Exposing the Myth: 30g Limit on Protein Per Meal

[bruteforce]

Exposing the Myth: 30g Limit on Protein Per Meal

We all know the dogma. “Bro, your body can only handle 30 grams of protein in one sitting. Anything else is just a waste. You gotta eat like 8 times a day to get it all in.” Bullshit. If the body can only assimilate 30g of protein in one sitting, then how on earth did our ancestors survive before the advent of agriculture? While I could write at length on this topic alone, I’ll stick to some of the more common arguments for the sake of brevity.

The human body is an amazingly resilient structure. Push it and it grows. Break it and it heals. Feed it 31 grams of protein, and it apparently explodes. You’re saying to yourself, “Well no one is saying that 31g is a waste, that’s just silly.” Where do you draw the line? 35g? 40? 50? Well how about 100g? I gave it a try today and here’s what happened.

Nothing. Not a single adverse thing. Consuming 100g of protein in one 15 minute or less feeding is not a rare thing for me. Protein was in the 100-110g range, come from tuna and pork rinds. Fat was in the 30g range, from Paleo Mayo and the pork rinds. 700ish calories, fairly normal for my post workout meal.

I measured two different areas to take on the challenge from a couple different angles. First, blood glucose was measured every 30 minutes for two hours, as well as measuring protein in the urine. I found no significant rise in blood glucose and normal kidney function. This is even more significant because I am a diet controlled Type II diabetic who has scarring damage in the kidneys from a rather unpleasant auto-immune disease in my childhood. Here are the numbers.

Blood Glucose (mg/dl) Urinary Protein
Pre Meal 121 negative
30 min Post 87 negative
1 hr 91 negative
90 min 88 negative
2 hr 86 negative

What do these numbers mean? Well, first it means that my body was assimilating the protein. Protein that goes unused will be converted to glucose in the liver via gluconeogenesis. If my body were unable to handle the protein, my blood sugar would have shot up noticeably. Second, there was no stress on the kidneys; 100g did not cause any protein to spill over into the urine.

I’ve been eating this way for the past four years. It has helped me overcome diabetes, remove all blood sugar meds, bring my cholesterol down to optimal levels, get me off of blood pressure medication, improve kidney function, liver health, the list goes on and on. So stop worrying about overdoing it on protein. Go squat, eat a big steak, and grow.

[BendtheBar]

Thanks Brute. Very informative.

Added to the main site:

http://muscleandbrawn.com/exposing-t...tein-per-meal/

[BendtheBar]

Also, moving to a sticky.

[JacktheThriller]

My biggest problem with the 30 gram recommendation sure that may be a limit on protein used for protein synthesis in a sitting but whose to say that when ingesting only 30 grams it all is used for this purpose. I go on the safe side. I'd rather have the free aminos in my blood and not need em, then need em and not have em.

[big valsalva]

Very good write up, bruteforce. I have a question as to the parameters of your self study.

Was the urinary protein results after only one feeding of 100 - 110 grams of protein? If so, have you ever fed yourself this much protein five or six times a day and repeated the same test? How about doing that over the course of two weeks?

Not shooting you down, just wondering about the effects over a longer term.

[bruteforce]

Originally Posted by big valsalva

Very good write up, bruteforce. I have a question as to the parameters of your self study.

Was the urinary protein results after only one feeding of 100 - 110 grams of protein? If so, have you ever fed yourself this much protein five or six times a day and repeated the same test? How about doing that over the course of two weeks?

Not shooting you down, just wondering about the effects over a longer term.

No problem. One of these day's I'll write something like this up and plan for it to be an article and make sure all the bases are covered before hand. To answer your question, this is how I eat 3-4 times a day for the past 4 years. The I get the same (similar) results every time. The only time I get a blood glucose spike from protein is with intake of whey protein in excess of 45g.

I actually only see protein in my urine these days if drastically overeat carbs, which causes my blood sugar to spike high. At this point, I will see trace protein and a small amount of sugar in the urine. High protein, high fat has never given these results for me.

On average, breakfast will have 60g protein, lunch 1 and 2 will have a combined 150-175g and dinner will have 120-150g protein. I don't do this test every time I eat as it would get expensive, but I do test at least once a week, 8-12 times during the day, which gives a better look at what my blood glucose levels are doing than just checking after meals.

[big valsalva]

Originally Posted by bruteforce

No problem. One of these day's I'll write something like this up and plan for it to be an article and make sure all the bases are covered before hand. To answer your question, this is how I eat 3-4 times a day for the past 4 years. The I get the same (similar) results every time. The only time I get a blood glucose spike from protein is with intake of whey protein in excess of 45g.

I actually only see protein in my urine these days if drastically overeat carbs, which causes my blood sugar to spike high. At this point, I will see trace protein and a small amount of sugar in the urine. High protein, high fat has never given these results for me.

On average, breakfast will have 60g protein, lunch 1 and 2 will have a combined 150-175g and dinner will have 120-150g protein. I don't do this test every time I eat as it would get expensive, but I do test at least once a week, 8-12 times during the day, which gives a better look at what my blood glucose levels are doing than just checking after meals.

Very good. That's kind of what I was looking for. So you're saying:

*You get a spike with whey alone in excess of 45 grams.
*You get a spike with protein/high carbs.
*High protein/high fat is no problem for you.
*You're getting 350ish grams of protein per day spread out over four meals.

I'm looking forward to seeing more from you on this topic. Good info.

It won't let me rep you. I owe you some.

[bruteforce]

Originally Posted by big valsalva

Very good. That's kind of what I was looking for. So you're saying:

*You get a spike with whey alone in excess of 45 grams.
*You get a spike with protein/high carbs.
*High protein/high fat is no problem for you.
*You're getting 350ish grams of protein per day spread out over four meals.

I'm looking forward to seeing more from you on this topic. Good info.

It won't let me rep you. I owe you some.

Thats correct. One other thing I get a blood sugar spike from is lifting. Once I deplete my glycogen stores, my liver goes nuts producing glucose. I can reduce this effect by eating high fat during training. To this end, I usually bring 1/2 a cup of almonds or macadamias with me these days.

This leads into another area I may write on some time, but I live in a state of ketosis(not to be confused with ketoacidosis). It is completely safe for all organs as the brain is the only thing that requires glucose and the liver is quite able to produce enough for it. Everything else is capable of running on fatty acids.

Before I forget again, the urinary protein is always either negative or trace these days, even on my highest protein intake days. One easy way to tell you are losing protein into your urine is a large amount of foam in the toilet bowl after urination.

[big_swede]

Great writeup bf!

[ravimolasaria]

great article BruteForce ... very informative and helpful ...