Benefits of a Vegetarian Diet: Plant Protein vs. Animal Protein?

So, I have started workingout 4-5 times a week and I am eating a balanced low fat, high fiber diet. However, I am concerned with eating too much protein. The main reason is that I have a history of diabetes in my family and temporarily showed some early signs. My healthy eating has lowered that, but I am still worried about my kidney processing the protein. I know that some of the tests showed that there might be a kidney issues in my future if I eat too much protein.

So I was wondering if Plant protein is better for kidneys than animal protein. Thank you

Amir

1. If your diet is 'low-fat' it is not 'balanced'.  Fat is good for you.

2. How much protein are you eating that you think you're going to damage your kidneys? if you're under 2.5 gram of protein per pound of body-weight you have nothing to worry about (even if you eat more than that you still probably don't have anything to worry about).  Eating a lot of protein makes your kidney's work hard, but that doesn't mean it's bad for your kidneys (running makes your heart work hard and thinking makes your brain work hard, are running and thinking bad for your heart and brain?)

Hi floggingsully,

Thank you for the response. The thing is that having diabetes can lead to kidney failure. I am controlling all that, but I also want to know if eating plant protein is better than eating animal protein as long as I make sure that I get all the necessary proteins my body requires. Thanks again

P.S. As far as fat, I understand that there are good fats like fish oil, peanut fat, etc and I am basically staying away from saturated fats and limiting the others to min requirements.

Amir

No, it doesn't matter.

And keep in mind that protein intake doesn't affect kidney functioning in already healthy people.  Only in people with already compromised kidney function could it 'possibly' be a problem.

Diabetes leads to kidney failure through a means that has nothing to do with your protein intake.  It is high blood pressure and blood sugar in the diabetic that leads to kidney failure.  Protein consumption is really only a problem if you make it more than 50% percent or more of your total calorie intake.  You have to be on some kind of special diet to do that. 

Animal protein is actually better than plant protein because it is more likely to have the ideal proportion of amino acids in it.  If you go strictly vegan, you have to be very careful to get the proper amino acids because it takes some knowlege to do it right.  For example, soy is one of the few complete plant proteins.  Beans are lacking essential amino acids and should be combined with corn or something else to make up the difference.

The thing the most likely to affect your kidney function is alcohol intake.  I have had kidney problems all my life, and have had a transplant and a reimplant where they attempted to fix the transplant and was told to eat a well balanced diet, including good amounts of protein and fat.  teh biggest thing that will help you is to eat clean.

I suggest you start doing some research on this topic, or post this up on the vegetarian board. I became a vegetarian after read The China Study, and Diet for a New America. Both books strongly argue that the reason why Americans are dying from heart disease, diabetes and cancer is strongly linked to animal protein. You can't overdo vegetable protein, but you can easily OD on animal protein. Diabetes is incredibly frightening and I would do absolutely everything I could if I found out I was prediabetic. Also I am vegan many days of the week, and even then I get more then the adequate amount of protein for my weight. Women can easily live on 35 grams of protein according to many doctors. Omnivores find it offensive when I say that meat is probably killing us.

The pop science book "The China study" is a frightening study in science misinformation gone wrong - it's based on 68 aggregated data points* as reported by Chinese government data collectors and filtered through a PETA-sponsored Vegan viewpoint, and the end result is an almost complete fabrication when compared to what actual meaningful data can be extracted from the actual ecological study data released by Cornell.

 There was supposed to be a China Study II to address a lot of these design flaws and criticisms, and the results were due out in 2001.

 There hasn't been anything released from the study group and they're now 7 years late presenting the data. You'd think that if their new study supported their own conclusions from the first one that they'd be proud to display their results. The only thing they've done is present some preliminary data on a conference in 2000/2001 and promise that more data would be published in the future.

 Well, we're now in the far future - if they had anything to back up the BS junk science from the pop science book they'd have released it by now. That they haven't tells me that the results they're sitting on is an embarrassment to them because their own data contradicts what they want it to show.

 In summary, the pop-science book "China Study" is PETA-sponsored vegan propaganda and bears no relationship to actual science.

 And your ideas about protein are frighteningly inaccurate - 35g of protein a day will lead to protein malnourishment for most adults and is a downright lethal recommendation. At a stark minimum for survival you need 0.8g/kg bodyweight - if you are a completely sedentary individual who do no exercise whatsoever.

 For active individuals, the figure is higher, up to 1.6-1.8 grams of protein per kilo of bodyweight according to the  Journal of American College of Nutrition. The RDA is only valid for you if your only exercise is walking to the car, and the heaviest weight you lift is a box of Krispy Kreme donuts.

 *They claim thousands. But because of the way the data was aggregated there's no access to the actual raw data - the Chinese government workers did the interviews, sample collections and lab data on-site, and sent in the aggregated results per village. Which means that there's only one data point per village available, based on the averages of the research done on-site, not thousands based on having the individual data collected. When you know that Chinese government workers who do statistical reporting have a habit of just sending in the reports that Beijing wants to hear instead of what they've actually found... well, I wouldn't trust those data points either - especially given how they conflict with the data from Taiwan in the same study.

Thank you so much everyone. You all have great points and I will use most of them.

 

Best Wishes to all,

Amir

Original Post by inkblue:

I suggest you start doing some research on this topic, or post this up on the vegetarian board. I became a vegetarian after read The China Study, and Diet for a New America. Both books strongly argue that the reason why Americans are dying from heart disease, diabetes and cancer is strongly linked to animal protein. You can't overdo vegetable protein, but you can easily OD on animal protein. Diabetes is incredibly frightening and I would do absolutely everything I could if I found out I was prediabetic. Also I am vegan many days of the week, and even then I get more then the adequate amount of protein for my weight. Women can easily live on 35 grams of protein according to many doctors. Omnivores find it offensive when I say that meat is probably killing us.

And if you read about the history of that study, you would know that the samples and results are flawed.  It has received a lot of criticism in just about every arena except vegetarian groups, just like the Skinny Bitch series.

35 grams of protein is ridiculous and isn't enough to keep your muscles in maintenance.

While I don't find it offensive that to say that meat is 'killing us', I would say that you are putting a lot of emphasis on extremely biased studies and ignoring a lot of other research to make your conclusions.  And this is coming from someone who isn't a fan of having a lot of meat.

Hi Amir,

Here's an informative article published by Harvard:

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/w hat-should-you-eat/protein-full-story/index.h tml

Basically it goes over how while protein effects the body the same; processed the same, not all proteins are "complete". But in regards to your concerns for kidney processing proteins as far as I know the kidneys only produce ketones thereby making processing the protein harder when carbohydrates are dramatically reduced or eliminated from the diet. I believe as long as you balance out your diet well you shouldn't have too much of a prob with developing ketones. Although if you are already developing symtoms maybe check with your nutritionist...

-Mel

Not only is it a healthier way to eat but I like knowing that something didn't die just so I can eat

There is some wrong information here. You write that if she eats under 2.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day she will be fine. That is an extremely high figure for daily protein. The government RDA is only .8 grams per kilogram of weight or about .365 grams per pound of body weight. So if she weighs 130, she needs 130 x .365 = 47.45 grams of protein per day.

You also wrote that it doesn’t matter what type of fat and fat is good for you. That is not true either. Trans-fats and saturated fat are very bad for the heart and too much fat does cause obesity and heart disease among numerous other diseases.

As for too much protein and the kidneys, you write that sure it makes the kidneys work hard and that’s fine. No it isn’t fine. And it has been proven true that too much animal protein in the diet causes excessive calcium loss from the bones through the kidneys. So a diet high in animal protein is a cause of osteoporosis and ironically milk can also cause the loss of calcium.

I realize this is not related to the plant/animal protein question, but I would encourage you to do a little more research on eating more fat with your meals - maybe look into a mediterranean-style diet. My understanding is that eating fat with your meals (it's fine to stick with nuts, olive oil, avocado, etc.) helps to moderate the insulin response & keep your blood sugar under control, which is especially important for someone concerned about diabetes.

Since a diabetic, or prediabetic, needs to limit carbs, and you are concerned about protein (I do not have the knowledge to tell you if this is a valid concern), it seems that healthy fats would be an excellent place to get many of your calories from, especially since fats do not affect/barely affect blood sugar.

Ignore the China Study if you want; the Seventh-Day Adventist studies still get you to pretty much the same conclusions.

I know next to nothing about diabetes, so I can't really help you with your primary concern.  I can tell you that it's hard to be unhealthy on a diet full of vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, and whole grains.  Ignore this "complete protein" crap, by the way; that's been debunked at least a gazillion times.  Eat a healthy, varied diet and as long as you eat enough calories, you'll get enough protein.  Protein deficiency is unheard of in the developed world.

I dont think that complete protein is crap, it just isnt something vegetarians should worry about or let it ruin their vegetarian diet. If any vegetarian is concerned they arent getting enough protein, they can alway buy a protein powder and make a great protein smoothie with bananas and strawberries and orange juice. The protein powders are made of soy, whey or hemp. And contain anywhere from 14 to about 21 grams of protein.

Too much fat is bad, too many calories from fat is bad. But the mediterranean diet is good since olive oil is good to use to saute vegetables to salad dressings.

If you are really worried about getting type II diabetes, the main thing you need to do is keep your weight right. Your BMI right. I believe the number one reason for people (teens and adults) getting type 2 diabetes is being overweight and obese. Watching your weight goes along with eating a healthy diet. That should go a long way in preventing getting diabetes.

The RDA requirements for protein intake is 50 grams a day. That's the same people that invented that really screwy food pyramid that we use, that's heavily influenced by agricultural business.

I'm really not sure why people think the China study is false. I have heard many cardiologist say the exact same thing, Dr Dean Ornish has been saying eat a vegan diet for years. 20 years ago China didn't have any heart disease, cancer or diabetes because they ate a plant based diet and rode their bicycles everywhere. These are all lifestyle illnesses. 

Please spend some time watching this excellent video by Mark Bittman, the food writer. He says we need at most half a pound of a meat a week, and we don't need animal products at all. Sadly many eat that in a day.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/mark_bittma n_on_what_s_wrong_with_what_we_eat.html 

Dean Ornish and John McDougall books are very good. Obesity is what is causing the majority of diseases. As far as Asia, both China and Thailand are seeing dramatic rises in children who are becoming obese. With obesity in children now, everywhere there is a rise in type II diabetes in children. Where fast food goes, obesity isnt far behind.

1/2 pound of meat, some eat that before they even get to dinner. (2 quarter pounders...with cheese.)

Here is an interesting article that talks about the start to the fast rise in obesity just 30 years ago.

http://factoidz.com/how-obesity-became-an-epi demic/