How important are proteins?

The last few months have been in the media been several items on protein.

Framing proteins

In doing so, the aim was mainly to frame protein-enriched foods or protein powders as 'useless' and 'waste of money'.In the process, 'pseudo nutritionists' such as doctors were asked to explain the importance of proteins. In doing so, they were far too brief and even spread 'disinformation'. Many personal trainers, nutritionists and fitness influencers responded to this and, unfortunately, what they claimed was not always correct either.

That is why I am sharing some important basic information about protein. After all, it is a bit more nuanced than I often read and hear.

How important are proteins?

First of all, I would like to the importance of proteins emphasise. Proteins have a function:

• as an energy source
• as a building material to build body cells and tissues from
• to initiate body processes (enzymes)
• to transport important substances (such as cholesterol and hormones) in the blood (transport proteins).

When you eat proteins, digestion causes them to be broken down into individual amino acids from which the body can build body proteins again. All body cells contain protein. Think of muscles, organs, the bone and nervous systems, and our blood cells.

Human proteins can be made up of 20 different amino acids. 8 amino acids are essential, meaning that you cannot make these yourself from other amino acids and they must come from the diet.

The biological value of protein is a measure of protein quality, indicating how much of an ingested protein is actually used by the body for protein synthesis. It is determined by two factors:

• the ratio of essential amino acids in the protein.
• the extent to which the body can digest and absorb the protein (digestibility).

A protein with high biological value has an amino acid pattern very similar to that of human protein and is highly digestible.

Your protein needs

So when determining protein requirements, biological value is also important. If you eat mainly plant proteins with a low biological value, the protein requirement in grams is therefore slightly higher than someone who consumes a lot of animal proteins with a high biological value.
And then there are specific groups of people who have higher protein requirements such as:

• children
• elderly
• pregnant
• recovering from illness or surgery
• athletes.

On several occasions, the media spoke of a minimum protein requirement of 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight per day. So this is not the optimal amount of protein to consume. A guideline of 1.2 grams of protein is a good one that basically everyone can get by with.

In power sports and fitness

But what about strength sports, fitness and thus training for muscle growth?
You need to eat a lot more protein for that, right? I still hear this myth often when I'm at the gym.

If you want to become more muscular, it is important that:

• gives you the right training incentives.
• your body gets sufficient opportunity for recovery (rest time, hormones, sleep).
• and in terms of nutrition, it's also mainly about calorie balance.

Building muscle

If you want to build muscle after all, you need to get into an anabolic state, which means getting enough calories.
This means at least a neutral calorie balance and preferably a slightly positive calorie balance that allows you to build muscle. Thereby, protein intake can be kept fine at 1.2 grams per kilogram of body weight per day for muscle recovery and growth.
If you want to start eating extreme protein to bulk up, making your calorie intake too high, eating protein will raise your fat percentage just as much. The protein requirement does get a bit higher when you are working to lower your fat percentage for a photo shoot or bodybuilding competition. In that case, a higher protein intake of 2.0 grams per kilogram of body weight per day can inhibit muscle breakdown somewhat in the face of a strong calorie deficit. However, these are exceptional situations.

Losing weight

When it comes to losing weight some more protein can offer small benefits. For instance, digesting protein takes more calories than the other macronutrients, also called thermal effect. Also, proteins satiate a bit better and blood sugar fluctuations can be dampened a bit. But what you should definitely not lose sight of is that not everyone tolerates all protein sources equally well. For instance, you may are hypersensitive to the protein casein in dairy products such as cottage cheese, yoghurt and cheese, or that you cannot stand soy protein.
Also, not everyone can stand whey protein, which is very popular in protein powders because of its high biological value. If someone has kidney problems, a dietician may see a need for an adjusted protein intake. As you can see, protein again comes down to customisation.

Conclusion

You can get the recommended amount of protein just fine from basic protein-containing foods such as meat, fish, chicken, egg, legumes, nuts, seeds and cereals. Protein-enriched products are not necessary in a healthy diet.

However, unlike my friends in the media, I do want to say that enriching products with protein is really not always a bad idea and I believe that healthier protein-rich alternatives will also appear on the market as a result. However, the key is to see the difference between the fancy products and the 'hyped bullshit'. Even when you train hard the so-promoted protein powders are not a must, but it certainly can't hurt when you find it tasty and convenient after your workout.