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This web page was developed by Stephanie Bonadio.
It's easy to eat either too much or too little protein in our society. How much is enough? The National Academy of Sciences Food and Nutrition Board recommends we take in about 0.57 grams of protein for every kilogram of body weight. This translates into roughly 44 grams of protein for non-pregnant adult women and about 50 for adult men. How can one get 44 grams of protein? A bagel has 10 grams, a glass of milk has 8, a cup of plain yogurt has 8, and a fast food single patty hamburger with bun has about 12. Add in another 3 from a potato and 3 from a half-cup of granola and you have 44. So, it's easy to get enough without trying hard. But it's also easy to get too little. Compare 2 pieces of white bread (4.5 grams protein) with the 10 grams you get from a bagel. If you don't eat food rich in proteins, like meat and beans, then it is relatively easy to get insufficient protein. However, it is also easy to get too much protein. For instance, a triple burger with condiments has 50g of protein. 16 ounces of steak can have between 60 and 90 grams of protein by itself. Then add in the rolls, the veggies, and everything else. So, given the easy availability of either too much or too little protein in the foods we choose, people do need to become aware of what they are eating. The USDA Nutrient Diet Laboratory has an on-line program where you can look up the composition of foods. Check it out for that triple burger! The site is http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/cgi-bin/nut_search.pl For some recent studies on what young adults may need see: http://www.unu.edu/unupress/unupbooks/80295e/80295E05.htm which has details on recent studies of Chinese, Thai, and Columbian young adults (mainly young male adults) eating either vegetarian or vegetarian/mixed diets and an egg-protein based diet. Results of these indicate that 0.61 to 0.81 g/kg/day is adequate (for most people--the occasional person never went into nitrogen balance, possibly because of illness). The 97.5 % confidence interval gave upper limit of 1.18 and 0.89 g/kg/day. The National Academy of Science, Food and Nutrition Board is currently working on a project to define lower and upper limits for macronutrients, including protein, in the diet. A page describing this project is: http://www4.nas.edu/IOM/IOMHome.nsf/18ace18eb695f74c85256691007102f5/493057bc1b1c2c118525687a005442cc?OpenDocumentNational |
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The University of Arizona Last update Apr 10, 1999 schmidtz@u.arizona.edu willott@u.arizona.edu "http://research.biology.arizona.edu/mosquito/willott/323/project/eating/greateats.html" All contents copyright © 1998. All rights reserved. |