminos that can be metabolized has not ever been established to the best of my knowledge. There is a limit to what is needed to trigger muscle synthesis, but this has been studied in context of research environment mostly with fast digesting whey protein. The upper metabolic capacity on a "typical" mixed diet with slower digested protein being utilized on a much longer timeframe, hasn't been well studied.
 
Methionine and leucine restriction/limitation enhance lifespan/longevity in different animal models. There is no reason to suppose it's not the case for humans.
Human studies show that people who eat the highest protein before 65 have a higher mortality. Those who consumed the less (without malnutrition) live longer. The main argument is that protein enhance mTOR and IGF-1 who are known to decrease longevity.
After 65, high protein could be beneficial for fighting against sarcopenia and doesn't seem to have negative effects on longevity (certainly because IGF-1 and mTOR are naturaly lower at that age)
 
I'm very curious as to the actual research paper. Protein is heavily researched and some of these statements go against some well established recommendations on protein. I know there is some research into vegan diets that shows success with lower protein diets... But I'm struggling to find anything that restricts protein to 20g a day.

I did find this paper looking at low protein diets and it found a mixed bag of horrible things and good things. Low protein diets produce divergent effects on energy balance

You are also going to have to be very careful and specific with protein sources if you are limited to 20g a day.

Paotle said:
There is no reason to suppose it's not the case for humans.
Click to expand...
Personally I prefer assuming the opposite. I know especially with fasting research the vast majority of mice benefits don't show up in humans in any similar time frames if they do show up at all. For example if you are measuring autophagy from fasting for a human to achieve the same levels as a mouse does in a 24 hour fast, they would need to fast anywhere from 4-40 days. (granted measuring it is extremely difficult which leads to some of the ambiguity). That said, I don't know if amino acid intake is one of those weird things that has a strong analoge between mice and men.

Paotle said:
Human studies show that people who eat the highest protein before 65 have a higher mortality.
Click to expand...
It is probably worth noting that there is some mixed findings on this research. Especially when they account for plant vs animal based protein. Dietary intake of total, animal, and plant proteins and risk of all cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality: systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies
 
Paotle said:
Human studies show that people who eat the highest protein before 65 have a higher mortality.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure when exercise is taken into account that risk factor disappears.

Likewise reduced diet triggered autophagy is also triggered by glucose depleting exercise. It is actually thought to be one of the primary avenues by which exercise reduces all-cause mortality.

Exercise mediates a lot of metabolic and nutritional risk factors, so unless fitness status is specifically addressed in a sample population I'd take all of this with a big grain of salt.
 
Status
Closed Thread. (Continue Discussion of This Topic by Starting a New Thread.)
Back
Top Bottom