5 Protein Myths Your Doctor Is Still Repeating In The Exam Room

**Dr. Gabrielle Lyon** (0:00)
The words high protein on a label sells product. That doesn't mean they don't have to have anything, but there is no meaningful enforcement standard for what the front of the package is allowed to promise you. Essentially, they sell you a protein, but it's a low-quality protein and frankly does nothing for your muscle. So, I want to draw a hard line around who this applies to. You're going to know and understand the per meal protein amount with turning on muscle protein synthesis. You're going to be able to look at the back of any product, the front of any package, and know whether in about five seconds, whether it's going to do anything for your body in that dose.
Five protein myths that are still repeated in exam rooms. Myth number one, do not eat too much protein. It will wreck your kidneys. Let's look at what the evidence says.
Why most high-protein products are failing you. Now, there's a good chance that everything you ate today with the words, high protein on the front of the package, did almost nothing for your skeletal muscle. I swear I'm seeing proteinification everywhere of so many different food products, many of which are crackers, low-quality foods, and at the end of the day, I think the food industry figured something out about a decade ago. The words high protein on a label sells product. That doesn't mean they don't have to have anything, but there is no meaningful enforcement standard for what the front of the package is allowed to promise you. So what does that mean? It means that the back of the package, a company can put six to eight grams of low-quality protein when you pick up that label and it's incomplete protein into, say, a bar printed high protein across the wrapper. Essentially, they sell you a protein, but it's a low-quality protein and frankly does nothing for your muscle. Meanwhile, the research points towards a per meal threshold that most of these products don't come close to touching. What does that mean? That means the amount of protein per meal. Here is what you're going to walk away today with. You're going to know and understand the per meal protein amount that the literature associates with turning on muscle protein synthesis. Come on, Jimbrose, stay with me, ladies. You're not going to get bulky. Basically, you're going to be able to look at the back of any product, the front of any package, and know whether in about five seconds, whether it's going to do anything for your body in that dose. And you are going to know what a day of eating that genuinely builds and preserves muscle looks like. I'm going to be specific in grams and times, and we are going to have a party. But before I give you the number, I have to clear five things out of the way. There are five protein myths that are still repeated in exam rooms, still printed in patient education handouts. I know because I have them, and still taught in medical school training.
They're rough, and I want to be clear about something. First of all, the physicians repeating these are not careless, and they are not acting in bad faith. They are working from guidance that was in some cases set before most of the relevant research existed. The information is old, and frankly, we are still trying to catch up.
Myth number one, please die. My favorite myth, high protein destroys your kidneys. I guarantee if you are watching this video that you've heard this, and you've probably heard this more than once. You have heard, do not eat too much protein, it will wreck your kidneys. False. Let's look at what the evidence says.
A systematic review and a meta-analysis published in the Journal of Nutrition in 2018 pulled roughly 28 randomized control trials covering roughly 1,400 participants. It compared higher protein intakes against normal or lower protein intakes and looked at what happened to kidney function. The finding was that when you compare the change in glomerular filtration rate between groups, dietary protein had no effect. So now, why does your GFR run a little higher, which is your glomerular filtration rate, say that five times fast?
Well, it does, and that shows up in the data. But the interpretation the authors landed on, and the interpretation I find most defensible, is that it represents a normal adaptation within a functional kidney. It is a healthy kidney. So your kidney essentially is a filtration organ, and if you give it more substrate to filter, it filters more. That means the higher the protein, it improves your ability to filter. This is not an organ failing. So I want to draw a hard line around who this applies to. If you already have chronic kidney disease, particularly if your filtration rate is under 30, for example, obviously check with your physician, this is an entirely different conversation.