A new study has suggested that having a high-protein diet can be as harmful as smoking 20 cigarettes a day
Anyone who goes to the gym will know that eating a lot of protein is normally the recommended course of action that will give you the best effects, but new research shows that it may be doing more harm than good, in particular if you’re getting your main source of protein from meat and eggs.
The results of a study performed by the University of Southern California Davis School of Gerontology will not make pleasant reading for those of you that are big into protein shakes and meat. The research looked at 6,318 adults across nearly two decades and found that those with a high protein diet during middle age, in particular derived from animal proteins, were 74% more likely to die from any cause than those who had a low protein diet. Not only is that a mortality increase in line with a 20-a-day habit, but they also found that they were also more susceptible to and more likely to die of diabetes.
Proteins from vegetables and beans didn’t seem to have the same effect for those involved in the study, and there was no evidence that fish proteins were particularly bad, suggesting that it is indeed animal proteins that are the main culprit. According to The Irish Times, a “high-protein” diet was defined as deriving at least 20% of daily calories from protein, while a low protein diet would be around the 10% mark.
Some of the sample were monitored for their levels of the growth hormone IGF-I, which is present in animal protein and which has been shown in previous research to be linked to cancer risk. The results showed that those on a high-protein diet were nearly 10% more likely to die from cancer than those on a low-protein diet, and in a study performed on mice, the research showed a lower number of cases of cancer, as well as smaller tumour size among those on a low protein diet.
Dr. Valter Longo, the Edna M. Jones Professor of Biogerontology and author of the study, stated that this makes protein intake one of the key issues when it comes to cancer cells and pre-cancer cells in the body, and whether or not they will progress.
His recommendation was to aim for about 0.8g of protein per kilo of bodyweight as a guideline for protein, with a preference for getting that from legumes. Dr. Longo apparently skips lunch, and says that he eats plenty of fish and vegetables, which have formed a major part of the diets for the societies that traditionally have the longest life expectancy.
Hat-tip to The Guardian, The Irish Times and Science Daily
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