Ultimate Nutrition - There’s a New Sheriff in Town: Mr. High-Pro

High Protein Diet is Best for Weight Loss, Fat Loss and Weight Maintenance

”Until 500 generations ago, all humans consumed only wild and unprocessed food foraged and hunted from their environment. These circumstances provided a diet high in lean protein… Historical and archaeological evidence shows hunter-gatherers generally to be lean, fit and largely free from signs and symptoms of chronic diseases. When hunter-gatherer societies transitioned to an agricultural grain-based diet, their general health deteriorated.”

James H. O´Keefe, MD and Loren Cordain, PhD

Mayo Clinic Proceedings 2004;79:101-108

Many of the biological processes are, in fact, thousands of millions of years old. Thus, a textbook of cell biology or biochemistry written some 1,500 million years ago would no doubt still be up to date in its treatment of the cell. Certainly, living organisms thrive best in the milieu in which, and on the diet to which, they were evolutionarily adopted. When the chimp came out of the trees three to five million years ago and started to chase, he was running on a diet of raw meat— and that went on for five million years. About 10,000 years ago, we started to eat those cereal grains. It sounds fishy to me that an animal— and man is still the same animal that adapted to a high-protein diet for five million years— suddenly, in 10,000 years, becomes a great carbohydrate burner. Indeed, a growing consensus indicates that a diet containing adequate amounts of protein and good fats in addition to moderate amounts of low-glycemic load carbohydrates is the most effective way to achieve and maintain ideal body weight. This was the eating pattern of prehistoric humans.

Our Biological Heritage

Maybe only 10 million, or as much as 20 million, yeas ago, the family tree of primates developed a branch called the hominids, which finally resulted in Homo sapiens sapiens, the only surviving hominid (anatomically modern humans). The general public is probably most familiar with the Neanderthals (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis), who appear to have been well established some 200,000 years ago. When they disappeared from the scene, modern humans were already in existence. Only God knows why humans of the modern type came to the fore and the Neanderthals disappeared.

A human being living 50,000 years ago had the same potential for physical and intellectual performance as his/her modern counterpart. The Neanderthals had larger brains and greater muscle mass, but these findings do not suggest any difference in intellectual and behavioral capacities. From all indications, Homo sapiens sapiens has remained biologically unchanged during at least the last 50,000 years. It wasn’t until some 10,000 years ago that the transition from a roaming hunter and gatherer to a stationary farmer began.

Consequently, our diets have become progressively more divergent from those of our ancient ancestors. The typical Paleolithic diet compared with the average modern American diet contained two to three times more fiber, 1.5 to 2.0 times more polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats, four times more omega-3 fats (but 60 to 70 percent less saturated fats) and three to four times more protein.

Protein Power

The first law of thermodynamics describes one of the most important principles related to body weight. The basic tenet states that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but, instead, transformed from one form to another without being depleted. In accord with the first law of thermodynamics, the energy balance equation dictates that body mass remains constant when caloric intake equals caloric expenditure. Any chronic imbalance on the energy output or input side of equation changes body mass.

Thus, the key to weight loss is simply the daily consumption of fewer calories than are expended. However, it’s easier to moderate caloric intake in a diet that has adequate quantities of protein because of superior satiety compared with a high-carbohydrate diet. Further, higher protein intake increases dietary thermogenesis. Dietary thermogenesis consists of two components. One component, called obligatory thermogenesis, results from the energy required for digesting, absorbing and assimilating food nutrients. The second component, called facultative thermogenesis, relates to the activation of the sympathetic nervous system and its stimulating effect on metabolic rate.

As a result of protein´s relatively high thermic effect, fewer calories ultimately become available to the body compared with a meal of similar caloric value consisting mainly of fat or carbohydrate. For example, the recent study by Dr. Carol Johnston and colleagues at Arizona State University compared acute energy cost of meal-induced thermogenesis on a high-protein/low-fat vs. a high-carbohydrate/low-fat diet. This study demonstrated that dietary thermogenesis at 2.5 hours post-meal averages about twofold higher on a high-protein/low-fat diet vs. a high-carbohydrate/low-fat diet.

Finally, diets with higher protein spare muscle mass and produce lower meal responses for glucose and insulin.

Higher Protein Intake: No Adverse Effects

Some nutrition authorities have claimed that high-protein diets possess significant health risks. For example, the American Heart Association´s (AHA) Nutrition Committee claims, “Individuals who follow these [high-protein] diets are at risk for… potential cardiac, renal, bone and liver abnormalities overall.” Let´s face the facts. Protein is needed not only to promote liver tissue repair, but also to provide lipotropic agents such as methionine and choline for the conversion of fats to lipoproteins for their removal from the liver, thus preventing fatty infiltration. Relative to kidney function, there are no data in the scientific literature demonstrating that healthy kidneys are damaged by the increased demands of protein consumed in quantities two to three times above the RDA. Real world examples buttress this contention since kidney problems are essentially nonexistent in the bodybuilding community in which high-protein intake has been the norm for over half a century.

The AHA Nutrition Committee also suggests that high protein intake may increase blood pressure. However, there is no scientific evidence whatsoever supporting this contention. In fact, a negative correlation has been shown between protein intake and systolic and diastolic blood pressures in several epidemiological surveys. Further, the AHA Nutrition Committee claims that high protein intake has detrimental effects on bone health. Hmmm… Guess what? Dietary protein increases circulating IGF-1, a growth factor that’s thought to play an important role in bone formation. Indeed, several studies have examined the impact of protein supplementation in patients with recent hip fractures. For example, Dr. M. Schurch and colleagues reported that supplementation with 20 grams of protein per day for six months increased blood IGF levels and reduced the rate of bone loss in the contralateral hip during the year after the fracture.

Finally, why the AHA Nutrition Committee ignores the fact that energy restriction increases protein requirements is unclear. It has been known for about a half-century that inadequate energy intake increases protein needs. For example, D.A. Butterfield has shown that feeding as much as two grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day to men running five or 10 miles per day at 65 to 75 percent of their VO2_max is insufficient to maintain nitrogen balance when energy intake is inadequate by as little as 100 calories per day. Thus, when trying to lose weight, it’s important to keep protein levels moderately high. The reduction in calories needed to lose weight should be at the expense of saturated fats and carbohydrates, not protein.

In my opinion, the AHA Nutrition Committee´s statement on dietary protein is misleading. Certainly, such public warnings should be based on a thorough analysis of the scientific literature, not misrepresentations of the data. For apparently healthy individuals with normal kidney function, the risks of high protein intake are minimal and must be balanced against the real and established risk of continued obesity.

How to Lose Weight with Lots of Protein

                        • Energy restriction is best achieved by a high-protein, moderate carbohydrate, moderate-fat diet.

                        • Protein intake should be about 1.5-2.5 grams per kilogram of body weight. The upper level of protein is recommended if energy restriction is substantial, as this may assist the maintenance of lean body mass and promote satiety. Eat low-fat protein meat (e.g., fish, lean meat, skinless poultry) and low-fat/fat-free dairy products.

                        • Increase consumption of non-starchy vegetables and low glycemic load fruits. Reduce intake of high glycemic load carbohydrates with high-carbohydrate densities such as starches (e.g, potatoes, pasta, rice) and grains. Consume moderate amounts of legumes.

                        • Substitute polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats for saturated fats. Nuts, particularly walnuts, are good sources of healthy polyunsaturated fats. Olive oil and canola oil are particularly high in monounsaturated fatty acids, as are almonds and avocados. Also, minimize the consumption of hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils (i.e., trans fats). Processed foods that contain substantial amounts of trans fats include margarine, vegetable shortening and white bread; packaged foods, such as cookies, crackers, potato chips and cakes; and fried fast foods such as French fries. Finally, consume foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids (e.g., fish and flaxseed oil).

                        • Set a realistic rate of weight loss (i.e., 0.5 to 1.0 kilogram per week), including both short- and long-term goals.

                        • Keeping a food record for a defined period (e.g., a week) is a useful task that allows you to appreciate exactly what you are eating.

                        • A moderate energy restriction of 500 to 1,000 kilocalories per day is appropriate to producing a reasonable loss of body fat, but still ensures adequate nutrient intake.

                        • The meal plan for weight loss should not rely on skipping meals or enduring long periods without food intake. Rather, food intake should be spread over the day, particularly to allow for efficient refueling before and after training sessions and to avoid hunger (which generally precipitates overeating).

                        • You should use a broad-range, low-dose vitamin-mineral supplement if you will restrict energy intake for prolonged periods.

                        • A significant part of weight loss and management may involve restructuring the environment that promotes overeating. Simple changes that can modify the eating environment: 1) Prepare meals at home and carry bag lunches; 2) Learn to estimate or measure portion sizes in restaurants; 3) Learn to recognize fat content of menu items and dishes on buffet tables; and 4) Modify the route to work to avoid a favorite food shop.

                        • A myth that’s circulating contends that in order to burn fat, you must exercise at a lower percentage of your maximal oxygen uptake (VO_2max). This is certainly not the case. It is true that the percentage of energy obtained from fat is greater at lower exercise intensities (e.g., 50 percent VO_2max) than at higher exercise intensities (e.g., 70 percent VO_2max). However, at the higher energy intensity, you will derive a lower percentage of your energy output from fat, but the total energy expenditure will be greater and you will still burn about the same amount of fat calories as you would exercising at the lower