The Protein Myth: More Is Not Better

If you go into any supplement shop you'll see protein this and protein that! If you pick up any muscle or fitness magazine, you'll find ads pitching products loaded with protein that promise to build bigger and stronger muscle. Hate to burst their bubble—protein's good, but not that good.

Protein is vital to life. It provides the amino acids needed for building and maintaining your body tissue. There are 20 amino acids. Eleven of these amino acids (dispensable) can be made by the body. Nine of them however (indispensable amino acids), come from a variety of food sources. Foods that are high quality or complete protein sources have all nine of the indispensable amino acids. Animal food sources are complete proteins. Soy is the only plant food source containing complete proteins. Other plant food sources are considered incomplete proteins because they are missing one or more of the indispensable amino acids. Combining plant food sources can create a complete protein such as combining beans and rice or peanut butter and bread.

So, now that you know all about where protein comes from, what do they do for the body? Protein makes up the bulk of muscles, internal organs, brain, nerves, skin, hair, and nails. Protein is also a part regulating substances like enzymes, hormones, and blood plasma. In addition to protein playing a part in tissue building, it also helps regulate energy, water balance, metabolism and the immune system. So, bottom line...protein is important. The question is how much do you need? Will more be better for you?

Well in the case of protein, more is not better. Basically if you are a sedentary person, you only need about .8g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. If you are an endurance runner you'll need about .8-1.5g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. If you are a resistance trainer, you'll need 1.5-2g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. So if you weigh 150 pounds that's equivalent to ~68kg. If you're a sedentary person at that weight, you'll need 54g of protein per day. If you're an endurance runner at that weight and in heavy training for a marathon you might need the higher end of the .8-1.5g. So you'd need ~102g of protein per day. If you're a heavy resistance trainer you might need the higher end of the 1.5-2g. So you'd need ~136 of protein per day.

This may sound like a lot of protein, but remember you're getting most of this throughout the day from the foods you are eating. That's why supplements may not even be needed. For example, 3oz of white-meat chicken breast contains 26.7 g of protein. 3 oz. of Tuna (canned in water) has 21.7 grams of protein. 2 scrambled eggs have 13.6 grams of protein. So if you had these three food items for breakfast, lunch and dinner you've already eaten 62g of protein. This isn't even counting if you drank milk (8g for 1cup) with your eggs, had Greek yogurt for a mid-morning snack (15g for 8oz), had bread with your tuna to make a sandwich (10g for 2 slices of whole grain bread). Now you're at 95g of protein. And what about the almonds you had for your afternoon snack (6g for 1oz), the corn you ate with your chicken (2g) and the lowfat chips you had with your tuna sandwich (2g)? Now you're at 105 grams of protein! Guess what? If you're an endurance runner in training for a marathon, you've just reached and surpassed your 102 grams of protein for the day without any supplements.

Research has shown that going beyond the 2g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day has no benefits. Once the body has received it's dietary requirement of protein, any extra protein is deaminated (the nitrogen is removed) and what's left is either stored as fat or used as energy. Protein does not build muscle. Only exercise with the required amount of protein will build muscle. Excess protein can also cause kidney problems because it puts extra work on them in trying to get rid of the excess nitrogen.

As a runner it's more crucial to replace the glycogen supplys with simple carbs shortly after an intense workout rather than load up on protein. Protein may help speed up recovery but you only need a small amount. A good rule of thumb is 4:1 (4 grams of carbs to every 1 gram of protein) some studies say a 7:1 ratio is good too. Taking in too much protein after an intense run can actually slow down the absorption of the water with which you're trying to rehydrate your body.

I'm not bashing protein drinks, shakes, or powders. Just be sure however that when you're using them, that you're not exceeding the .8, 1.5, or 2g per kilogram of body weight per day rule depending on your activity level as well as what you're already getting from regular diet.

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