Daily protein intake: Learn facts and myths about how much you need

The total amount of protein you eat must be calculated... — The total amount of protein you eat must be calculated within the context of a complete diet. Credit: Dreamstime

By Hope WarshawThe Washington PostAugust 4, 2016

There’s quite a lot of chatter these days about protein. You may be increasingly spotting the words “high in protein” or boasts of protein counts on the fronts of packaged foods. Or you may see articles or advertisements encouraging you to eat more of the “high-quality protein foods” — seafood, meats, poultry, eggs, legumes, nuts, seeds, dairy foods and soy products, which contain most or all of the 20 amino acids that are the building blocks of protein.

With the current push on protein, you’d think we were sorely lacking in this important nutrient. Hardly. Government survey data show that most Americans meet or exceed the amount of protein that’s recommended.

On average, men and women over 20 years of age eat 98 grams and 68 grams per day, respectively, which contributes roughly 15 percent of calories. But the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of protein set by the National Academy of Medicine is about 56 grams and 46 grams per day for adult men and women, respectively.

Some nutrition experts say that newer methods of determining protein requirements suggest the RDA for protein is set too low. “The current protein intake data . . . illustrates that Americans are consuming more than the amount of protein to prevent deficiencies. However, it doesn’t mean that they’re eating ‘optimal’ amounts,” said Heather Leidy, an associate professor in the Department of Nutrition Science at Purdue University. “There’s increasing evidence that consuming higher amounts of dietary protein can improve health outcomes related to weight management, cardiovascular disease risk and the risk of Type 2 diabetes.” That evidence, she said, would suggest an intake of just shy of double the current RDA, about 80 grams for a 130-pound woman and 98 for a 160-pound man, but “to my knowledge, these quantities have not been broadly recommended to date.”

Another important point: The total amount of protein you eat must be calculated within the context of your complete diet. Protein is one of the three main nutrients in foods, along with carbohydrates and fat. In a constant cycle, your body breaks protein down into amino acids and uses them to assemble the variety of proteins needed to build and repair muscle and maintain bodily functions. In addition, proteins are satiating and help stave off hunger between meals. But carbohydrates also play an important nutritional role.

“I regularly counsel recreational athletes who tell me they’re tired and can’t make it through a workout only to discover that they’re limiting healthy sources of carbohydrate, like fruits, bread and grains, and tanking up on protein,” says Nancy Clark, a registered dietitian specializing in sports nutrition and author of “Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook.” “Protein builds and repairs muscle, but carbohydrate fuels muscles.”

Those government survey statistics mentioned above also indicate that Americans tend to consume too much of their protein in foods that get a large percentage of their calories from fat, such as the fattier cuts of red meats, cheeses and full-fat milk. Some of this is undesirable saturated fat. That’s why the accent in today’s health guidance on choosing high-quality protein foods is to go lean, low-fat or fat-free. A wide array of grains and vegetables also contain protein, though in smaller amounts.

And watch those serving sizes. “We need to be careful not to fall into the ‘more is better’ approach to protein thinking that if some is good, eating a lot will be even better,” Emily Arentson-Lantz, a research scientist in the Department of Nutrition and Metabolism at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston wrote in an email.

Finally, spread protein consumption out during the day. Research shows Americans tend to eat more than half of their protein intake at dinner with very little at breakfast. But Arentson-Lantz says work in her lab shows that “our bodies can only effectively use a moderate amount of protein, 20 to 30 grams per meal, to promote muscle health, in part because the body has a limited ability to store protein for later use.”