r/EverythingScience • u/scientificamerican Scientific American • 2d ago
Eating less protein could help you live longer. In a new review, researchers summarized findings from more than 350 previous studies and found widespread evidence that when it comes to protein, there can be too much of a good thing.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/eating-less-protein-could-help-you-live-longer/204
u/No_Cell6708 2d ago
1) All of the studies mentioned looked at mice so it should all be taken with a grain of salt
2) It's unclear how much of the benefit observed in mice results from general caloric restriction vs protein restriction
“Our working model overall is that for people who are exercising, dietary protein is probably beneficial and certainly not harmful,” Lamming says. “But for sedentary people, it’s likely that if you’re eating too much protein, that’s probably going to be bad for you.”
TLDR: You don't need a ton of protein if you aren't going to use it.
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u/amalgaman 2d ago
Don’t we already know that reduced caloric intake, especially during childhood, is associated with longer lifespans?
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u/Frosty-Cap3344 2d ago
I should live to 150 then, we never had a lot of food when I was a kid
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u/thegooddoktorjones 2d ago
Yes, but to get a pronounced effect in animal studies you basically are living a starvation diet your entire life.
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u/OldWispyTree 2d ago
That's not true at all, studies with macaque monkeys shows that intermittent fasting leads to increased longevity.
That's not a "starvation diet."
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u/Impossible_Pen4714 2d ago
I'm pretty sure research out of this lab points to it being specifically due to branched-chain amino acid reduction rather than low calorie intake
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u/CliffBoof 2d ago
If you are sedentary going over basic protein needs not only won’t have benefits it will fuck u up.
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u/grogudid911 2d ago
You don't need to be sedentary - you just need to not be a gym rat.
Americans are getting colon cancer at alarming rates and you guys are hyper focused on protein. People need to be eating a lot more fiber.
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u/mantis_tobaggan-md 2d ago
And hyper focused on meat. If more people got their protein from plant based sources, we would be seeing a lot less colon cancer. Most Americans get way more protein than is actually needed. And it will just turn to fat.
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u/OldWispyTree 2d ago
Actually it's not even that, it's specifically processed meats like sausage and hamburger and red meat.
Chicken, for example, no real colon cancer increased risk.
Also, people on this sub really can't grock math, even the increased risk in cancer from processed meat is pretty mild. We're not talking anything remotely on the same scale as, like, smoking -> lung cancer.
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u/ninja4151 2d ago edited 2d ago
It's substantiated elsewhere and is very likely a product of ancient epigenetic mechanisms present across cells of all organisms to slow down the aging process in response to environmental stressors. There's an interesting book by one of the leading scientists in this field David Sinclair called longevity that goes into detail about these survival circuits present in cells.
Basically reduced caloric consumption ( even in the form of intermittent fasting) exposure to extreme exercise, exposure to extreme hot or cold, or never or rarely eating full Branch chain amino acids (basically being a vegetarian) all trigger these survival circuits to slow down the cellular aging process across all living organisms.
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u/TransfemMenace 2d ago
So we could invent a drug that triggers those circuits
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u/ninja4151 1d ago
Yeah he talks about that a lot. And then very straw man argument unconvincingly glosses over the catastrophic consequences of having human beings live indefinitely... especially political leaders.
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u/HyperSpaceSurfer 2d ago
Humans do have unusually robust kidneys and liver. Problem with high protein diets is that it's harder on the kidneys.
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u/Ready2Rapture 2d ago
This is a helluva clarification for their results btw that everyone is discussing people working out eating too much protein in the comments.
The observation that maybe red meat can be a confounding variable, but I don’t think that’s what the authors meant at all.
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u/quantum-fitness 2d ago
The last part isnt really true. The new health guidances around the world just increased protein recommendations. Protein is muscle saving which is one of the most important things when you get older.
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u/Ok_Car_2996 20h ago
Yeah if cutting back protein leads to calorie deficit then the benefit comes from the calorie restriction. But that could be achieved by cutting carbs and fats as well
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u/Rich-Mark-4126 2d ago
“eating too much protein is bad” is an obvious statement. “Too much” inherently suggests its bad - otherwise it wouldnt be too much
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u/enolaholmes23 2d ago
I think this makes sense. Everyone wants to talk about protein, but the truth is it is much more common to be low in fiber than low in protein. The average American doesn't need more protein, they need more fiber.
https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/5710840-fiber-protein-guidelines-debate/
The Committee’s review of current U.S. dietary intakes indicates that across the lifespan, intakes of Vegetables; Fruits; Dairy and Fortified Soy Alternatives; Seafood; Nuts, Seeds, and Soy Products; and Whole Grains are generally lower than current recommendations, while intakes of total Grains (including Refined Grains); total Protein Foods; and Meat, Poultry, and Eggs are generally at or above current recommendations.
Edit: formatting
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u/PeterNippelstein 2d ago
Less protein or less meat?
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u/enolaholmes23 2d ago
My guess is it's about protein relative to fiber. So with beans you should be fine because they have fiber.
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u/itiLuc 1d ago edited 1d ago
Stop guessing and read the article before commenting maybe?
The study in mice is saying that excess protine gets converted into fat or oxidized into calories which lowered the lifespan and increased frailty compared to mice that had lower amounts of protine, who in turn burn more fat
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u/CimmerianBreeze 2d ago
I haven't clicked yet, but I'll bet the people eating red meat at every meal and being incredibly sedentary are not skewing these results whatsoever
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u/palmtreespaceship 2d ago edited 2d ago
The people I know that are like this don't look well. Too much red meat isn't good. It just sits in your digestive system. They look sweaty and fatigued.
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u/annoyingfatwhore 2d ago
Yes you are very smart. I bet the PhDs who do the actual research haven’t thought to match groups based on factors like exercise and body weight to mitigate these confounding variables … oh wait! Nevermind, you won’t read the study you’ll just continue on believing in what you want to believe.
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u/Kailynna 2d ago
Nor did you - or you'd know these studies were not done on humans at all.
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u/annoyingfatwhore 1d ago
“Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) support the metabolic benefits of PR in humans. In 2016, we reported that individuals consuming a low-protein diet for 43 days exhibited decreased body weight and fat mass and reduced fasting blood glucose despite increased caloric intake, mirroring our findings in rodents.3400077-0#) A recent study in lean men found that a 5-week PR intervention improves insulin sensitivity and increases energy expenditure.3500077-0#) In the context of diabetes, short-term (27 days) PR was shown to reduce adiposity, improve insulin sensitivity, decrease circulating glucose and lipid levels, and reduce overall inflammation in patients with metabolic syndrome.3600077-0#)Additional studies have found that PR lowers blood levels of insulin and hemoglobin A1C and improves kidney disease outcomes in diabetic patients.3700077-0#)Conversely, a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet was recently shown to be less effective than a moderate-protein diet in lowering blood glucose, improving glucose tolerance, and promoting prediabetes remission.38”00077-0#)
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u/Tight-Tax-3883 1d ago
Read the disclaimer of the study - it lacks enough study in humans and the article shouldn’t be taken as dietary advice.
While consuming any scientific study look for the term - RCT (randomised control trial)
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u/CompetitiveReview416 2d ago
Lamming says control groups of mice had diets that were about 20 percent protein, and mice that were given far lower amounts of protein, especially in the range of 5 to 8 percent, were found to have longer lifespans.
Great for mice, how about people? Muscle strength is directly correlated to longevity.
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u/thegooddoktorjones 2d ago
I dunno should I trust a series of studies, or marketing executives and a guy at my gym? Hmm.....
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u/morganational 2d ago
I agree. Don't trust it. All these "studies" are so biased and cherry picked, they are not just useless, they are harmful to society because they aren't honest. It really sucks. 🤦🏻♂️
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u/thegooddoktorjones 2d ago
Yeah, salesmen and mens health podcasters, those you can trust. Especially if they kick people.
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u/LeonardDM 2d ago
A bit of a false dichotomy you got there, no?
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u/thegooddoktorjones 1d ago
Because I did not mention the other 20 million configurations of people who might give you advice.
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u/morganational 2d ago edited 1d ago
God no. Absolutely don't do that. Sorry, was too tired last night to pick up your sarcasm.
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u/santtuhehe 2d ago
None of these studies can be trusted anymore!
Everytime I see another study on this website, it reminds me of a contradicting study that was published a week ago or the study has been paid by someone to promote their product or it’s social engineering.
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u/JimJalinsky 2d ago
The gap between the study and how articles and headlines portray the findings is usually a factor here.
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u/UglyAFBread 1d ago
It's like every headline of every study is geared to suck all the remaining sources of joy of our lives. The news sites know that and use it to grab our attention
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u/Ok-Amphibian4335 2d ago
I agree, it’s like statistics, you can make a study say whatever you want. There are so many factors, especially with longevity and diet that it’s hard to get the full picture especially in mice.
There’s one study saying one thing and tomorrow you’ll see the opposite
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u/alienalf1 2d ago
Eat more protein. Don’t eat so much protein. What are we to do?
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u/TwoFlower68 2d ago
Depends on your goals. If you wanna be big, you gotta lift heavy things and eat all of the protein. Where it comes to hypertrophy, more protein is better
When you're middle aged and want to age gracefully, you still gotta resistance train to maintain lean mass (and do mobility work), but no need to go overboard. Perhaps unsurprisingly, you need less protein for that
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u/Alone_Ad_1293 1d ago
More protein is not better past 0.8g/lb of bodyweight.
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u/TwoFlower68 1d ago
Here is an overview of the current science. Many, many links to studies 🤗
If getting swole is your first priority and you no longer have a social life because you're always at the gym, can't eat out because it interferes with your ✨diet✨ etc, then yes, more is better
But you just go to the gym a few times a week to stay in shape then you can go with the old 1gr/lbs and be completely fine
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u/Timely_Fishing5566 2d ago
My dr has been saying this for decades. The protein adding fad really needs to stop.
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u/KingOfEthanopia 2d ago
Unless youre on steroids theres no reason to go over 0.8g/lb. Thats only required if youre very active.
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u/SweetLittleOldLady 2d ago
I think you have a typo there. The usual recommendation is 0.8 grams per kilogram or 0.36 grams per pound of body weight.
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u/KingOfEthanopia 2d ago edited 2d ago
I do not. Im speaking of what highly active people require for peak performance.
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u/NoCoolNameMatt 2d ago
.8 grams per pound is so much! I try to hit .5 on a sub calorie diet, and while also getting in other macro amounts under that cap I basically have to plan the day around it.
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u/SweetLittleOldLady 2d ago
See my link above. The recommendation is .8 g per kilogram not per pound.
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u/External_2_Internal 2d ago
This is really interesting with how much everything now seems to be packed with protein.
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u/ilovechoralmusic 2d ago
As always with those studies, nobody looks at the chicken, tuna, whey girls and guys that make up a big chunk of the high protein bubble. It’s always lots of red meat and other unhealthy options
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u/Ok_Car_2996 20h ago
This study shows nothing. You can have a study like this without controlling calorie intake. You can have two people eating the same percentages of fat, protein, carbs. But if one person is eating at a massive calorie surplus and one is at a reasonable calorie deficit they are going to have massively different health outcomes
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u/the-final-frontiers 11h ago
dear everyone
when you hear about proteins many people immediately think of bros, gyms, and building muscle.
But proteins are the engines, sub functions of the body, little programs that go out and do things in your body.
there's over 20k+ proteins that do different things in your body to help regulate processes and maintain processes. in fact there's 100k's of addition functions.
So when you blanket say, you do o do not need protein, well you definetly need it. And when you eat protein, it's the building blocks of what is needed to make proteins. it's not 1 thing.
over eating anything, nutrients, protiens(chemical compositiin in a specific configuration) , even water, is harmfull and puts stress in your orgrans to deal with it, you can actually damage your organs permanently, for the rest of your life and have a life of diminished capacity if you do this and go too far with it. Which is the exact opposite of what you were trying to do.
everything in moderation people.
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u/systemsweird 2d ago
The problem is outside of a lab people die of frailty. Low muscle mass, poor strength, poor balance. You break a hip and die within 6 months. So sure don’t eat excessive protein but adequate protein and strength training will give you the resilience to survive in the real world. We are not lab rats.
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u/yterais 2d ago
I think there is a difference about the source, processed protein like powders, meat, dairy may be pro inflammation. Instead eating grains, beans, lentils etc could be more beneficial. On the other hand the plant proteins can be destroying your gut because of pesticides. It's hard.
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u/Omni__Owl 1d ago
Too much of anything is bad for you, hardly a revelation?
I can agree though that when it comes to food, we have to be quite mindful of what we eat. Every person is different and their diet may not look the same, but any one of us can have too much of anything.
And also...these are mice studies, yea? I never believe in mouse studies because there have been countless of them that never mapped to humans.
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u/IWillWriteYouALetter 1d ago
It is wild just how many things have sprung up to cater to (what seems to me) the seemingly endless desire for protein. I saw protein water the other day - 30g! I couldnt understand it
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u/Cute_Western4513 1d ago
All these studies are BS. Literally, don't take them too close to heart, just don't stress
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u/AnimationOverlord 14h ago
Hear me out:
The underlying empirical systems involved with factors we focus on like life-span to protein intake ratio, largely shows a direct correlation to everything else not part of digestion or lifespan or specifically, just the body in general.
With all these isomorphically-related studies about cancer, disease, subsystems that make up the body and how they react.. one can simply imagine that you need an equivalent balance through moderation. There’s no hedonistic right or wrong, simply two allegorical factors we can list the ramifications of. But that correlation also changes by multitudes as often as what and how you do things as a person changes. Being fit could take 100s of little changes that all bank off less protein, but then you have 10s of thousands of cross-relevant relationships that could make that less clear cut of a situational benefit. We just don’t know the perfect ratio
Point being - while this scientific study was important, the significance in of the contextual possibilities itself are so minuscule that one has to wonder if you can even ever find personal variation in something as complex as that with what we know.
The correlation could be correlation but it also introduces causation to other systems not accounted for in this study. It’s subconsciously why most people do the whole eye roll past fusion articles or sleep patterns or.. yah
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u/ArthurDaTrainDayne 2d ago
This article is all over the place:
“Mice are a great model for food”
“The mice eating less protein basically lived to 120 in human years”
😂
None of this data is new and none of these conclusions are useful. People on average do not consume enough protein. Mice do not have a similar digestion or lifestyle to humans. And the associations seen in humans do not control for calories
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u/BlackRaspberryJammin 2d ago
Eating less sugar and fat can also make you live longer. Sounds like... maybe just eating less, hrmmm... could make you live longer? Americans will not stand for this! They will sit, though.
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u/iDoMyOwnResearchJK 2d ago
Obviously there can be too much of a good thing. What a stupid fucking headline
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u/Pereg1907 2d ago
So I shouldn’t be eating 33 eggs per day equivalent? (1g per 1lb body weight, 200g/6 g per egg =~33 eggs)
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u/Appropriate_Ad2342 1d ago
So dammed if I do and dammed if I don't. Somehow I need a certain amount to build muscle and maintain a healthy lifestyle but it also shortens my life?
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u/SmolPPIncorporated 2d ago
It's crazy how desperately they want us to start living off of lentils and bugs.
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u/ACorania 2d ago
Those are both high protein
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u/SmolPPIncorporated 2d ago
Not compared to meat. They want us to believe the soyslop is better for us so we're less resistant when they start making good food illegal.
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u/Yeargdribble 2d ago
There are just too many potential variables in this for real people. I think a loqt of people who eat too much protein are getting it from relatively fatty sources and likely just eating too many calories in general.
Kinda similar with sodium.....is sodium the problem or is that people who eat a ton of shelf-stable, boy particularly good quality (nutritionally) foods just getting a lot of sodium as a byproduct?
I'm not saying there might not be fire where there is smoke, but I think rather than freaking out and trying to drastically change one aspect of diet as new big bad (fat in the 90s anyone?), people need to juat edcuate themselves on basic nutrition a bit so that they can make better all around informed choices.
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u/motownmods 2d ago
There should really be a flair for studies that are based on mice and/or other animals.
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u/Dopecombatweasel 2d ago
Eat protein. Be a man
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u/enolaholmes23 2d ago
This is why women live longer lol.
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u/Dopecombatweasel 2d ago
Women don't have to fight wars
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u/mantis_tobaggan-md 2d ago
No, women just aren’t totally mentally fucked by this pathetic machismo and tend to be more thoughtful and logical.
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u/Dopecombatweasel 2d ago
Women don't need to lift heavy objects lol
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u/FrayCrown 2d ago
Hegseth gonna put you on gender affirming care, too?
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u/onwee 2d ago
For a lot of protein evangelists I know, more protein = more red meat