If you’re interested in health and fitness, you’ll be well aware of the attention that protein gets. In the fitness world, protein is almost seen as the king of the macronutrients; the one that you should be striving to consume at all costs. The other macronutrients (carbs and fats being the others) don’t get anywhere near the attention that protein does, but why?
In this article we’re going to look at protein and talk about what it is, where we should be consuming it and why it’s so important…
Protein - the Building Blocks of Life
Protein is essentially chains of molecules called amino acids. There are different kinds of protein made up of varying combinations of different amino acids. This combination is what defines the proteins and how effective they are nutritionally.
The amino acids are also known as the ‘building blocks’ of protein. There are 20 amino acids that are important in human nutrition. Of the 20, 9 are considered ‘essential’ amino acids that we can’t make ourselves within our body, so we have to consume these from our food or supplements.
The Role of Protein in the Body
Protein is responsible for cell repair and growth. Without adequate protein supply, our cells don’t repair and replenish, so wounds wouldn’t heal as quickly, bones wouldn’t re-mineralise, muscle wouldn’t grow properly, connective tissues wouldn’t repair properly etc. A secondary function of protein is energy, so when the body runs out of glycogen (sugar), it turns to fat and protein.
If you’re active, protein consumption takes on an even greater importance. This is because exercise causes ‘damage’ to the body. It causes muscle and connective tissue break down, which requires an additional protein to repair and replenish. It’s during the repair process that the muscle and connective tissues grow back thicker, stronger and with additional strength and contractile capabilities.
The more active you are, the more protein you require in order to make sure your tissues are healing as quickly and effectively as possible.
There is a considerable body of research that shows a high protein intake is also beneficial to health and performance, especially in strength and power athletes, but we could also extrapolate that data out and make a strong assumption that this applies to anyone who is exercising regularly. If you are in regular competition or training, the performance, body composition and injury-reducing benefits of protein are now proven beyond any reasonable doubt, particularly if protein consumption occurs in the post-activity window.
Sources of Protein
There’s a lot of debate about the quality of protein sources, but one thing is certain - animal protein is the most ‘complete’. This mean it contains all of the essential amino acids within the same source.
There’s nothing wrong with non-animal protein sources per se, and you can consume enough protein on a vegetarian or vegan diet, but if you stick to non-animal sources of protein you have to food-combine in order to make sure you consume all of the essential amino acids. Once you’re used to food combining it’s really quite straightforward, but you’ll have to take the time to learn the right foods to combine at the start to ensure you’re consuming adequate amounts of complete protein.
There’s no argument that whilst it’s not impossible to consume enough protein with a vegan diet, it’s certainly much harder than when on a diet containing animal products. You also have to consider the minerals associated with animal products, such as iron - you’ll have to ensure an adequate consumption of these too. That being said, when you consume your protein from vegetable sources, you are typically consuming significantly less fat and cholesterol, which may be a benefit.
It’s a question of doing what is right for you and your requirements.
Protein Density of Foods
Not all protein sources are created equal - some are clearly better than others in terms of density and more importantly, the availability of that protein. There’s little use in having a lot of protein in a food if not much of it is digestible by the body.
The table below gives a broad assessment of the quality and density of protein in commonly-consumed foods…
Basing your protein intake around these foods will make your life easier from a consumption point of view. Of course if you are following a plant-based diet you may have to make allowances when it comes to your own protein sources.
Protein Intake Recommendations
There is a lot of debate around exactly how much protein we should be consuming, with supplement companies repeatedly telling us we need more than we actually do (they sell the stuff, so they have a bit of an agenda!) Some supplement companies will have you believe you should be aiming for 3g of protein per kilo of bodyweight, but research shows that’s an excessive amount.
What the research actually shows us is that there’s a spectrum and for most people, we should be aiming for around for around 1.3-1.8g per kilo of bodyweight. This is based on research for athletic populations, so will be more than appropriate for general exercisers. It doesn't especially matter if this comes from whole foods or supplements, but from an overall health and performance point of view you should always bias towards ‘food-based’ protein rather than supplemental protein. Supplemental protein (protein shakes, bars etc) should be used as a convenient stop-gap, not a go-to.
Protein… Concluded
Protein is the king of the macronutrients in many senses - it’s the one you really don’t want to under-consume because it helps to build us, repair us, fuel us and satiate us. If you’re active, you’ll want to hit around 1.5g of protein per kilo of bodyweight, per day (give or take).
Consume that protein from whole foods, ideally animal-based and save your biggest protein intakes for after training or competition because it’ll help with growth and repair. That’s not to say don’t eat protein at any other point - you should, but save the big hits for after workouts!
Train hard, eat (or drink) your protein and keep your calories in check and you’ll be in great shape and be performing well!
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