Lots of discussion in the papers today about a new study published in the journal Cell Metabolism that seems to suggest a high-protein diet could increase your chance of an early death. Here's a quick round up of the responses to the study:
Gunter Kuhnle, a food nutrition scientist at the University of Reading said “While this study raises some interesting perspectives on links between protein intake and mortality… It is wrong, and potentially even dangerous, to compare the effects of smoking with the effect of meat and cheese.” “Sending out statements such as this can damage the effectiveness of important public health messages,” he said. “The smoker thinks ‘why bother quitting smoking if my cheese and ham sandwich is just as bad for me?’”
Catherine Collins, principal dietician at St George’s Hospital in London, said that the study was not robust enough. It failed to adjust for the overall balance of a diet, for instance, meaning those with high protein diets might also have low intakes of fruit and vegetables. “We’ve been saying for a long time that meat shouldn’t be the main part of your plate, we shouldn’t be thinking of vegetables as a garnish,” she said.
Professor Tim Key, a Cancer Research UK epidemiologist said: “Further research is needed to establish any link between a high-protein diet and an increased risk of middle-aged people dying from cancer. There is strong evidence that the following can help reduce your risk of cancer: [stop] smoking, keep a healthy weight, drink less alcohol and stay active.”
It's important to note that despite the headlines the authors’ recommendations that protein should represent about 10 per cent of total calorie intake match NHS guidelines.
This latest health scare comes from an absurd "link-bait" article that combines data from a number of disparate sources. A number of controlled studies were done on mice that show longevity reduced when diets are high in protein. Yes, mice thrive on high carbohydrate, low fat, and low protein diets. Humans do not. Protein does stimulate IGF1 in both mice and humans, but it cannot be automatically deduced that protein is inherently unhealthy in humans. The human evidence for longevity and protein intake is based on observational studies and cannot be used to identify root cause.
I often worry about any study, claim or article that revolves around the basic notion that "too much of anything is probably bad for you."
As pointed out above, even if you are eating a lot of protein, it may be more relevant to take into account what is in the rest of your diet rather than just the fact of eating the protein.
Many, many years ago I recorded a very long (and dreadfully dull) tape about ulcers with two respected researchers whose names escape me now. In their report they very much lowered the effect of stress as a causation of ulcers. So I asked what about all those stressed out workers in the city who, somewhat famously, seemed to get an alarming number of ulcers between them.
"Have you seen what they eat and drink for lunch?" One of them asked.
It was an interesting lesson in looking at all factors and reporting on all factors rather than just taking one idea and ignoring the rest.
The consistently excellent NHS Behind the Headlines has looked at this study. Its conclusion?
"The claim in much of the media, that a high protein diet in middle-aged people is “as dangerous as smoking” is unsupported. We need to eat protein, we do not need to smoke."
And sadly, this is the problem behind why I managed to give up smoking ten years ago, but have such a fight with my weight - I didn't need to smoke, but I do need to eat.
Good piece from Max Pemberton in the Telegraph on this today:
"High-protein diets are as dangerous as smoking? A recent study never, in fact, made that claim, and its results raise more questions than they answer"
I thought people on the forum might be interested in the points he makes about spin, where he suspects it originated and why it's a problem:
"Nor, I note, does the study actually say that a high-protein diet is “as dangerous as smoking”. The smoking comparison emerged in the press release issued by the University of Southern California, the institution that conducted the research. I’d hazard a guess that it was generated by a canny PR, desperate for headlines. It is a ridiculous and statistically incorrect claim. There are very few things in the world that are as bad for you as smoking.
Indeed, the study itself puts the increased risk of death associated with a high-protein diet at 70 per cent, while smoking boosted the risk by 300 per cent.
Here we come to the nub of the problem. Universities are increasingly run like businesses and need to demonstrate they are producing newsworthy research in order to attract investment and grants.
Spin like this is dangerous. It undermines the scientific process, reducing it to a series of soundbites that cause panic and confusion. It does the scientific community a tremendous disservice and undoes much of the hard work that goes on to educate people about healthy eating."
This reflects something I wrote on here not long ago - misinformation does not always originate at Newpapers. Press releases can be very misleading, and even research scientists can be tempted to oversell their own research if they think the publishing contract will be bigger.
Just because you have an IQ above 150 does not mean that you are suddenly more responsible or less likely to be opportunistic!
As I understand it, the particular study where they made the comparison between smoking and eating red meat was based on a one-day questionnaire of what people were eating 18 years ago. Honestly, I have days where I eat loads of meat and days where I eat none, and my dietary habits have changed quite a bit in 18 years. I cannot see how anyone can draw any meaningful conclusions from a one-day snapshot of eating habits so long ago. It does not matter how good the food recording was for that one day - it still only a one-day record. Ridiculous!
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