High Protein Diets: Separating Fact from Fiction

[Guest guest]

High Protein Diets: Separating Fact from Fiction

Stephen Byrnes, PhD, RNCP

_http://www.powerhealth.net_ (http://www.powerhealth.net)

This paper is a response to “High-Protein Diets--Are You Losing More Than

Weight?†by Monique Gilbert. The article appeared in the American Naturopathic

Medical Association’s quarterly publication MONITOR (vol.5, #4, 2001) and is

posted at http://www.anma.com.

In the December issue of the Monitor, there was an unreferenced article by a

self-styled “health advocate†named Monique Gilbert that deserves

considerable comment for the large amount of errors and misinformation it

contained. “

High-Protein Diets--Are You Losing More Than Weight?†is little more than a

vegan and soy propaganda piece. If the propaganda were accurate, one could

forgive Ms. Gilbert for her zeal. In this case, however, it is not and

inaccuracies cost lives.

Clinically, I have used low-carbohydrate, high fat and protein diets to very

good effect, especially with those conditions that are worsened by excessive

carbohydrate intake, e.g., diabetes, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and

heart disease. When properly practiced, low-carb diets are not harmful.

Furthermore, if one were to follow Ms. Gilbert’s dubious nutritional advice

as given

in her article, one would actually increase one’s chances of contracting a

number of debilitating diseases such as cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis,

and

diabetes.

Gilbert begins her piece by rightly pointing out the vital need for protein

in the human diet. Unfortunately, the errors begin creeping in shortly

thereafter. She states that, “Excessive protein consumption, particularly

animal

protein, can result in heart disease, stroke, osteoporosis, and kidney

stones.â€

Though she does not list it, Gilbert would no doubt include cancer as a

disease caused by animal protein intake. As I stated at the beginning, the

article

is unreferenced so these claims have no backing. I have no idea where

Gilbert got her “facts†from, but it is certainly not from the scientific

literature.

It is excessive carbohydrate intake, not protein or animal protein intake,

that can result in heart disease and cancer (1). Readers should note that the

type of diet Gilbert advocates in her article is a high carbohydrate one

because that is exactly what diets that are low in protein and fat are.

Furthermore, the idea that animal products, specifically protein, cholesterol,

and

saturated fatty acids, somehow factor in causing atherosclerosis, stroke,

and/or

heart disease is a popular idea that is not supported by available data,

including the field of lipid biochemistry (2).

The claim that animal protein intake causes calcium loss from the bones is

another popular nutritional myth that has no backing in nutritional science.

The studies that supposedly showed protein to cause calcium loss in the urine

were NOT done with real, whole foods, but with isolated amino acids and

fractionated protein powders (3). When studies were done with people eating

meat

with its fat, NO calcium loss was detected in the urine, even over a long

period of time (3). Other studies have confirmed that meat eating does not

affect

calcium balance (4) and that protein promotes stronger bones (5).

Furthermore, the saturated fats that Gilbert thinks are so evil are actually

required

for proper calcium deposition in the bones (6).

The reason why the amino acids and fat-free protein powders caused calcium

loss while the meat/fat did not is because protein, calcium, and minerals,

require the fat-soluble vitamins A and D for their assimilation and utilization

by the body. When protein is consumed without these factors, it upsets the

normal biochemistry of the body and mineral loss results (7). True vitamin A

and full-complex vitamin D are only found in animal fats.

If the protein-causes-osteoporosis theory teaches us anything, it is to

avoid fractionated foods (like soy protein isolate, something Gilbert would no

doubt encourage readers to consume given her zeal for soy) and isolated amino

acids, and to eat meat with its fat. New evidence shows that men and women who

ate the most animal protein had better bone mass compared to those who

avoided it (8) and that vegan diets (most likely also advocated by Gilbert)

place

women at a greater risk for osteoporosis (9).

The claim that protein intake leads to kidney stones is another popular myth

that is not supported by the facts. Although protein restricted diets are

helpful for people who have kidney disease, eating meat does not cause kidney

problems (10). Furthermore, the fat-soluble vitamins and saturated fatty

acids found in animal foods are pivotal for properly functioning kidneys (11).

Gilbert’s explanation as to how meat supposedly “acidifies†the blood,

leading to greater mineral loss in the urine is also incorrect. Theoretically,

the sulphur and phosphorus in meat can form an acid when placed in water, but

that does not mean that is what happens in the body. Actually, meat provides

complete proteins and vitamin D (if the fat or skin is eaten), both of which

are needed to maintain proper acid-alkaline balance in the body. Furthermore,

in a diet that includes enough magnesium and vitamin B6 and restricts simple

sugars, one has little to fear from kidney stones (12). Animal foods like

pork, beef, lamb, and fish are good sources of both nutrients as any food and

nutrient content table will show. It also goes without saying that high

protein/fat and low-carbohydrate diets are devoid of sugar.

Gilbert’s contention that the weight loss on high-protein diets is mostly

from water loss is strange given that low-carb proponents like Robert Atkins,

MD, tell their devotees to drink lots of water while on the diet. Initially,

there is a water loss (as with any diet), but the high water intake afterwards

would certainly offset any more drastic “water losses.â€

She further claims that weight loss occurs on high protein/fat diets because

the person eats less food because he or she gets fuller faster on fat. Given

that fat has more than twice as many calories than either protein or

carbohydrate, this explanation is far from satisfactory. In other words, you may

not

eat as many carbohydrates as you did before you went on the high protein

diet, but because you’re ingesting more fat, which has over twice as many

calories as carbohydrate, your actual caloric intake is likely to stay the same

or

be higher than it was before.

Gilbert’s claim that , “Plant-based proteins, like that [sic] found in soy,

lowers [sic] LDL cholesterol and raises HDL (good) cholesterol. This

prevents the build up of arterial plaque which leads to atherosclerosis . . .

and

heart disease, thus reducing the risk [of] heart attack and stroke,†is yet

another nutritional fantasy in her article that, although popular, is not true.

The HDL/LDL theory has been thoroughly debunked by a number of prominent

researchers (13) and LDL serves many useful functions in the body--there is

nothing “bad†about it (14). Cholesterol is actually used by the body as an

antioxidant (15); vegetarian diets do not protect against atherosclerosis or

heart

disease (16); and female vegans have higher rates of death from heart

disease than female meat eaters (17).

Gilbert’s contention that, “Vegetable-protein diets enhance calcium

retention in the body,†is simply wrong as “vegetable proteins†do not

contain the

fat-soluble vitamins A and D which are needed to assimilate calcium (and

protein and other minerals). Furthermore, numerous plant compounds like

oxalates

and phytates inhibit calcium absorption. Unfermented soy products, in

particular, are noted for their high phytic acid content and phytates block

mineral

absorption (18). Soybeans and soy food products are also noted for their

high oxalic acid content as a recent study showed (19). The authors of this

study concluded that soybeans and soy foods (as well as some other legumes like

lentils) should not be eaten by people with a history of oxalate kidney

stones.

 

Gilbert’s recommendation for us to replace vegetable protein for animal

protein and unsaturated fats “like olive and canola oils†for saturated

fats, is

dubious at best and dangerous at worst. A number of recent and prior studies

catalog the veritable witches brew of toxins found in processed soy products

(20) and canola oil has caused vitamin E deficiencies in lab animals (21).

Canola oil is also quite susceptible to rancidity due to its high level of

alpha-linolenic acid; in the deodorization process used with canola oil,

harmful

trans-fatty acids are created (22). Are Gilbert’s recommendations sound or

sane for health-conscious people?

Lastly, studies have not borne out the claims that vegetarians have lower

cancer rates than the general population. A large study on vegetarian

California 7th Day Adventists showed that, while the Adventists had slightly

lower

rates for some cancers, their rates of malignant melanoma; Hodgkin’s disease;

and uterine, prostate, endometrial, cervical, ovarian, and brain cancers were

higher than the general population, some quite significantly. In the paper,

the authors wrote that,

Meat consumption, however, was not associated with a

higher [cancer] risk.

And that,

No significant association between breast cancer and a high consumption of

animal fats or animal products in general was noted. (23)

Indeed, Dr. Emmanuel Cheraskin’s survey of 1040 dentists and their wives

showed that those with the fewest health problems as measured by the Cornell

Medical Index had the MOST protein in their diets (24).

The facts are that high-protein diets, when consumed in balance with enough

water, fat and fat-soluble vitamins, and nutritional factors from non-starchy

vegetables, ARE healthy. They are not guilty of the things Gilbert blames on

them. Minimally processed animal foods like beef and lamb are healthy foods

that are rich in a number of nutrients that protect and enhance several body

systems: taurine; carnitine; creatine; glutathione; vitamins A; D; several of

the B-complex, including B6 and B12; minerals like chromium, magnesium,

sulphur, iron, zinc, and phosphorus; complete proteins; and coenzyme Q10,

needed

for a healthy heart.

If readers want to get an accurate assessment of lower-carbohydrate diets,

they should check out reliable books on the subject (25) and not fatuous

articles about them by misinformed individuals like Monique Gilbert.

For more reading on low-carbohydrate diets, click here!

NOTES

1. F. Jeppesen and others. Effects of low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets on

risk factors for ischemic heart disease in post-menopausal women. Am J Clin

Nutr, 1997; 65:1027-1033. Mensink and Katan. Effect of dietary fatty acids on

serum lipids and lipoproteins: a meta-analysis of 27 trials. Arterio Thromb,

1992, 12:911-9; I. Zavaroni and others. Risk factors for coronary artery

disease in healthy persons with hyperinsulinemia and normal glucose tolerance.

New Eng J Med, 1989, Mar 16, 320:11:702-6; J. Witte and others. Diet and

premenopausal bilateral breast cancer: a case control study. Breast Canc Res &

Treat, 1997, 42:243-251; S. Francheschi and others. Intake of macronutrients

and risk for breast cancer. Lancet, 1996, 347:1351-6; S. Francheschi and

others. Food groups and risk of colo-rectal cancer in Italy. Inter J Canc, 1997,

72:56-61; Seely, and others. Diet Related Diseases--The Modern Epidemic (AVI

Publishing; CT), 1985, 190-200; WJ Lutz. The colonisation of Europe and our

Western diseases. Med Hypoth 1995, 45:115-120; D. Forman. Meat and cancer: a

relation in search of a mechanism. The Lancet. 1999;353:686-7

2. Uffe Ravnskov. The Cholesterol Myths (New Trends Publishing; Washington,

D.C.), 2000; Mary Enig. Know Your Fats: The Complete Primer on Fats and

Cholesterol (Bethesda Press; Maryland), 2000, 76-81; Russell Smith and Edward

Pinckney. Diet, Blood Cholesterol, and Coronary Heart Disease: A Critical

Review

of the Literature (Vector Enterprises; California), 1991; The Cholesterol

Conspiracy (Warren Greene, Inc.; USA), 1991; Stephen Byrnes. Diet and Heart

Disease: Its NOT What You Think, (Whitman Books; 2001), 25-52; George V. Mann,

ed. Coronary Heart Disease: The Dietary Sense and Nonsense, (Veritas Society;

London), 1993.

3. H. Spencer and L. Kramer. Factors contributing to osteoporosis. J of

Nutr, 1986, 116:316-319; Further studies of the effect of a high protein diet

as

meat on calcium metabolism. Amer J Clin Nutr., 1983, 37:6: 924-9.

4. J. Hunt and others. High-versus low meat diets: Effects on zinc

absorption, iron status, and calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese,

nitrogen,

phosphorus, and zinc balance in postmenopausal women. Amer J Clin Nutr, 1995,

62:621-32; Spencer, Osis, and Kramer, Do protein and phosphorus cause calcium

loss? J Nutr 1988 Jun;118(6):657-60.

5. C. Cooper, and others. Dietary protein and bone mass in women. Calcif

Tiss. Int., 1996, 58:320-5.

6. BA Watkins and others. Importance of vitamin E in bone formation and in

chondrocyte function. American Oil Chemists Society Proceedings, 1996, at

Purdue University; “Food Lipids and Bone Health†in Food Lipids and Health,

McDonald and Min, Editors, (Marcel Dekker Co.; NY), 1996.

7. S. Fallon and M. Enig. Dem bones--do high protein diets cause

osteoporosis? Wise Traditions, 2000, 1:4:38-41. Also posted at

http://www.westonaprice.org

8. RG Munger and others. Prospective study of dietary protein intake and risk

of hip fracture in postmenopausal women. Amer J Clin Nutr, 1999,

69:1:147-52; MT Hannan and others. Effect of dietary protein on bone loss in

elderly

men and women: The Framingham Osteoporosis Study. J Bone & Min Res, 2000,

15:2504-2512.

9. Chiu JF; Lan SJ; Yang CY, and others. Long-term vegetarian diet and bone

mineral density in postmenopausal Taiwanese women. Calcif Tissue Int, 1997;

60: 245-9; EM Lau, T Kwok, J Woo, and others. Bone mineral density in Chinese

elderly female vegetarians, vegans, lacto-vegetarians and omnivores. Eur J

Clin Nutr 1998;52:60-4.

10. J. Dwyer and others. Diet, indicators of kidney disease, and late

mortality among older persons in the NHANES I Epidemiologic Follow-up Study.

Amer J

of Pub Health, 1994, 84:(8): 1299-1303.

11. M. Enig. Saturated fats and the kidneys. Wise Traditions, 2000, 1:3:49.

Posted at _http://www.westonaprice.org_ (http://www.westonaprice.org) .

12. V. Rattan and others. Effect of combined supplementation of magnesium

oxide and pyrodoxine in calcium-oxalate stone formers. Urol Res, 1994,

22(3):161-5; NJ Blacklock. Sucrose and idiopathic renal stone. Nutr Health,

1987,

5(1): 9-17. ++++++++

13. See references for note number two.

14. M. Enig. Know Your Fats, 258.

15.E. Cranton and JP Frackelton. J of Holistic Med, 1984, Spring/Summer,

6-37.

16. Russell Smith, op cit.; L. Corr and M. Oliver. The low-fat/cholesterol

diet is ineffective. Eur Heart J, 1997, 18:18-22; F. McGill and others.

Results of the International Atherosclerosis Project. Clin Lab Invest, 1968,

18:(5):498; Herrmann, Schorr, Purschwitz, Rassoul, Richter. Total homocysteine,

vitamin B (12), and total antioxidant status in vegetarians. Clin Chem 2001

Jun;47(6):1094-101; EA Enas. Coronary artery disease epidemic in Indians: a

cause for alarm and call for action. J Indian Med Assoc 2000 Nov;98(11):694-5,

697-702.

17. Ellis, Path, Montegriffo. Veganism: Clinical findings and investigations.

Amer J Clin Nutr, 1970, 32:249-255.

18. HH Sandstead. Fiber, phytates, and mineral nutrition. Nutr Rev, 1992,

50:30-1; AH Tiney. Proximate composition and mineral and phytate contents of

legumes grown in Sudan. J Food Comp and Analy, 1989, 2:67-68; see also S.

Fallon and M. Enig, “The Ploy of Soy,†posted at

_http://www.westonaprice.org_

(http://www.westonaprice.org) .

19. LK Massey and others. Oxalate content of soybean seeds, soy foods, and

other edible legumes. J Agric Food Chem, 2001, Sep. 49:9:4262-6.

20. See research abstracts posted at http://www.soyonlineservice.co.nz.

21. FD Sauer and others. Additional Vitamin E required in milk replacer

diets that contain canola oil. Nutr Res., 1997, 17: 259-262.

22. M. Enig, Know Your Fats, 120-1,195-6.

23. Mills, Beeson, Phillips, and Fraser. Cancer-incidence among California

Seventh-day Adventists, 1976-1982. Am J Clin Nutr, 1994, 59 (suppl):1136S-42S.

 

24 E. Cheraskin, and others. J of Orthom Psych, 1978, 7:150-155.

25. Diana Schwarzbein and Nancy Deville. The Schwarzbein Principle (HCI

Publications; Florida), 1999; Robert C. Atkins. Dr. Atkins’ New Diet

Revolution. (Avon Books; NY), 2002; Wolfgang Lutz.

 

Life Without Bread (NTC/Contemporary Publishing; IL), 1999.

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

About a year ago I was told by doctors that I would lose my hip because the

cartilage was almost gone. I consulted several naturopaths who disagreed and

said there are ways of healing this condition. Two experts in particular seemed

to be highly esteemed, one from California and one from Florida at the

Hypocrites institute. One said I should never eat meat products because they are

acid forming and I should get my protein from pea, sea veg tables and

spirulina...etc... the other said I should eat organic, free range red meat and

eggs sparingly. For rebuilding joints, reversing, healing joint wear and, at

least, halting the deterioration, is it better to eat some meat and if so how

much. An article I just read on here supports the meat is good theory and sounds

very compelling. Are there any other facts/experiences people could share? I

really want to heal my hip and I need to be sure, thank you!

 

 

[Guest guest]

I came across an interesting website today which has a bit about rebuilding

teeth. As hip joints are pretty similar to teeth (there is bone wear and

tear involved in both) it sounds pretty sensible when it comes to repairing

damage: http://www.yourreturn.org/Treatments/Teeth/index.htm

 

I daresay that lots of the info in the above website comes from the Weston A

Price Foundation lot. http://www.westonaprice.org/

 

I can say that, in my case, I have managed to halt all tooth decay in my own

mouth since the introduction of a high-protein/low carbohydrate version of

the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, a more radical variation of the Weston A

Price diet. Anyway, prior to this diet, I had fillings pretty much every

time I visited the dentist (at least yearly). Following the replacement of

all my fillings from amalgam to composite, I've only had checkups, cleanings

and so on. I have Crohn's disease (or rather, I am recovering from gut

disturbances - quite successfully, I might add) so one would think that the

bad tooth decay of the previous lifetime would have continued.

 

Talking to a friend a while ago, he said that when his wife was carrying

babies (she had 6, I think) their family doctor recommended that she

regularly take a bone marrow powder. I'm not sure where they got it from.

Said friend reckons that the whole family have great teeth. He's a grandad.

He said that they would sprinkle this powder on the kids food as well; they

kept using it for years. Old time doctors... perhaps they bred them

differently back then.

 

Anyway, I think that it's fairly logical: if you want to grow bone, eating

what grows bone could be quite handy, and what better - in a healing

context - than marrow?

 

Speaking of such, I cooked up some marrow bones in a crock pot a while ago -

I had the butcher slice some nice, beef leg bones so the marrow goodness

would come out while it was cooking. I was stunned by the fat: there was

masses of it - indicating to me that fat is REALLY important to healthy

bones; and it was a lovely yellow colour, nothing like the lard out of a

roast. Kinda like the difference between a truly free-range egg and the

imitation free-range egg. It seemed to me that this fat was just bursting

with great stuff. No wonder roses love blood'n'bone... I've been using this

fat for cooking with. It even smells different.

 

Oh, yeah, I recommend that you read " Your body's many cries for water " too,

as it seems that chronic dehydration can speed up wear and tear of bones

too.

 

Cheers

Vivienne

New Zealand = where it's springtime sunny and my vitamin D levels won't

increase if I don't get off the puter and out into it.