Sometimes, no matter how much data you try to deny false information, the lie will still be great. This lie, for example, is the myth that high protein diet intake is harmful to the kidneys. So what is the scientific community doing with this myth? He’s buried deeply.
That’s exactly what Dr. Stuart M Phillips and his fantastic team of scientists did after the publication of the meta-analysis covering the results of 28 trials involving more than 1,300 participants. After compiling and analyzing the data, we have a clear verdict on what the study says.
Selection of protein diet tests
Meta-analysis is as good as the research it uses. To get the right research, the researchers were only interested in studies comparing high protein diets with lower protein diets. In this context,
Definition High protein diet (HP group)
1.5 g protein per kg body weight
20% energy consumption or
100 g protein/day
Definition Normal or Lower protein diet (NLP group)
≥ 5% lower energy consumption from protein per day compared to the high protein group
All the others were not taken into account when developing the meta-analysis, leaving a total of 28 studies.
What is the glomerular filtration rate (GFR)?
This is important because GFR is a simple way to check how well your kidneys work. There is a healthy range of GFR, and its too low value is the most common diagnosis of kidney problems, although too high results may also indicate problems.
Phillips and his team used GFR because it is actually used as an argument for abandoning a high-protein diet.
So what was the final verdict?
A simple dietary protein has no effect on the GFR index, therefore a high protein diet does not adversely affect the kidneys. In short, people with a high-protein diet had higher GFR at the end of the study.
While some may hypothesize that people using a high-protein diet generally live healthier and more active, the data indicate a generally better kidney function, although to be honest, we are most interested in people who want to live a healthy/active lifestyle in the first place.
Bet on protein!
The theory of protein leverage effectively concludes that animals (including humans) have priorities for protein and easily absorb surpluses of fats and carbohydrates to get the right amount of protein. In short, your body will get this protein, regardless of whether it comes from steak or two pails of ice cream. That’s why you use protein, giving it a priority in every meal – it’s a topic for the next article.
The fear-provoking level of urea in the blood, with which healthy kidneys have no problems, is exactly the thing that you should not bother an obese person whose body needs almost only protein because he has a large supply of energy.
Needless to say, Phillips and the team knew that society desperately needed a better structured, better-written meta-analysis.
Conclusion – this kidney myth has to die. The protein is beneficial.
Uche Mba and the team have so far conducted the best meta-analysis on this topic, and there has been so much data to confirm that any debate has been paused at the moment.
When we feast on this protein, is the urea by-product increased? Of course. Does this, however, destroy our kidney function? No. This is exactly what the kidney is adapted for.
For almost the entire population, we can confidently say that the benefits of a high-protein diet are huge and that the myth of your whey shake closing the kidneys is officially denied.