How Much Protein Do You Need

One of the most contentious debates in all of fitness surrounds protein intake — specifically, how many grams you should consume each day. The typical Internet fitness guru advises a protein intake of anywhere from 0.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight on the low end to 2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight on the high end, well above the USDA’s recommendation of 0.36 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. So, you may ask, who is right? RELATED: How to Add More Protein to Your Diet As is often the case with questions like this, the answer is closer to it depends than a cut-and-dry, single figure, but it’s still worth having a good estimate of your own body’s needs because optimizing your protein intake is the solution to a lot of common health problems and a great hack for adding muscle, battling fatigue and even keeping your brain functioning at a high level. Everything You Need to Know About Protein Intake Protein is one of the vital macronutrients, and it’s worth understanding its role in the body, regardless of whether you want to eat more or less of it each day. What Are the Benefits of Protein? In the popular imagination, protein intake and muscle mass are tightly correlated. Want to look like Arnold? Eat more protein, bro! That link exists because your body breaks down protein into amino acids, which it then uses to repair damaged muscle tissue. Inadequate protein intake impairs that process. But protein has many more benefits to your body, on top of maintaining and building muscle, such as: Increasing bone density: Higher protein intake has been proven to promote greater bone density and stave off osteoporosis, which only becomes more important to you as you age, since bone density tends to decline with time.Lowering blood pressure: In a recent meta-analysis of the effects of protein intake on health, a link was established between higher protein diets and decreased blood pressure, both systolic and diastolic. Even better, another major study finally put to rest the supposed link between higher protein intake and heart disease, so you can drop that concern as well. Staving off cognitive decline: A famous study from The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition looked at the diets and long-term health outcomes of more than 77,000 men and women and found a positive correlation between higher protein diets and long-term cognitive function. Specifically, every 5% increase in protein versus carbohydrate intake was associated with an 11% lower risk of developing dementia. Improve skin elasticity: Aging might be inevitable, but that doesn’t mean we want to look old. Thankfully, there’s been a proven link between high-protein diets and improved skin elasticity, preventing wrinkles and fine lines and keeping your skin looking youthful as you age. If it isn’t already obvious, let’s just say it outright: protein intake is about a lot more than just muscle mass, and optimizing your protein intake has all kinds of benefits to your overall health and well-being. What Are the Signs of Protein Deficiency? There’s a lot of controversy surrounding protein intake on the high end, but there’s very little disagreement about the perils of protein deficiency. In other words, while reasonable people can disagree about what the upper end of the protein intake range looks like, those same people agree that too little protein is a disaster for the body. If you suffer from protein deficiency, you’re likely to experience some or all of the following: Chronic fatigueEdema (swelling of the body)Thin skinBrittle nailsWeaker hair strandsDifficulty gaining muscleChronic coldsAnemia (reduced red blood cells)Greater hunger pangs Does the Source of the Protein Matter? Absolutely! One of the problems of studying the impact of high-protein diets on health is that not all protein sources are equal. If you have a fast-food hamburger for both lunch and dinner, you’re probably meeting your protein goals, but there are vastly fewer nutrients (and many more preservatives, nitrates and other undesirable additives) in the fast food burger than in, for example, a grass-fed sirloin steak. If you need inspiration for quality protein sources, Harvard Medical School offers an excellent list, including lean meats and fish, beans, peas and lentils, quinoa, eggs, nuts and seeds. These sources are desirable because they offer not only protein but also a wealth of other nutrients, including vitamins and minerals, that your body needs to function well. Who Should Eat a High-Protein Diet? Bodybuilders and other strength athletes need a high-protein diet, but who else can benefit from upping their protein intake? Multiple studies have shown that high-protein diets are beneficial for promoting weight loss, first because protein itself requires energy for the body to break down and use, and next because it promotes satiety (the feeling of fullness) and therefore makes it easier to stick to your diet. There are also some specific niche cases where it can be a huge boost to your body to pretend you’re a bodybuilder: if you’re injured, for example, especially if you’re bedridden, a higher protein intake can help your body retain its muscle mass and delay or offset atrophy. Endurance athletes (think swimmers, bicyclists, runners and rowers) also benefit from increased protein intake, since the effects of prolonged endurance exercise are highly catabolic to existing muscle tissue. Is Eating Too Much Protein Bad for You? One of the enduring myths about protein intake is that there is an upper limit beyond which your body can process protein, and that going beyond this limit could cause damage to your kidneys. The science on this one has been in for a long time: unless you already have kidney disease, your high-protein diet isn’t going to damage your kidney. For most people, the worst thing that can happen from overconsumption of protein is that you store the excess calories as fat on your body, and even that is unlikely because it’s very difficult to overeat protein compared to, say, carbohydrates. Stop Stalling — I Want a Number Alright, alright, here’s the TL:DR for those of you out there that don’t care too much about the whys and wherefores and just want some actionable information. The USDA’s recommendation of 0.36 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight is probably fine for most men, but definitely inadequate for athletes and anyone trying to build muscle or lose a lot of weight. If you regularly lift weights, if you’re trying to build muscle, or if your bodyfat percentage is over 30% and you want to diet down, start with 0.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight and experiment from there. Good signs you’re moving in a positive direction by adding protein to your diet include increased energy, faster recovery, and progressive strength gains. You Might Also Dig: Adjusting Protein Intake for Weight LossBest Protein PowdersThe Best Energy and Protein Bars