How Much Protein Do You Actually Require?
Andrew Taylor has feed only potatoes for a whole year. Well, almost. He attained his diet more nutritious by including sweet potatoes, and adding nut or soya milk to mashed potatoes. He also avoided vitamin B12 deficiency by taking supplements.
His cardiovascular health appears to have improved over the year, largely due to massive weight loss( 50 kg ). He has cured his anxiety and depression, sleeps better and says he is fitter and healthier than he has ever been in his adult life. However, at the beginning of the year-long challenge, there was much debate among dietitians and nutritionists about whether he would get enough protein from his potato diet.
In the UK, healthy adults are advised to eat 0.75 g of protein per kilogram of body weight each day. However, this reference nutrient uptake is set at a high level to meet the needs of just about everyone in the population. Most people need less than this, and the average requirement is about 0.6 g per kilogram of body weight( that is, 60 g for Andrews current weight of about 100 kg ). Andrew ate about 3.5 to 4kg of potatoes per day, and together with the soya and nut milks used to mash the potato, it seems as though he managed to meet his protein requirements.
Good for countries around the world
Although combating global warming may not have been the primary reason for his challenge, Andrew has done his bit for planetary health. Agricultures greenhouse gas emissions are on the rise, with the most important source being methane being developed by livestock. The agricultural sector is the worlds second largest emitter( after the energy sector) and the biggest thing that we can do to reduce these agricultural emissions is to eat less meat.
Becoming vegetarian or vegan would not be an acceptable or achievable alternative for many people, but even aiming for a plant-based diet, and restriction meat intake, would make a substantial change. Scientific models have suggested that if median diets in the UK conformed to WHO healthy diet guidelines, it would reduce greenhouse emissions associated with food by 17%.
Further cuts in emissions could be made by adopting a flexitarian eating pattern with fewer animal products and more plant foods. This pattern is not unlike that suggested in the current Eatwell guide and the World Cancer Research Fund cancer prevention recommendations, and would have substantial health benefits as well as being good for the planet.
Hidden protein
But one hurdle to reducing meat intake is the faith that we need it to gratify protein requirements. A low-protein, high-carbohydrate, plant-based diet contrasts with the dietary regimen currently promoted by the food and fitness industries. The public are encouraged to believe that their own diets are in some way lacking in protein, and that they need to focus on their protein intake to make up for some sort of deficit.
This is perhaps reinforced by the way that untrained nutrition experts translate protein requirements into food guidance. For example, they might quite correctly say that a healthy young man needs about 55 g of protein per day. They then translate this into protein-containing foods, such as 100 g steaks and 100 g grilled chicken breasts, which each contain 30 g of protein. What this doesnt pick up on is the hidden protein in all the other foods eat throughout the day.
For example, the following diet provides 2,500 kcal of energy, enough for an average human. It also contains 136 g of protein, more than twice the recommended amount.
Source: Dietplan7.
It is not hard to meet protein requirements. A few groups of people may need proportionately more; for example, infants, older people, anyone retrieving from major surgery, pregnant women and some athletes. But even these groups would rarely require more than 1.5 to 2g of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day.
Even without the meat and chicken, this sample diet would provide adequate protein and, since the protein is coming from a variety of sources, it would contain a good mix of amino acids. National diet and nutrition surveys in the UK indicate that we feed more than enough protein.
If youre looking to cut down on your meat intake, maybe you could become flexitarian or do meat-free Mondays. You will still manage to meet your protein needs. And if you have already attained the move away from meat, there are other things you can do with your diet to reduce your environmental impact without taking the radical step of feeing only potatoes.
Jennie Jackson, Lecturer in Human Nutrition and Dietetics, Glasgow Caledonian University
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
How Much Protein Do You Actually Require?
How Much Protein Do You Actually Require?
How Much Protein Do You Actually Require?
How Much Protein Do You Actually Require?
How Much Protein Do You Actually Require?