4 Signs You’re Eating Too Much Protein, According to GI Docs

Right now, it seems like there’s a protein-ified version of every single food and drink out there—even (and especially) the ones that no one asked for. There’s protein pasta, protein yogurt, protein popcorn (shout-out to Khloe Kardashian), protein cookies, protein pancakes, and even—of all things—protein water (no, we’re not kidding). Doubt us? Take it from a doc: “Protein’s having its moment,” Lisa Ganjhu, DO, a gastroenterologist at NYU Langone Health, tells SELF. “It’s all over the internet.”

We admit, we’ve covered our fair share of high-protein products and recipes due to their relevance and popularity (protein yogurt and protein pancakes? Strongly recommend), but we want to add a disclaimer: Despite the hype, you probably don’t need nearly as much of the macro as influencers, celebrity endorsements, and online food trends would have you thinking. In fact, you’re probably getting more than enough already, according to the experts we spoke to for this story. “Contrary to the chatter on social media, the average American or Western diet contains adequate protein,” Amy Burkhart, MD, RD, a physician and registered dietitian who specializes in gut health, tells SELF. “People tend to eat a little bit more protein than what they probably should,” Dr. Ganjhu says. Even as far back as the early 2000s, the CDC found that US adults were overloading, and the problem has likely only intensified with time.

Of course, that’s not to bad-mouth protein or insinuate that it’s somehow less important than other nutrients. Quite the opposite: It’s a “basic building block for health,” Dr. Ganjhu says. As one of the three macros, it serves a ton of essential functions in your body, like building muscle, regulating blood sugar, and supplying energy for your day-to-day life. That said, more isn’t always better, Dr. Ganjhu warns—and overloading can actually have some negative side effects. Read on for four key signs your protein intake is too high.

How much protein is too much?

Your ideal protein intake depends on a number of factors, including your age, sex, body size, activity level, and overall health, so it can vary widely between people. You will also need to consider your specific fitness goals as you’re making this calculation, Dr. Ganjhu says. If you’re a bodybuilder, for example, “you’re going to need more protein than someone who’s not doing a lot of muscle mass building.”

If you’re wondering where you fall here, health authorities offer some solid general guidelines. Per the National Library of Medicine, protein should make up 10 to 35% of your total daily calorie needs, and various sources report the recommended daily allowance (RDA) for protein calls for a minimum of 0.36 grams per pound of body weight. Going by that standard, someone who weighs 140 pounds would need around 50 grams per day, while someone who weighs 200 pounds would need around 70 grams.

However, the recommended amount is higher for people who exercise regularly and for those over 60. Since protein is key to muscle recovery after intense physical activity, folks who make a habit of working out should shoot for 70 to 100 grams per day, Dr. Burkhart says. Meanwhile, elderly individuals lose muscle mass at a much higher rate than their younger counterparts, so, she adds, they may need as much as 80 to 140 grams.

So, with all these different factors at play, is there actually a cap on how much protein you should eat? Yes, actually. Per Dr. Burkhart, “most people would recommend not consuming more than two grams per kilogram per day” (or around 0.9 grams per pound)—the threshold for chronic high protein intake, according to the University of Missouri.

4 signs you might be overdoing it on protein.

“The average, regular, healthy person can tolerate protein pretty well,” Dr. Ganjhu says. That said, some people might experience negative side effects if their intake is too high (more than around one gram per pound).

What’s more, there are no real benefits to overloading on protein, either. Your body can only use so much at any one time, so once that limit has been reached, the leftover portion has no real positive outlet.

With all this in mind, you might notice a few telltale physical changes if you’re eating too much protein, including:

Bad breath

Hello, halitosis! Piling on the protein can cause your breath to stink, especially if you’re skimping on carbs at the same time. This is due to ketosis, a metabolic state that occurs when your body starts burning fat for energy due to insufficient glucose (a sugar derived from carbs), and the term from which the keto diet takes its name. In fact, ketosis-induced bad breath is so common it even has a nickname: “keto breath.”

Digestive issues

Forget nutrition experts: Your very own stomach might not be down with your high-protein diet. Protein “can be challenging to digest in high amounts,” Dr. Burkhart says, so you might, ahem, sense a certain disturbance down under. “You can have some diarrhea, some constipation,” Dr. Ganjhu says. (To make matters worse, that potential deficiency in carbs could compound your issues, since fiber, a carb, is key to bulking up stool and preventing constipation!)

Dehydration

Bear with us here, because we’re about to take a slight scientific turn to explain this one. When protein enters the body, it goes on to the liver to be broken down—a process that spawns various waste products, including a substance called urea. From there, that urea is transported to the kidneys (the body’s very own waste removal service), where it is filtered out of the blood and excreted from the body through urine. The more protein you eat, the more work the kidneys have to do to remove the urea (and, thus, the more you pee), so large amounts of protein can actually make you dehydrated, Dr. Burkhart says.

Weight gain

Despite protein’s close association with physical strength among workout enthusiasts, it doesn’t magically transform into muscle as soon as it enters your body. (Sorry to burst your bubble.) After all, “extra calories get converted to fat no matter the source,” Dr. Burkhart says—and since one gram of protein actually comes out to four calories, you might find yourself putting on pounds if you’re eating more than you can burn off. (Which, to be clear, is not necessarily a bad thing, but a side effect nonetheless!)

In addition to all of the above, both carb deprivation and dehydration can cause issues like headache, fatigue, and brain fog, which can effectively serve as secondary symptoms.

Does eating too much protein carry any major health risks?

“Not getting enough protein can be dangerous if it occurs over a prolonged period,” Dr Burkhart says, “but getting too much protein also carries consequences.” In severe cases, too much protein can even cause “a lot of health complications,” Dr. Ganjhu says. Here’s a few examples:

Osteoporosis

To neutralize acids released into the bloodstream by normal protein digestion, the body deploys calcium—the same mineral that figures so prominently in dairy products. But there’s a catch: That calcium is pulled from bone if necessary—meaning a high-protein diet can cause excessive calcium loss, depriving bone of structural integrity and leaving you more vulnerable to breaks.

Liver and kidney issues

Both your liver and kidneys are heavily involved in processing protein that passes through your body—as we explained above regarding dehydration—so a high-protein diet forces them into consistent overdrive. Taxed beyond their limits, they can start to exhibit impaired function over time. With the kidneys, for instance, “there’s an increased risk of gout, there’s an increased risk of kidney stones, things of that nature,” Dr. Ganjhu says. For this reason, people prone to kidney problems should avoid high-protein diets. (Conversely, people struggling with blood sugar issues like glucose intolerance, pre-diabetes, or full-blown diabetes actually tend to fare better on high-protein diets, since protein helps keep blood sugar in check, Dr. Ganjhu notes).

Cardiovascular disease

Significant amounts of protein (especially in the form of red meat and processed meat) can affect the cells that help keep our arteries clear of plaque—deposits consisting of fat, cholesterol, and other substances. Left long enough, the resulting plaque buildup can impede blood flow, preventing blood from reaching vital organs and tissues. In turn, this “increases the risk of heart attack and stroke,” Dr. Burkhart says.

Reduced gut bacterial diversity

Focusing too much on protein can inadvertently lead you to neglect other nutrients, resulting in a lopsided diet and constraining your gut microbiome (a.k.a. the collection of bacteria and other microbes that live in your digestive tract). Not only is low microbial diversity bad for your digestion, it can also “increase the risk of inflammation…and other negative health outcomes,” like cancer and mental health disorders, Dr. Burkhart says.

To be clear, these sorts of health issues are really only a concern in the long term, so following a high-protein diet for a brief period of time or jumping on a TikTok trend or two shouldn’t really put you in harm’s way (especially if you’re choosing lean protein sources). That said, this info does illustrate two important points: That shoveling in as much protein as possible isn’t actually the best nutritional choice for the vast majority of people, and that taking the high-protein hype online at face value may be giving it too much credit. “Most people think that if a little bit’s good, a lot’s better—so therein lies the problem,” Dr. Ganjhu says. 

 

 

 

 

This is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.   

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