Each week it appears there’s a brand new eating regimen or protein-enriched snack to strive. UVA nutritionist Melanie Brede gives tricks to ensure you meet your dietary wants. Credit score: John DiJulio, College Communications
New protein-enriched merchandise are hitting grocery retailer cabinets and being marketed seemingly day by day, whereas diets prioritizing protein make the rounds on social media.
With this inflow of merchandise, plus typically contradictory dietary recommendation, it could be arduous to know whether or not you are assembly your dietary wants. That is why UVA At the moment talked to Melanie Brede, a senior nutritionist on the College of Virginia’s Scholar Well being and Wellness Heart, to be taught the reality about protein.
How can I inform if I am consuming sufficient protein?
The really useful dietary allowance for a “basically healthy individual,” is a few gram of protein for each two kilos of physique weight, or 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of physique weight, Brede mentioned. An individual who weighs 160 kilos, for instance, would want to eat about 80 grams of protein per day.
Brede teaches purchasers to make use of their fingers to estimate portion sizes. For instance, a hamburger in regards to the dimension of somebody’s palm is 4 or 5 ounces of beef, which provides as much as about 40 grams of protein, with every ounce offering eight grams.
“There’s half your protein needs in one day right there,” Brede says.
Plant-based sources of protein, like beans and nuts, must double in amount to get an identical quantity of protein.
Do I want extra protein if I am figuring out?
For most individuals, the reply is not any. Typical types of train, like strolling the canine or mild aerobics, do not dramatically enhance an individual’s protein wants.
Endurance athletes coaching for occasions like a marathon most likely must up their protein to 1.2 to 1.6 grams of protein for each 2.2 kilos of physique weight. Power athletes—like bodybuilders—ought to get about 2 grams of protein for each 2.2 kilos of physique weight. However that could be short-term.
“Our bodies get more efficient at using protein and building muscle as we increase our fitness, so it’s believed that we most need that extra protein when exercise is new,” Brede mentioned.
Normally, it is comparatively simple for folks to satisfy their protein wants even with a brand new exercise routine, as a result of they will even be consuming extra energy to gasoline these exercises.
Can I get sufficient protein on a plant-based eating regimen?
“Even in carrots and broccoli and peppers, you can find a little bit of protein,” Brede mentioned.
Vegans and vegetarians typically must eat a bigger quantity of meals—not simply to satisfy their protein wants, but additionally to make sure they’re consuming sufficient energy general.
When ought to I eat extra protein?
“If you’re building something, you probably need a little more protein,” Brede mentioned.
That applies to constructing muscle, but additionally the expansion of recent cells throughout being pregnant.
There’s some proof that girls in menopause ought to barely enhance their protein. Brede added that as folks age, no matter gender, it is essential to ensure they get their protein in “doses” all through the day.
Brede makes use of an analogy of constructing a wall. You might need all of the bricks you want, but when somebody asks you to construct a wall in a minute, you will not succeed. Protein works equally—you would possibly meet all of your every day wants in a single meal, however your physique cannot use it as effectively to construct muscle. As an alternative, it would get saved or burned as vitality.
“It might sound like boring advice, but you should get three meals a day and some snacks,” Brede mentioned.
Are protein dietary supplements good for you?
Protein bars, powders and shakes are seemingly all over the place. And so they can definitely be a handy strategy to get protein, Brede mentioned.
“Most often, those products are using whey protein, which is a protein in milk, or they use a pea protein or a soy protein,” Brede mentioned. “They had to start with food.”
If you go for a protein bar over some scrambled eggs, you commerce the dietary advantages of “whole foods” for comfort, Brede mentioned.
“I’m always going to focus on a food-first approach,” Brede mentioned.
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