Excess protein is affecting you and you don't even realize it.
Your cells do and they are paying the consequences.
How much protein should I eat per day?
This is one of the questions that has generated and continues to generate the most debate regarding nutrition, leading both athletes and people with health problems to a complete lack of knowledge, following official recommendations that are neither adequate nor healthy.
The daily amount of protein needed is subject to many variables, and these should always be taken into account when planning a nutritional plan.
According to official recommendations, 0.8 g of protein per kg of weight should be consumed daily , but this amount may vary depending on the body's metabolic activity (age, exercise, intellectual performance, illness, etc.).
I have been able to verify through hundreds of analyses that the vast majority of people are exceeding the amount of protein, and, unlike carbohydrates and fats (which can accumulate in glycogen or triglycerides), protein cannot accumulate, and excess protein generates a health problem.
I was able to see in each case how this situation was having a negative and harmful impact, given that the amount was greater than what the cells were needing, since it could not be accumulated.
All that amount of Protein that we do not need generates greater production of toxic substances or that can behave as toxic (ammonia, urea, uric acid, phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid, etc.) as a consequence of their metabolism, and this excess (which is of no use to our internal functions) generates an increase in oxidative stress (free radicals), and damage to the entire organism.
Remember, the more free radicals there are, the more toxic and cellular damage you will suffer.
It is important to contribute protein from different sources (not just animal) , since those of animal origin are those that generate the greatest amount of acid residues, as they contain a greater amount of sulfur amino acids (methionine, cysteine), which generate a greater amount of sulfuric and phosphoric acid when metabolized (negatively impacting at the cellular level).
You should aim for the perfect ratio of animal/vegetable protein, as this will not only help you obtain the amino acids your body needs, but also minimize the toxic substances produced by your body's own catabolism.
When you consume excessive amounts of protein (especially from animal sources), the amount of acids generated during amino acid metabolism can exceed the kidneys' ability to eliminate them. This can lead to a net acid load in the body, meaning there are more acids in circulation than the body can efficiently eliminate.
I've shown you a series of substances that can cause damage to the body as a result of protein processing, but I'd like to specifically mention one of them, since it's not being considered, and I'm sure it's going to surprise you because you haven't even heard or read about it.
“Hydrogen ions.”
When you consume protein, your body breaks down the amino acids that make up the protein through a process called amino acid catabolism. During this process, some amino acids release hydrogen atoms and ammonium ions.
These hydrogen atoms released during amino acid metabolism combine with bicarbonate in the body's acid-base balance. This forms carbonic acid, which then breaks down into hydrogen and bicarbonate ions.
“Hydrogen ions are acidic, so the more of them there are in the body, the greater the toxic and harmful load produced.
And although our body is wise and every second of our existence is doing its best to maintain an acid-base balance (through the kidneys and lungs working together to regulate hydrogen concentration), excess protein will cause greater metabolic disturbance, causing our organs and regulatory systems to work much harder than they should.
Therefore, moderating the amount of protein consumed will help prevent these regulatory systems from putting extra work on their plate.
I would like to explain another complication related to excess protein, which is related to the impairment of liver enzymes and, in general, the impairment or reduction of liver function.
The liver plays a fundamental role in protein metabolism and the degradation of amino acids, so a high protein load can negatively influence liver enzymes, and I will show you below:
-When we consume an excessive amount of protein, our liver must process and metabolize a greater number of amino acids, and this process can increase the metabolic load on the liver, requiring additional effort from the enzymes to do their job.
This situation means that other functions that the body must carry out may be affected or interrupted, leading not only to an increase in toxic load (as we have seen previously), but also to a decrease in metabolic functions in said organ (due to the liver stress generated by excess proteins).
What can this situation generate?
This excess work by the liver to process and eliminate this amount of protein could interrupt other processes that must be carried out in parallel in that organ (glucose production, detoxification, lipid metabolism, etc.), so imagine what could happen at an organic level (problems with the production and degradation of glycogen, problems with the production of triglycerides, etc.) if we take more grams of protein than we need.
Did you know that one of the most important vitamins for the human body is vitamin B6?
Did you know that many people are having problems with deficiency/insufficiency in this vitamin, leading to health problems and poor athletic performance?
Do you want to know where the most B6 is spent?
In transamination and deamination, a process that occurs in the liver as a result of protein intake, so the more protein you consume, the more B6 you will use.
It's curious, isn't it, that this excess protein not only leads to everything I've explained directly, but indirectly can lead to the decrease of a vital vitamin for hundreds of metabolic processes and pathways that are essential for health... (synthesis of neurotransmitters, hemoglobin, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, immunity, etc.)
It's important to keep in mind all of this, since all those unnecessary grams of protein will lead to a greater increase in internal toxins, greater oxidative stress due to excess free radicals, and general damage to your entire body.
I recommend not exceeding 0.8g/kg/day for sedentary people, 1.2g for amateur athletes, and 1.5g for high-performance athletes. More than these amounts (no matter how much some people insist on believing that the more, the better) will only lead to negative repercussions.
I have been able to observe over the years how many of these people who took too much protein with the intention of gaining muscle mass were negatively affected, preventing a correct anabolic (building) process from taking place.
It is a biochemical reality: the more oxidative molecules your body has, the more difficult it will be for you to grow (generate an anabolic state), because these substances cause damage at the cellular level, and there will be a tendency to generate catabolism (destruction).
The more substances (like the ones I mentioned) your body has, the more difficult it will be for you to gain muscle mass.
This is what I have been able to see throughout my clinical experience (both therapeutic and sports), and how people who reduced this excessive amount of daily protein to a logical and optimal level achieved better results.
And the same thing happens at a pathological or dysfunctional level, if your body is experiencing a problem, and it is trying to repair, regenerate and put order where there is disorder, that excess and surplus of protein/amino acids and toxic byproducts of said substances, will only make the situation worse, preventing said alteration in health from being restored, and adding even greater damage as a consequence of that excess protein that serves no purpose, and is burdening and damaging at the cellular level.
Write in your mind what I'm going to tell you next:
No matter how much protein you consume, you won't achieve better results (neither at a sporting level nor at a therapeutic level), and this isn't something Dani Ciscar says; it's something that tests and analyses have said and continue to say every day, reflecting the reality of the situation.
This topic is very broad and complex; I would need to write a book to explain everything in greater depth and complexity, but I hope this brief summary can help you understand the most important aspects of protein intake.
Scientific Nutrition (orthomolecular) , providing the highest scientific rigor in the field of integrative medicine and nutrition every day.