Protein and health

[Chuckanut]

Here is a very interesting and technical conversation Peter Attia has had with an expert on protein and the human body.

Like most of Attia's podcasts, it goes deep into the weeds of medical jargon. Much of it is confusing to the lay person. But, there are places where they lose the jargon and give some clear information.

Some of the things that interested me the most:

• The RDA for protein is basically what is needed to avoid malnutrition, more is needed for optimum health.
• Meat eaters can pretty much fulfill their protein requirements with 80-90 grams a day. Vegetarians need 125 grams a day of protein to get the same assurance. But, for various reasons, many vegetarians fall short of that goal.
• The older you get the less efficient your body is in processing protein. Thus we need more high-quality protein than a 30 year old.
• Throw out fast food egg products and eggs are beneficial to health, even your heart. It's what comes with the fast food eggs that seems to be the problem.
• So called plant based meats and nut 'milks' have significant downsides.
• Meat, dairy and egg producers are legally limited about what they can publicly say about their products. Grain and veggie producers do not have the same limitations.

For those of you who don't want to listen to the entire two hours (IOW, most of us) I recommend the following portions.

Protein sources and absorption - at 41 minutes.

Dietary protein differences between the very young and old - at 59 minutes.

Everything from 142 minutes on where they talk about plant based meats, nut milks, restrictions on speech of some food producers, synthetic meats, and more. There are some real eye openers here.

If nothing else listen to the last 20 minutes.

 

[Rianne]

Thanks! I used to listen to Peter Attia all the time. His guests are brilliant and great health topics. Yes, the good ones are very long and often above my head medically. I still get e-mails and listen.

My situation with protein is I can’t have a lot of protein due to kidney disease. Peter’s good friend Dr Fung, has provided valuable information regarding diabetes, kidney health, and intermittent fasting. I will listen to the podcast you presented.

 

[donheff]

I watched that podcast a few days ago and agree that it's worth watching. I try to eat a high protein diet but still often fall behind requirements for lean mass retention. Based on this discussion, I am focusing on getting a large protein infusion at breakfast and dinner rather than mid-day. I am still doing 10 pullups and 40-50 pushups trying to keep some muscles around.

 

[Aerides]

Anyone trying to gain or maintain decently above average muscle mass should be shooting for higher than 80-90. Most math in that area says to go after 1gm per day per 1 lb of body weight. There are some studies that have decided upon 0.82 grams per day per pound. So, still, for say a 175lb male, that's gonna be comfortably over 100 gms.

I'm still trying to gain a little more muscle mass, and which is an uphill battle as our bodies are actually trying to do the opposite at this age. But I find it very hard to get over 120 gms of protein, without a supplmental shake or adding protein powder to something or other, even if I plan out macros in my daily diet.

 

[aja8888]

At age 79, and eating a lot of protein plus exercise, I am not having much luck building muscle mass. Actually, it's going away pretty quickly, but I think that is the pretty normal for my age group.

 

[Chuckanut]

I watched that podcast a few days ago and agree that it's worth watching. I try to eat a high protein diet but still often fall behind requirements for lean mass retention. Based on this discussion, I am focusing on getting a large protein infusion at breakfast and dinner rather than mid-day. I am still doing 10 pullups and 40-50 pushups trying to keep some muscles around.

The part about timing protein intake for maximum absorption was interesting. Who would have guessed breakfast and dinner are the best times to get that protein absorbed? Not me. It also supports the idea that breakfast is an important meal, more so than lunch.

My breakfasts are good, but often my next big protein meal is lunch. I may have to switch that to dinner.

How the body works is just fascinating even if one doesn't care about protein absorption.