Risks Associated With High Protein Diets

My friend Kelly has recently signed up with a personal trainer at the gym because he wants to bulk up. The trainer has told him, correctly, that if he wants to increase muscle mass fast he has to train hard and switch his eating habits to a high protein diet.

A high protein diet entails eating up to 1 gram of protein for every pound of your body weight. Yes, I know, that is quite a lot of.
But we are not going to discuss whether this is too much or not, what I want is to focus on are the risks associated with a high protein diet and thus, on the precautions that you should take so as not to compromise your general health when you start such an eating regimen.


Calcium absorption

One of the first risks associated with getting too much protein is leeching of calcium from the bones. In fact, the acids released by the body as it digests protein are absorbed with the help of calcium.
So if you aren't getting enough calcium, your body will take calcium from your bones. The Nurses Healthy Study even showed that women who ate more than 95 grams of protein were more likely to have broken their wrist than were women who ate less protein.
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, in the article “Dietary protein, calcium metabolism, and skeletal homeostasis revisited”# points out how high dietary protein intakes are known to increase urinary calcium excretion and, if maintained, will result in sustained hypercalciuria. According to the article to date, the majority of calcium balance studies in humans have not detected an effect of dietary protein on intestinal calcium absorption or serum parathyroid hormone. Therefore, it is commonly concluded that the source of the excess urinary calcium is increased bone resorption.
What this means in layman’s terms?
That high protein diets cause people to excrete more calcium than normal through their urine. Over a prolonged period of time, this can increase a person's risk of osteoporosis and kidney stones.



So here comes the question: what can you do about it?
Unfortunately, the protein in dairy foods causes more calcium loss than is actually taken in. That is why countries like the United States - whose intake of meat and/or dairy is high - also tend to have the greatest incidence of osteoporosis. Relying only on dairy foods for calcium is not a wise thing to do.
You should than resort to the following food which are all good sources of calcium: salmon, tofu, rhubarb, sardines, collard greens, spinach, turnip greens, okra, white beans, baked beans, broccoli, peas, brussel sprouts, sesame seeds, bok choy and almonds.
Personally I prefer to take a calcium supplement, it’s just makes my life easier and I’m sure that I will get all the calcium I need.
If you’re also planning to do it as well the best thing is to take it at bedtime on an empty stomach. This reduces the likelihood of foods eaten previously inhibiting absorption of the calcium.

Kidneys

Another main concern connected with high protein diets has to do with the stress put on the kidneys.
It is important for people on high protein diets to exercise, because it can help the kidneys flush wastes out of your system more effectively.
Recent studies have showed that high protein diets may accelerate the loss of kidney function in people with early problems. However, these controversial diets do not seem to affect people with normal kidneys, suggests new research.
So make sure you talk to your doctor before beginning a high protein diet, if you have ever experienced kidney problems.

Risk for the colon

Finally the high-protein low-carbohydrate diet might have potentially harmful long-term effects on the colon, a small study hints.
In a study of 17 obese men, UK researchers found that a protein-heavy, low-carb diet created certain changes in the colon that could, over time, contribute to colon cancer risk.
The study looked only at short-term shifts in certain compounds that are byproducts of metabolism, and not actual disease risk. So it does not show whether high-protein diets really increase the risk of any colon diseases. But the findings raise that possibility.
The study found, when the men were on the high-protein diets, they had higher levels of substances known as N-nitroso compounds, and certain other metabolites that have been linked to cancer.

And when they were on the high-protein, low-carb diet, they had lowered concentrations of fiber-derived compounds thought to be protective against cancer.
Exactly what those changes might mean for a person's long-term health is not clear. But the findings suggest that people should be cautious about consuming too much protein and too little fiber over a prolonged period.
You should be sure to get enough fiber in your diet. In general, experts recommend that adults get about 28 grams of fiber per day -- though it's not known whether that's enough for someone on a high-protein weight-loss diet.

Conclusion

I am myself since few years on a high protein - low carbs diet. I must confess that I don’t take it to the extreme but I restrain myself to eat carbs after dark and I always eat a lot of lean meats and egg whites during the day.
But being aware of the risks I do take a lot of precautions such as calcium supplements, I eat tons of foods with soluble fiber and exercise every day so that I make sure that I sweat out all the toxins that I might bring into my body by following such an eating regimen.

TheIronYou