MORE PROTEIN, MORE FAT.
“MORE PROTEIN MORE FAT”
As we saw in the last article, an excess of protein can cause fat gain. Our bodies create the building blocks for good health as long as the diet consists of the 9 essential amino acids. People choose animal products to obtain these essential aminos. But you can also get them from combining plant foods and they are just as complete when combined.
For example, grains and legumes which are low in certain amino acids, become complete when eaten together. Rice is deficient in the amino acid lysine but high in methionine, while beans are high in lysine and tryptophan but low in methionine. Eaten alone, they are incomplete. Eaten together, they have as many amino acids as a sirloin. Protein is not an energy food. Its function is for maintenance and growth. Our requirements are small. The average adult needs about 0.8 grams per kg of ideal body weight. Ideal meaning, 12 to 15 % fat for males and 18 to 22% fat for females. If you are 200 lbs. and within the ideal weight, that will be 91kg x 0.8 grams. = 72.8 grams daily. If one is involved in high resistance training, then 1.5 grams per kilo should be the max.
The average diet already supplies more than this upper limit so avoid unnecessary supplementation. One important fact is that only one fifth or 20% of dietary protein in the form of essential amino acids is necessary to make the other aminos. The other 80% can come from legumes grains and vegetables. A combination of plant foods can even provide the 20%
ILL HEALTH
Too much protein and for extended periods can make you sick. Besides the high cholesterol and saturated fats there are other issues to consider. Kidney problems can occur. As a result of the excess nitrogen that the kidney has to excrete in the form or urea, overload can happen and damage to the organ takes place.
Osteoporosis is also a problem. The high phosphorous content in meats processed and unprocessed , can deplete calcium in the body. This can negatively affect bones.
The pork , beef and other red meats are strongly linked to cancer, colorectal, prostate, and breast among others. Higher consumption of unprocessed red meat and processed meat combined was associated with higher risks of ischemic heart disease, pneumonia, diverticular disease, colon polyps, and diabetes.
These diseases all point to where your main concern should be in terms of diet, to more plant based products.
The following report from the University of Oxford published 2nd March 2021, titled , “Regular meat consumption linked with a wide range of common diseases” , signifies the reason we should limit or refrain from this consumption. Here is the link:
https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2021-03-02-regular-meat-consumption-linked-wide-range-common-diseases
Regular meat consumption linked with a wide range of common diseases
Regular meat consumption is associated with a range of diseases that researchers had not previously considered, according to a large, population-level study conducted by a team at the University of Oxford.
The results associate regular meat intake with a higher risk of various diseases, including heart disease, pneumonia and diabetes, but a lower risk of iron-deficiency anaemia. The study is published today in BMC Medicine.
Consistent evidence has shown that excess consumption of red meat and processed meat (such as bacon and sausages) may be associated with an increased likelihood of developing colorectal cancer. But up to now, it was not clear whether high meat consumption in general might raise or lower the risk of other, non-cancerous diseases.
This has been investigated in a new large-cohort study which used data from almost 475,000 UK adults, who were monitored for 25 major causes of non-cancerous hospital admissions. At the start of the study, participants completed a questionnaire which assessed their dietary habits (including meat intake), after which they were followed-up for an average period of eight years.
Overall, participants who consumed unprocessed red meat and processed meat regularly (three or more times per week) were more likely than low meat-eaters to smoke, drink alcohol, have overweight or obesity, and eat less fruit and vegetables, fibre, and fish.
However, after taking these factors into account, the results indicated that:
- Higher consumption of unprocessed red meat and processed meat combined was associated with higher risks of ischaemic heart disease, pneumonia, diverticular disease, colon polyps, and diabetes. For instance, every 70 g higher red meat and processed meat intake per day was associated with a 15% higher risk of ischaemic heart disease and a 30% higher risk of diabetes.
- Higher consumption of poultry meat was associated with higher risks of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, gastritis and duodenitis, diverticular disease, gallbladder disease, and diabetes. Every 30g higher poultry meat intake per day was associated with a 17% higher risk of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease and a 14% greater risk of diabetes.
- Most of these positive associations were reduced if body mass index (BMI, a measure of body weight) was taken into account. This suggests that regular meat eaters having a higher average body weight could be partly causing these associations.
- The team also found that higher intakes of unprocessed red meat and poultry meat were associated with a lower risk of iron deficiency anaemia. The risk was 20% lower with every 50g higher per day intake of unprocessed red meat and 17% lower with every 30g higher per day intake of poultry meat. A higher intake of processed meat was not associated with the risk of iron deficiency anaemia.
The research team suggest that unprocessed red meat and processed meat may increase the risk of ischaemic heart disease because they are major dietary sources of saturated fatty acids. These can increase low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, an established risk factor for ischaemic heart disease.
Lead author Dr Keren Papier, from the Nuffield Department of Population Health at the University of Oxford, said: ‘We have long known that unprocessed red meat and processed meat consumption is likely to be carcinogenic and this research is the first to assess the risk of 25 non-cancerous health conditions in relation to meat intake in one study.’
Additional research is needed to evaluate whether the differences in risk we observed in relation to meat intake reflect causal relationships, and if so the extent to which these diseases could be prevented by decreasing meat consumption. The result that meat consumption is associated with a lower risk of iron-deficiency anaemia, however, indicates that people who do not eat meat need to be careful that they obtain enough iron, through dietary sources or supplements.’
The World Cancer Research Fund recommends that people should limit red meat consumption to no more than three portions per week (around 350–500g cooked weight in total), and processed meat should be eaten rarely, if at all.
This study was based on 474,985 middle-aged adults, who were originally recruited into the UK Biobank study between 2006 and 2010, and were followed-up for this study until 2017. These participants were invited to complete a dietary questionnaire with 29 questions on diet, which assessed the consumption frequency of a range of foods. Participants were then categorised into subgroups based on their meat intake: 0-1 times/week; 2 times/week; 3-4 times/week and 5 or more times a week. The information on each participant’s meat intake was linked with hospital admission and mortality data from the NHS Central Registers.
