Protein has become the superstar of the nutrition world in recent years. Shop shelves carry more and more protein puddings, protein bars, protein-enriched yoghurts and other products labelled “high protein”. Social media counts grams of protein, and it can sometimes seem as though the more protein we manage to eat in a day, the healthier, stronger and leaner we will be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But is that really how it works?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Protein is without doubt one of the most important macronutrients. We need it to build and repair muscle and other tissue, to produce enzymes and many hormones, for the immune system to work, and for a great many other processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, an important principle of nutrition applies to protein too: more does not automatically mean better.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let’s go through seven common myths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If only it were that simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Protein gives the body the amino acids it needs for muscle protein synthesis, but muscle does not start growing from a larger amount of protein alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most important stimulus for building muscle mass is resistance training<\/strong>. On top of that the body needs enough energy, recovery and sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Research shows that in healthy adults who do resistance training, a higher protein intake supports the development of muscle mass – but the benefit does not keep increasing indefinitely with every extra gram. In one large meta-analysis, going above roughly 1.6 g\/kg per day on average brought no further gain in muscle mass, although individual needs may be higher or lower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So: resistance training + enough protein = a very good combination.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n But: more protein without training \u2260 automatically more muscle.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Not so. Protein needs depend on the person and their goal. Among the things that influence them:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The recommended minimum for an adult is about 0.8 g\/kg per day<\/strong>, but that is above all the amount that covers the basic needs of most healthy adults \u2013 not necessarily the optimal amount for someone active or doing resistance training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For people who train regularly, about 1.2\u20132.0 g\/kg per day<\/strong> is often used as a guide. With resistance training, weight loss or the goal of preserving muscle mass, it can make sense to move towards the higher end of that range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For an active person weighing 70 kg, for example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those are already quite different daily amounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The goal, then, should not be to eat as much protein as possible, but to get the amount that matches your own needs<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is one of the most stubborn protein myths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The body does not stop digesting protein and absorbing amino acids the moment a meal crosses some magic 30-gram line. Most of the protein you eat is digested and the amino acids are put to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A separate question, though, is how much of the protein in a single meal goes specifically towards maximally stimulating muscle protein synthesis<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That is why it is more sensible in practice to divide the day’s protein between several meals than to leave most of it for one dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the goal is 120 grams of protein a day and you eat four times, each meal could provide somewhere in the region of 25\u201335 grams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For someone heavier, or with a higher daily protein requirement, the portions will naturally be larger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The distinction matters: “the body cannot absorb more” and “the maximum stimulation of muscle synthesis from one meal” are not the same thing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This claim has to be taken in context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The situation of a healthy person and that of someone with kidney disease are not the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where chronic kidney disease is already present, limiting protein may – depending on the stage of the disease – be an important part of medical nutrition therapy, and the appropriate amount has to be set individually together with a doctor or a relevant specialist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It does not follow automatically from this that the higher protein intake suited to an active, healthy person would in itself cause kidney disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Equally, there is no reason to go to the other extreme and assume that unlimited protein intake is necessary or beneficial for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have kidney disease, impaired kidney function or another condition that calls for an adjusted diet, you should not start a high-protein diet simply on the basis of a recommendation found online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is an oversimplification too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Animal protein sources such as eggs, dairy, fish and meat generally contain all the essential amino acids in suitable proportions, and are often called complete proteins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That does not mean you cannot get enough good-quality protein from plant foods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Soya, for instance, is a very good plant protein source. Beans, lentils, chickpeas, peas, nuts, seeds and wholegrains all provide protein as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On a plant-based diet, variety<\/strong> is what matters. Different plant foods complement each other’s amino acid profiles, and you do not need to get every amino acid from one and the same meal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is also worth looking at the whole “protein package”. Lentils, for example, bring fibre, minerals and other plant compounds along with the protein. Oily fish brings omega-3 fatty acids with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That is why a good menu draws its protein from a variety of sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You don’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Protein powder can be convenient<\/strong>, but for most people it is not essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is perfectly possible to get enough protein from ordinary food:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Protein powder can be practical when your daily protein requirement is high, when there is little time to prepare meals, or when it is hard to reach the amount you need from ordinary food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But protein powder is a supplement, not the foundation of a high-protein diet<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is also worth reading the ingredients, because a “high protein” label on the packet does not automatically make a product healthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is probably the most important myth of all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One gram of protein gives roughly 4 kcal<\/strong> \u2013 exactly like one gram of carbohydrate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you consistently take in more energy over the day than the body uses, weight can go up regardless of whether the surplus calories came from protein, carbohydrate or fat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A high-protein diet does have several qualities that support weight management. Protein is generally better at creating a feeling of fullness, digesting it uses more energy than processing fat or carbohydrate, and in an energy deficit an adequate protein intake helps preserve muscle mass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But none of that makes energy balance disappear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The same principle applies here: enough is good \u2013 more is not automatically better.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There is no one universal number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The needs of someone with little physical activity differ from those of someone doing regular resistance training. Protein needs may also be higher for someone in an energy deficit who wants to preserve as much muscle as possible while losing weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a practical guide, 1.2\u20132.0 g\/kg of body weight per day<\/strong> is often a reasonable range to think about for an active person, though the specific target depends on the individual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And one more important thought: don’t focus only on the grams you have added up by the end of the day. Spread the protein across the day.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you eat 3\u20134 times a day, every main meal could carry a proper protein source. That way you avoid discovering in the evening that the day’s protein has ended up very low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If two people both eat 120 grams of protein a day, the quality of their diets may still be nothing alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those 120 grams can come from fish, eggs, plain dairy, pulses, tofu, wholegrains and nuts. Or the same amount can be assembled from heavily processed meat products, protein bars and other ultra-processed foods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So alongside the grams of protein it is always worth looking at the composition of the food as a whole<\/strong> \u2013 how much fibre, unsaturated fat, vitamins and minerals come with the protein, and how much saturated fat, salt or added sugar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The aim of the SmartFOOD protein package is not to have you eat as much protein as possible<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The aim is to help you get enough protein as part of a balanced menu<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The macronutrient split of the protein package is therefore roughly:<\/p>\n\n\n\n That means protein makes up a larger share of the menu than usual, but neither carbohydrate nor fat has been set aside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On a 2000 kcal menu, for instance, 30% of energy as protein comes to roughly 150 grams of protein a day<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How the protein is spread through the day<\/strong> matters in the protein package too. Rather than very little in the morning and an enormous amount in the evening, the protein sources are distributed across the meals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Carbohydrate and fat have their own clear roles in the menu as well. Carbohydrate supports everyday activity and training capacity, and fat is needed for building cell membranes and absorbing fat-soluble vitamins, among other things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So the message of the SmartFOOD protein package is not: eat more protein.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rather: eat enough protein \u2013 and build the rest of the plate around it sensibly.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Protein is important, but chasing grams of protein should not become an end in itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eating well with protein means that you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Protein has become the superstar of the nutrition world in recent years. Shop shelves carry more and more protein puddings, protein bars, protein-enriched yoghurts and other products labelled “high protein”. Social media counts grams of protein, and it can sometimes seem as though the more protein we manage to eat in a day, the healthier, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":9100085,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[89,90,87,88],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9100095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nutrition","category-protein","category-toitumine","category-valk"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMyth 1: the more protein I eat, the more muscle I grow<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Myth 2: everyone should eat at least 2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Myth 3: the body can only absorb 30 grams of protein at a time<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Myth 4: a high-protein diet damages the kidneys<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Myth 5: plant protein is “bad” protein<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Myth 6: I need protein powder to get enough protein<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Myth 7: if a food is high in protein, I can eat as much of it as I like<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
So how much protein should you eat?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
It is not only how much protein, but where it comes from<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How is the SmartFOOD protein package put together?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
30% protein \/ 40% carbohydrate \/ 30% fat.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In summary<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Because with protein, the winner is not whoever eats the most. It is whoever’s menu as a whole supports their body and their goals.<\/h2>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"