Eating extra protein doesn’t shift weight

Claims that one diet outshines another, such as the low-fat versus low-carb controversy, should be treated with caution. The row was recently put to bed by a study showing that neither is better than the other.

The Paleo diet paints a rosy picture of Paleolithic man and advocates a high-protein diet of mainly meat and fish, eggs, nuts, with some fruit and vegetables, but recommends avoiding any processed food including cereals, legumes and dairy products. It’s value is pure speculation, however, as we have no records to go on.

High protein diets gained traction in the form of the Atkins diet when naturally slender celebs claimed it was the secret of their svelte figures.

What tosh!

There are many reasons why highprotein diets aren’t healthy.

They increase calcium loss from our bones, are toxic to people with renal or liver disease and are probably best avoided in people with diabetes. Large, long-term studies consistently find that people who eat a lot of meat, particularly red meat, sausages and burgers, are more likely to be overweight, develop Type 2 diabetes, and die from cardiovascular disease and colon cancer.

Human beings have slow rates of growth and relatively low protein requirements compared to other animals such as pigs. As a rule of thumb, only 10% of food energy needs to be supplied by protein. But we overeat. On average, protein provides 15% of the energy in the British diet, with 35% of it coming from meat, 22% from cereals and 14% from dairy.

Animal proteins have all the essential amino acids we require but the proteins in cereals are deficient in lysine. This doesn’t matter if they’re eaten with legumes, which are high in lysine. For example, baked beans on toast will meet requirements for the essential amino acids. So even vegans can have adequate protein intake.

During growth spurts, protein promotes growth but once growth has stopped, protein no longer does. Nor does increasing your protein intake increase loss of body fat.

While lean meat and fish are quite satiating foods, this isn’t the case for bacon, sausages, burgers, cheese and salted nuts.

Even when you cut down on calories, maintaining an adequate intake of protein is important to prevent muscle loss. This is easily achieved by combining everyday foods: porridge with milk for breakfast, a bowl of pea soup with bread, a chicken breast and a small piece of cheese provide enough protein.

High-protein diets don’t succeed because they’re high in protein but because they’re low in calories.

Some meat eaters may get Type 2 diabetes