Protein Consumption Truth or Scare
Conventional scientific wisdom hold two tenants to be proven true:
An example of the first "truth" is contained in the article "Find out how consuming too much protein can harm your body" by Miriam Nelson published by WebMD and
Reviewed By Gary D. Vogin, MD
Miriam E. Nelson, Ph.D. certainly appears to have the appropriate credentials. She is director of the John Hancock Research Center on Physical Activity, Nutrition, and Obesity Prevention and associate professor of Nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. She's written several books. (See bio: http://jhrc.nutrition.tufts.edu/faculty/nelson.html)
She's also wrong.
One of life's little lessons is that "it isn't what you don't know that kills you, it's what you know that isn't true."
What follows are quotations from her WebMD article with my observations:
"Seems like everyone at the gym is doing it: filling up on protein to bulk up those biceps. But it's a misconception. Eating extra protein actually doesn't do much toward boosting your muscle mass and strength."
While it is possible that virtually every person engaged in strength training has been hornswoggled by the protein shake industry, I find it rather unlikely. There are simply too many users and too much information exchange for such a gigantic fraud.
Furthermore, my personal experience demonstrates that additional, high quality protein supplementation with appropriate exercise and other supplementation does, in fact, build muscle. I've tried exercise with and without. No comparison with is way more effective. And, I've see considerable fat loss too.
"In fact, medical research shows that consuming too much protein -- more than 30% of your total daily caloric intake -- could actually harm your body, says protein expert Gail Butterfield, PhD, RD, director of Nutrition Studies at the Palo Alto Veterans' Administration Medical Center and nutrition lecturer at Stanford University."
Note that there are no scientific references given. Rather, an "appeal to the expert" neatly sidesteps substantive information.
Also note, that "your body" is a mythical body. Individual metabolism varies widely. And, individuals who are performing heavy exercise or are over 60 have metabolisms that are certainly different from the average body what ever that is.
By-the-way, according to the UN Americans are currently consuming about 53% of their total calories in the form of protein! So we're already "harming" our bodies.
[Not that I actually believe the UN document any more than I believe the WebMD article. I actually think there is a whole lot of BS floating around! I include the reference here to demonstrate the wide divergence of "expert" information]
"She says that a diet containing excess protein can have the following adverse effects:
Bullet point one and two result in the following equations:
Protein+(food-protein equiv calories) => no change in muscle
Protein+food => ^ in muscle + ^ in fat
Thus, the increase in muscle and the increase in fat are only based on an increase in calories.
Really!
So here we have three "experts" telling us that muscle is built only from calories. Does anyone believe this? Of course if you confronted these experts with the above implication of their beliefs you will be bombarded with piles of vague, jargony, BS resplendent with quotes of other "believers."
These folks are "experts" because other "experts" were convinced they had accepted the "scientific truth." You get a PhD when you convince other PhDs that you are knowledgeable of (That means agree with) what they "know" (believe).
While this keeps the religion pure, it may or it may not be "true".
So keep on chugin' those protein shakes.
- Increasing protein intake does not build muscle
- You can not build muscle after 60.
An example of the first "truth" is contained in the article "Find out how consuming too much protein can harm your body" by Miriam Nelson published by WebMD and
Reviewed By Gary D. Vogin, MD
Miriam E. Nelson, Ph.D. certainly appears to have the appropriate credentials. She is director of the John Hancock Research Center on Physical Activity, Nutrition, and Obesity Prevention and associate professor of Nutrition at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. She's written several books. (See bio: http://jhrc.nutrition.tufts.edu/faculty/nelson.html)
She's also wrong.
One of life's little lessons is that "it isn't what you don't know that kills you, it's what you know that isn't true."
What follows are quotations from her WebMD article with my observations:
"Seems like everyone at the gym is doing it: filling up on protein to bulk up those biceps. But it's a misconception. Eating extra protein actually doesn't do much toward boosting your muscle mass and strength."
While it is possible that virtually every person engaged in strength training has been hornswoggled by the protein shake industry, I find it rather unlikely. There are simply too many users and too much information exchange for such a gigantic fraud.
Furthermore, my personal experience demonstrates that additional, high quality protein supplementation with appropriate exercise and other supplementation does, in fact, build muscle. I've tried exercise with and without. No comparison with is way more effective. And, I've see considerable fat loss too.
"In fact, medical research shows that consuming too much protein -- more than 30% of your total daily caloric intake -- could actually harm your body, says protein expert Gail Butterfield, PhD, RD, director of Nutrition Studies at the Palo Alto Veterans' Administration Medical Center and nutrition lecturer at Stanford University."
Note that there are no scientific references given. Rather, an "appeal to the expert" neatly sidesteps substantive information.
Also note, that "your body" is a mythical body. Individual metabolism varies widely. And, individuals who are performing heavy exercise or are over 60 have metabolisms that are certainly different from the average body what ever that is.
By-the-way, according to the UN Americans are currently consuming about 53% of their total calories in the form of protein! So we're already "harming" our bodies.
"She says that a diet containing excess protein can have the following adverse effects:
- Adding more protein but not more calories or exercise to your diet won't help you build more muscle mass, but it may put your other bodily systems under stress.
- Eating more protein and increasing total caloric intake while maintaining the same exercise level will build an equal amount of additional fat and muscle mass, according to a study published in 1992 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society."
Bullet point one and two result in the following equations:
Protein+(food-protein equiv calories) => no change in muscle
Protein+food => ^ in muscle + ^ in fat
Thus, the increase in muscle and the increase in fat are only based on an increase in calories.
Really!
So here we have three "experts" telling us that muscle is built only from calories. Does anyone believe this? Of course if you confronted these experts with the above implication of their beliefs you will be bombarded with piles of vague, jargony, BS resplendent with quotes of other "believers."
These folks are "experts" because other "experts" were convinced they had accepted the "scientific truth." You get a PhD when you convince other PhDs that you are knowledgeable of (That means agree with) what they "know" (believe).
While this keeps the religion pure, it may or it may not be "true".
So keep on chugin' those protein shakes.
posted by PsySciGuy at 9:30 AM
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