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There has been much criticism over high protein diets, especially amongst traditional dietitians. The commonly held belief is that a high protein diet places excessive strain on the liver and kidneys and could lead to failure. High protein diets have also been linked to kidney stones and osteoporosis.

We also know that weightlifters and bodybuilders recommend a high protein diet to build muscle quickly and many sports nutritionists rubbish the claims that high protein diets are unhealthy or could cause any damage to your kidneys. High protein diets are also said to help with fat loss during dieting.

Red meat. Friend or foe?

So who is right? Read on to find out the answer…

What exactly constitutes a high protein diet?
Well, that depends who you ask. A high protein diet is often recommended at 1 gram per pound of body weight. I think this is a pretty good benchmark, but I guess it really depends on what your goals are. I usually try to hit this mark every day, but I do think that if you are trying to gain muscle in a hurry that upwards of 1.5 grams per pound will get you there quicker.

I’ve tried upping my protein to about 1.5 and to be honest I find it a real chore trying to get in that much protein, especially being a vegetarian.

Do I really need this much protein?
This is something else that the two camps always tend to disagree on. I think a big part of this argument can be explained by understanding that there is a difference between how much protein you need and how much is optimal. This is key. Some dietitians would argue that you only need a small amount of protein, athletes included, in order to build muscle and perform properly. This may be true, but that doesn’t mean you will get the best results. For best results in building muscle, a high protein diet will get you there quicker.

Got Milk?

A lot of these so-called experts who rubbish high protein diets lack any in-the-trenches experience. Most of them have probably never lifted a weight in their lives! They may have lab experience, but they lack any real world application. Bodybuilders have known for decades that high protein diets work. Try telling them that they can do away with most of their protein and still compete and they’ll laugh at you.

Can high protein diets damage you kidneys?
This is often the chief argument by the uninformed regarding high protein diets. It all goes back to some early studies done on renal patients. For those of you that don’t know, we’re talking about people whose have kidney disease and whose kidneys are already failing. In these studies it was found that too much protein puts undue stress on the kidneys in renal patients with a subsequent loss of normal kidney function.

There are no studies showing this same link to people with normal kidney function, in fact to my knowledge, all studies have shown the kidneys to function just fine on high protein diets. Protein does require processing by the kidneys, but in healthy adults the kidneys only function at 25% capacity, so extra load is more than tolerable.

There is also a link between high protein diets and Osteoporosis. Meat and Protein foods tend to be quite acidic and if you read my last post on Acid Balance, you’d know that a diet to high in acidic foods can leach calcium out of the bones and lead to Osteoporosis. I really don’t think that this can be blamed on high protein diets and meat though, rather, it’s a result of combining high protein foods with mostly grains, which are also acidic. Rather, a high protein diet should be complemented with fresh fruits and vegetable, which negate the high acid load.

High Protein and weight loss?
If you’re trying to lose body fat, a high protein diet can help you. When trying to lose weight, you’ll generally be consuming fewer calories than you burn. You can read more about this in my article Extreme Fat Loss: The Basics. The problem is that often the weight loss is lean muscle mass, not fat. To combat the loss of muscle mass and subsequent dip in metabolic rate a high protein diet coupled with moderate weight training can help you to preserve your muscle mass when in a caloric deficit.

If you’ve ever heard somebody say that a calorie is a calorie, they’re flat out wrong. Consuming a high protein diet increases the thermic effect of eating. The thermic effect of eating is the amount of energy required to digest and absorb the food that you eat. Digesting protein required a lot more energy than digesting carbohydrates. In fact the thermic effect of protein is a whopping 30% whereas for carbs it’s only around 7-8%. That means that 30 % of the calories of protein consumed needs to be burned off in order to digest it. Clearly, this leads to a higher metabolic rate and greater fat loss when dieting.

Eggs: metabolic boosters.

Finally, increased protein consumption leads to increased levels of the hormone glucagon. Glucagon is known as an “insulin antagonistâ€?, meaning it has the opposite function to insulin. Glucagon’s mission is to increase the blood sugar levels when it is low by releasing glucose from the liver and by a process called gluconeogenesis.

Most importantly to dieters though, is that increased glucagons levels also increases the breakdown of fat.

Conclusion
A diet high in lean protein sources coupled with lots of nutrient rich fruits and vegetables will help you retain muscle and lose body fat whilst ensuring that you remain healthy and that your acid balance stays in check. As far as damaging you kidneys - I see no evidence to back this up, so eat up!