How Much Protein Is Too Much? Signs and Risks for Your Health

When it involves protein, the final consensus is usually: eat extra of it. Like, much more of it. It is no surprise why persons are placing cottage cheese in every part to get these features. However how a lot is an excessive amount of for the sake of your well-being?

There’s little question that consuming enough quantities of protein is necessary for therefore many causes. The macronutrient is important for constructing, repairing, and oxygenating the physique, producing digestive enzymes, and serving to regulate hormones. However in response to Melanie Murphy Richter, RDN, a registered dietitian and neuronutritionist, you’ll be able to have an excessive amount of of a very good factor. “An excessive amount of of something is probably going going to result in undesirable unwanted effects and outcomes, and protein is not any exception,” she says.

Forward, Richter shares 5 methods your physique is telling you that you could be be consuming an excessive amount of protein and the right way to decide the suitable quantity to eat primarily based in your particular wants.

5 doable indicators you’re consuming an excessive amount of protein 

1. Digestive points

Based on Richter, a telltale signal of an excessive amount of protein is constipation, particularly for many who aren’t correctly hydrated. That is usually as a result of in case you’re loading up on one macronutrient, you won’t be consuming sufficient meals with fiber (like complicated carbohydrates, fruits, and greens). As such, it’s necessary to eat a well-balanced weight loss program composed of fiber and fluids to assist maintain issues shifting alongside.

Richter provides that overdoing it on protein in your weight loss program can even end in extra fuel and even diarrhea, “particularly if different vitamins like B-vitamins or vitamin C present in contemporary vegetables and fruit are missing within the weight loss program.”

2. Dehydration

Richter explains that protein consumption prompts the manufacturing of urea, a waste byproduct present in urine from metabolizing protein. “It must be eliminated [from the body]. This, in flip, will increase urination which may probably result in dehydration and even electrolyte imbalances,” Richter says. Signs of this sort of dehydration can embody fatigue, lack of focus, and muscle cramps, she provides.

3. Kidney stones

“An excessive amount of protein can put stress on the kidneys2, that are answerable for filtering out the surplus nitrogen produced through the breakdown to amino acids,” says Richter. “Over time this may probably result in kidney stones or different extra problematic kidney points,” she says. (And anybody who has had a kidney stone can inform you: You do not need one.)

4. Unhealthy breath

Over-consuming protein can even influence oral well being. “When protein is being damaged down within the physique, it could possibly improve ammonia manufacturing, which is a byproduct of protein metabolism. This could trigger noticeable foul breath,” Richter says.

5. Adjustments in hormonal steadiness

Based on Richter, overconsumption of protein can influence two nutrient-sensing pathways within the physique: mTOR and IGF-1, which may influence coronary heart well being, longevity, and probably trigger unintended weight acquire when hyperactivated. “That is very true in case your protein consumption isn’t additionally balanced by bodily exercise for protein to be correctly utilized,” she says.

Some analysis research additionally recommend that extra IGF-1 could also be linked to an elevated threat of most cancers and mortality3. In the meantime, excessive quantities of mTOR could improve the chance for heart problems4. Richter provides that these fluctuations in mTOR and IGF-1 can even “prematurely age you, accelerating the speed at which your well being will decline.”

How a lot protein is an excessive amount of per day?

Based on Richter, the reply isn’t one-size-fits-all, partly as a result of consumption suggestions differ in your age and bodily exercise. She says it’s a “hotly debated subject, and other people differ significantly on their suggestions.”

She argues that the majority People are already assembly (and even exceeding) the beneficial day by day consumption. In reality, information exhibits that the common American girl eats about 68.7 grams per day, which is true on monitor with present dietary suggestions. “As a long life professional, I can inform you that one gram of protein per pound of physique weight [or more] is completely an excessive amount of protein, particularly in case you aren’t rigorously understanding daily,” Richter says.

How ought to I calculate my protein consumption?

“The candy spot of protein consumption for the common individual is about one gram per kilogram—not pound—of physique weight. That might equate to about 68 grams a day for an individual who’s 150 kilos,” Richter says as a basic suggestion.

Consider, these aren’t to be interpreted as strict suggestions, and may differ primarily based on particular person wants. As an example, Richter says athletes or somebody recovering from sickness of any form could need to improve protein consumption to 1.2 to 2 grams per kilogram of physique weight. “Nevertheless, these ranges shouldn’t be sustained for lengthy durations of time,” she says. Certainly, analysis means that consuming greater than 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight over the long run could cause critical well being points.

What’s the healthiest protein to eat?

Richter recommends going plant-based every time doable. “Analysis exhibits that animal protein consumption6 could set off [mTOR and IGF-1] pathways at an exponentially increased price than plant-based proteins,” she says. Richter additionally factors out that extra animal protein consumption has been related to an elevated threat of coronary heart illness and all-cause mortality7.

Richter’s suggestion is to swap animal meals for plant-based choices like legumes (lentils, peas, or chickpeas), beans (black or kidney), tofu, nuts (and nut butters like peanut or almond), and seeds (like hemp). However she provides that meat and fish can even have a spot in a nutritious diet. She recommends growing fish consumption (equivalent to trout and canned or contemporary tuna), and supplementing it with poultry, eggs, or beef a couple of times per week. “For ladies who’re menstruating, animal-based sources of protein could be extra bioavailable types of iron throughout your menstrual cycle,” she provides.