By Dr. Linda J. Dobberstein, DC, Board Certified in Clinical Nutrition
Does your diet provide you with enough protein? Many individuals need more protein than they realize! Inadequate protein can lead to subtle changes in health and metabolism affecting energy, hormone function, bone density, immunity, hair and skin health, and more. Here are some things to help you investigate your protein needs.
Protein Sources
Dietary protein is a macronutrient, like carbohydrates and fats. The best bioavailable, complete sources of protein are animal products: red meat, dairy and whey, eggs, fish, poultry, wild game, etc. Animal proteins provide all the essential and conditionally essential amino acids and have the highest bioavailability.
All 20 essential and conditionally essential amino acids can be found in plants, but they must be combined correctly to achieve this intake. Plants that contain all nine of the essential amino acids include buckwheat, chia seeds, original Ezekial bread, nutritional yeast, and quinoa. Other sources of seeds, nuts, grains, lentils, and beans have limited amounts of some or many of the essential amino acids and must be combined to provide adequate amounts.
Plant proteins are not as bioavailable as animal sources due to the fiber, phytates, lectins, and other compounds in the plants. These compounds interfere with the ability to digest and absorb the small amount of protein available and actually increase the total number of protein grams needed compared to animal proteins.
Achieving optimal protein intake requires knowledge of food combining, preparation and cooking skills, and access to healthy choices. Missing any one of these factors may easily lead to insufficient protein intake in a poorly implemented plant-based diet.
Healthy examples of combined plant-based complementary proteins include beans and brown rice, roasted vegetables and lentils, or different colored vegetables in a soup/stew with miso/lentils/beans and a whole grain. Do you find yourself or a family member missing out on these healthy choices?
Detrimental Effects with Inadequate Protein
Inadequate protein changes numerous functions in your body. It may lead to fatigue, weakness, slow recovery, and poor tissue repair after exercise or daily work. Muscle strength declines leading to diminished and slower recovery. Your nails may break easily, you may have hair loss, and you may find your skin is sagging and crepe-like.
You may experience a lack of appetite or have decreased stress tolerance and sensitivity to salt. In addition, fat weight gain may occur with loss of muscle mass.
Higher protein diets improve satiety and support a more active metabolism.
There is also higher risk of all-cause mortality when protein consumption is less than 0.8 gm/kg per day especially when combined with a high carbohydrate, nutrient-poor (Western) diet. Even more health challenges can occur with protein inadequacy.
Bone Density
Bone density requires adequate protein. A systematic review and meta-analysis published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed higher protein diets did not cause bone loss and were associated with positive trends on bone mineral density, especially in the lumbar spine.
Other research shows that vegan and vegetarian diets are associated with lower protein intake and increased risk of bone fracture.
Growth and Development
Insufficient protein during pregnancy and/or early childhood affects the growth and development of the child. It affects their brain development, and neurotransmitter and nerve function. It can lead to premature birth and low body weight of the infant. Children have stunted growth from lack of protein especially with a poorly implemented plant-based diet. However, it can also lead to increased likelihood of weight gain later in life.
Immune Function
Your immune system requires proteins or amino acids to function well. On a cellular level, amino acids regulate several functions that affect your immune system energetics and capacity to perform. Amino acids are required for T-cell and B-cell production and function. Proteins are needed to be able to make antibodies and other immune compounds necessary to maintain resilience against germs and other challenges. Proteins are necessary for antioxidant activities and gene expression and are vital for maintaining life.
Hormones Need Protein to Work
Have you ever felt that you have an imbalance of hormones, such as thyroid, adrenal, or sex hormones, even when your lab tests are in the normal range? Hormones need peptides or small fragments of amino acids for transport throughout your body. If they don’t get to the destination, they can’t do their job. So, even if your hormone levels are normal, there could be an issue with transport if protein intake is low.
Protein intake affects the hormones TSH, LH, FSH, ACTH, PTH, TRH, epinephrine, and prolactin. This impacts the functionality of your thyroid, adrenals, parathyroid, and male and female hormones and fertility.
Reproduction and Fertility
Men who consume a low protein diet may find themselves at a higher risk for infertility. Animal studies show that low protein diets have been associated with decreased weight of the testis, epididymis, and seminal vesicles of the male genitals. Reduced levels of testosterone levels have also been identified.
Female hormonal health is also affected by dietary protein intake. A 2022 review study demonstrated the importance of adequate protein and other nutrients for female fertility and aging gracefully. Menstrual cycle hormones and ovarian fertility were better supported by a higher protein intake. The age of menopause onset is affected by protein status. Researchers found that early menopause occurred more often in women with low dietary protein intake.
Other Factors That Affect Protein Intake
Several things interfere with consuming enough protein in your diet. Children and seniors and those with restrictive diets are most vulnerable to insufficient protein intake. Living in a senior residence or attending schools without dietary choices or quality foods, inability to cook, loss of taste, poor dental health or missing teeth, isolation, inability to care for oneself, illness, poor digestion, use of various medications (pain meds, acid-blockers, antibiotics, chemo drugs, etc.) that change appetite or interfere with protein digestion all affect dietary protein intake.
How Much Protein Do You Need?
At Wellness Resources, we recommend getting at least half of your ideal body weight in grams of protein per day. For example, if your ideal body weight is 150 pounds, you would aim to eat at least 75 grams of protein per day.
The government’s RDA for protein intake is based on bodyweight (lb) x 0.36 to 1.0 gram/day or 0.8 gm/kilogram of body weight without exercise or recovery needs. This equates generally to 46-65 grams of protein per day for adults. For a healthy 150-pound individual this equates to 54 grams of protein per day.
If you have a high recovery need such as an athlete, physical laborer, or pregnancy and breast feeding, etc., you may need to increase intake to as much as 1 gram per pound of body weight, i.e. 150 grams of protein per day for a 150-pound adult.
Researchers advocate that the dietary RDA for protein is much too low in several age groups indicating that many need more protein. Recommendations for higher protein intake have been suggested for adults 65 and older, children older than 3 years, and pregnancy and breast-feeding women.
Arguments have been made that too much protein can be detrimental to bone density. Studies disprove this controversy. A recent study evaluated healthy adult men who did endurance and /or resistance training. Participants consumed 2 or 3 times the RDA or 1.6– 3.2 gm/kg of protein per day. During this 16-week trial, no negative changes in bone density occurred.
Protein intake is always in context of a balanced diet with 5-13 servings of fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans and legumes, seeds, and nuts.
Homework Assignment
I encourage you to try a short homework assignment. Complete a food diary for 3 days. There are many apps and websites that provide resources. Do not make dietary changes. Calculate how many grams of protein you consumed. Then use the RDI equation above to estimate your basic protein needs. Did you achieve the basic RDI goal?
Think about how you are feeling in this context and the concerns listed above. Consumption of less than half of your body weight in grams of protein, i.e. 75 gm/day for 150-pound person may not be enough for tissue repair, recovery, and hormone function.
Protein Examples
Chicken Breast, lean 3 oz 27 g
Daily Protein Unflavored 1 scoop 26 grams
Pork chop, lean 3 oz 26 g
Tuna 3 oz 26 g
Beef steak 3 oz 24 g
Lentils 1 cup 17 g (but has reduced bioavailability)
Yogurt, low fat 1 c 14 g
Pumpkin seeds 1 oz 8.5 g
Egg, (chicken), large 1 6 g
Almonds 1 oz 6 g
Protein Supplements
Whey protein has superior bioavailability compared to most other types of supplemental protein. Wellness Resources Daily Protein and Daily Protein Plus provide a high amount of grass-fed, bioactive whey protein. Each scoop, depending on flavor provides 21-26 grams of protein. Daily Protein and Daily Protein Plus are very easy to mix and may be consumed with water, milk, or plant-based milks, or combined into a blender with fruits, vegetables, or yogurt for a more complete meal.
Daily Protein and Daily Protein Plus provide unsweetened, lactose-free, casein-free, cholesterol-free whey protein from pasture-raised, grass-fed cows in Ireland. There is no need for stevia or other sweeteners because of the quality of protein. Our Daily Protein products provide a much healthier protein resource than mass prepared protein products filled with high fructose corn syrup, glucose syrup, canola oil, carrageenan, and other challenging ingredients.
Many individuals are surprised to find out that their symptoms of fatigue, feeling cold, poor hair, skin, and nail quality, low thyroid or adrenal gland function, disrupted sleep, or poor exercise recovery reflect a higher protein need. If you met the most basic RDI goal with the diet diary, how do you think you would feel if you added another 20-50 grams of protein per day to your diet? Give it a try! You might experience a new level of energy and vitality!
