Protein: A Deep Dive
When we hear the word ‘protein’, we usually think of muscle tissue, but protein is also in our bone marrow, red blood cells, hair, nails, and skin. Proteins are composed of amino acids, long chains of molecules that serve various functions. Much of the protein we consume (about half) is converted into enzymes that perform specific tasks for our body. If these are all two-dollar words to you, don’t panic. We’ll cover everything shortly.
What Are Amino Acids?
First, let’s talk about the building blocks of proteins: amino acids. Scientists have broken down amino acids into two categories: essential and non-essential. Essential amino acids are proteins our bodies cannot create themselves, therefore we must consume them. Non-essential amino acids can be created from fats, carbohydrates, and / or other amino acids. This process is called amino acid synthesis.
Proteins are further classified as high-quality and low-quality. A high-quality protein contains most or all of the essential amino acids, while low-quality proteins contain fewer.
Examples of high-quality proteins are meat, eggs, dairy products, and soy. Low-quality sources include vegetables, legumes, grains, fruits, and other plant-based sources.
There’s a fancy amino acid index that a bunch of nerds put together as a shorthand for protein quality, if you’re interested.
Keep in mind, high-quality versus low-quality doesn’t mean better or worse. It just means that some foods have more essential amino acids than others, and that if you want a balanced diet of all essential amino acids, you’ll need to plan accordingly. One way civilizations have done this over the years (likely without even realizing it) is to combine foods in delicious ways that meet our protein demands.
Common examples include rice and beans, pasta and cheese, or peanut butter and bread. Each of those foods by themselves lacks one or more essential amino acids, but the other food makes up for it and balances the meal out in a way that is both nutritious and tasty.
What are the various amino acids?
There are twenty-two different amino acids, ten of which are essential while the other twelve are non-essential. They are:
Essential: *Arginine, *Histidine, Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine, Methionine, Phenylanine, Threonine, Tryptophan, Valine
Non-Essential: Alanine, Asparagine, Aspartic acid, Citrulline, Cysteine, Glutamic acid, Glycine, Norleucine, Proline, Serine, Taurine, Tyrosine
*Only essential as children.
It’s not super important to understand the differences in these, but you can click on any of the above links to learn more about each individual amino acid. The important thing to understand is the difference between essential and non-essential amino acids, and the sources where we can get them.
What Does Protein Do?
The next question is, what do proteins actually do for our body? Well, the first and most commonly known effect is the building and repair of muscle tissue. When our muscles are damaged, either through injury or stimuli like weightlifting or sparring, our body kick starts the protein synthesis process and uses available proteins stored in the body (or consumed shortly after stimulus) to unravel protein chains and distribute them to areas that need repair.
As a result, our body preemptively reinforces these areas so that the same stimulus doesn’t cause damage later. This makes our muscles bigger (hypertrophy) / stronger in the long run. If you complete this breakdown and repair of your muscle tissues long enough, you become a total babe capable of crushing your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women (or men).
This isn’t news to most of us, but it bears mentioning in an article about protein. What you may not know is that our red blood cells use proteins to help carry oxygen through our body and transport cholesterol. Protein is also stored / used in our bone marrow to create more blood cells. Protein even boosts our immune system to help fight off invading viruses and bacteria. In short, it’s one of the most important nutrients in our body and should never be ignored.
How Much Protein Should I Consume?
The most common question about protein, especially for athletes, is how much should I be eating? Sources vary, but the most common answer I see on scholarly articles and meathead blogs is 1g / lb or .45g / kg of body weight. This means a 150lb or 68kg individual would consume 150g of protein per day. At 4 calories per gram(according to the Atwater Scale), that’s 600 calories of protein per day.
Keep in mind this is for your target weight, not necessarily your current weight. For example, if you’re five feet tall and 300lbs, chances are you’re overweight and looking to lose fat. Eating 300g of protein each day is not a recipe for success in this scenario. If you’re hoping to drop down to 150lbs then your daily protein consumption while training should be around 150g.
As an athlete, this makes sense. If you lead a more sedentary lifestyle or work an office job most of the time, you probably don’t need this much protein. My recommendation is to shoot for 75-100g / day and see how you feel. If you find your recovery is slow, or you lack energy, up your intake by 10g every two weeks until you feel okay. If you’re not measuring your intake by counting macros or using a diary app like MyFitness Pal or the RP Diet App then this will be a lot harder to calculate.
How Much Protein Is Too Much?
This is a brilliant question that, like many things in science, depends. If you follow the above advice, you should be able to find a number that works for you and stick to it. If you go HAAM on protein to facilitate your ‘massive gains bruh’, your body could react negatively. The side effects of too much protein include:
Heart Disease: many people turn to red meat for fast, efficient sources of protein. Red meat is higher in cholesterol and saturated fat, both of which are generally considered bad, and recent studies have shown interesting data on harmful gut bacteria as a result of red meat consumption.
Cancer: Similar to the above, with all the crap they put into cow feed and processed meats these days, many believe red meat is a legitimate carcinogen that can lead to various forms of cancer.
Constipation: Specifically in high protein, low-carb diets (looking at you keto) the lack of dietary fiber can lead to constipation.
Diarrhea: On the flip side, your body may decide to expel the abundance of protein and void your bowels regularly. If you’ve ever heard of the protein shits, often associated with protein shake supplements, this is where it comes from.
Dehydration: Our bodies transport nutrients via water. Protein takes a lot of water and energy to break down, so having too much protein in our system can tax our water stores and dehydrate, which leads to a whole slew of other problems we want to avoid.
Kidney Damage: Some people , especially with pre-existing kidney problems, may find a high-protein diet detrimental to their health. Excess nitrogen in the amino acids has to go somewhere, and if our kidneys can’t meet the demand, it could lead to renal failure.
Weird Smells: High protein, low-carb diets (like keto) can force your body to produce ketones, which when excreted smell like rotten death.
I tried a ketogenic diet for a while that had me eating about 200g – 250g of protein per day, with the rest of my calories coming from fat and a tiny bit from carbs. I’ll admit I lost some weight and felt pretty damn good, recovery-wise. But as the weeks went on, I noticed something off-putting. My breath, urine, and sometimes sweat smelled like acetone.
As my body entered ketosis, it burned fat as a major fuel source instead of carbs. The fatty acids, burned as fuel, turn to ketones in the form of acetone, acetoacetate, and beta hydroxybutyrate.
While this meant I had hit ketosis and was burning fat fast, it also meant I was the smelly guy at the gym and that my wife didn’t want to be in the same area code. If the social stigma doesn’t matter to you, I guess you can try it, but I lowered my protein consumption and upped my carbs to counteract the effects. Maybe your body will be more tolerant of ketones, I don’t know.
Plant-Based Protein
If you choose not to consume animal products, don’t worry, your protein needs can easily be met, even as an athlete. Vegans and vegetarians have plenty of sources to get their protein, including, but not limited to, soy, nuts, beans, TVP, seitan, avocado, broccoli, peas, spinach, artichokes, and mushrooms.
The trade off with these sources is that they are usually attached to carbs or fat. An 8oz chicken breast has about 50g of protein and 3 grams of fat in a 350 calorie package. To get that amount of protein in peanut butter, you’d need about 14Tbsp, which comes with 105g of fat and 42g of carbs in addition to 1260 calories. 50g of protein in black beans is only 3g of fat, 140g of carbs and 770 calories. Better, but not even close to the efficiency of chicken.
Soy is better still. 50g of protein in the form of tofu is only 28g of fat and 14g of carbs in a 500 calorie package. Not the same as chicken, but about as close as we can get. Seitan will give you similar results, favoring carbs over fat.
Fortunately for plant-based diets, fruits and veggies tend to be low in calorie so after you’ve had your protein of choice you can fill the rest of your day with other nutrient-dense foods and not make your calories skyrocket. The added health benefits of a plant-based diet should be considered as well, not to mention the environmental and ethical impact.
In the end it’s for you to decide what’s best for you, my hope is that you’re equipped with better knowledge to facilitate that decision.
Note: Because I know someone will read this and complain about soy containing estrogen. Yes, soy products contain phytoestrogens. Several studies have shown positive and negative effects regarding soy consumption in relation to its phytoestrogen content. Personally, I believe the benefits far outweigh the risks associated with phytoestrogen, especially if consumed in moderation. I liken it to the mercury content in fish. Is it a risk? Yes. Should I never eat fish as a result? Of course not.
What Are BCCAs?
As a final note, let’s briefly talk about BCCAs or branched–chain amino acids. BCCAs are the three amino acids most relevant to muscle development: isoleucine, leucine, and valine. These are abundant in animal protein sources, but can also be taken as a supplement. Together they help muscle growth, fatigue management, fat burning, and even help kick start your immune system.
Do you need to supplement BCCAs? Probably not. If you eat a healthy diet, your needs should be met, but you can always turn to supplementation if your doctor recommends it.
Protein: The Takeaway
Protein serves many important functions in our bodies. As athletes, we mostly care about muscle recovery. An average person should shoot for 80g – 100g of protein per day, more if they are athletes. Varied protein sources are ideal, but animal proteins are most efficient.
As always, this article comes with my health & safety disclaimer.
