Monthly Health Segment: How much protein do I need?

0:00Band-Dool is now available everywhere in the U.S. So you can get in on the sports action no matter where you are, including these places. May this year most rewarding season ever with Band-Dool. Agent location restrictions apply. Product availability varies by market. C-FanDool.com for eligibility, gambling problem called 1-800-Gemma. Let's check in. Potatoes, pasta, meatballs, ham, yogurt. I love yogurt. I need to eat 10,000 calories a day to maintain muscle mass. Alright, that was from the TV show Brooklyn 9.9, the Terry Crews character, a lot of protein intake. Probably a lot more than most people would need. But we are talking about protein and protein supply with our monthly health segment. Dr. Scott Lear joins us once again, professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University.

1:05Scott Lear, great to have you back on the show. Hey, Joe. It's great to be here. Let's talk about this because it does seem like every time you turn around these days, there's protein-rich diets. There are items with protein, more protein in them, that there seems to be this big push. So, is there a gauge or is there a scale? How do we know how much protein we actually need? Yeah, it's a good question because I would agree with you. Like, especially as a professor, I associate with my students are in their early 20s. And I see a big movement in that age group and even my son having protein supplements, like protein drinks. You see that at the gym a lot? People talk about how much protein they need to build their muscles and so forth. So, it's actually a sliding scale in terms of how much each individual needs and based on how old they are and what they do.

2:09Now, when we think of protein, most of us as Terry Creus's character said about building muscle, so it's used for a lot of different things as well. It's used to keep our cells structure going, hormones, immune system, basically every interaction or every action in our body involves proteins. Now, when it comes to how much is usually based on body weight and the minimum recommended guidelines are 0.8 grams per day per day. So, if you weigh 120 pounds, that's about 44 grams of protein. And in terms of like an egg has about 6 grams of protein, a half cup of edamame has 8, a cup of milk has 8. If you're having a lean meat, one ounce could be 10 to 15 grams of protein just to give you an indication there.

3:15So, in that sense, then if you're not really paying attention to it and looking at foods and the protein level, I would imagine it would actually be pretty easy to not get the amount of protein that's recommended. Well, on one hand, yes, but a lot of times some people may be actually in terms of food, maybe not so much protein, but sometimes people were ingesting maybe more calories than we need. But those protein guidelines there for the minimum person who's not active at all. And so, it's not a target, it's like a lower threshold. And a lot of experts in nutrition sciences focus on protein, particularly are saying these are way too low. And if you're active, it should be about 50 percent more than that, so about 1.2 grams per kilogram of body weight.

4:21And so for 165 pound person at the minimum of 0.8 grams, that's 60 grams. But if you're active, that same person should go up to about 100 grams because when you're active, you're working your muscles, you're breaking them down the rebuilding, and you need protein for that. I was curious about that. Right. So, if you're active, if you're exercising or you're a pretty active person, you need to be even more kind of tuned into that and making sure that you're getting getting what might seem like a lot, but that's what your body needs. Yeah, and the same would go for pregnant women, which makes sense there are building bodies developing inside them that they need protein for that help. Where it is, probably surprising for most people, because, you know, what age group, when I, people might think of when you say protein and muscle building, they might be thinking about people in their late teens or in their 20s,

5:28and they got to concentrate on the protein, but it's actually more important as we get older, and our protein needs increase, not because we're using the proteins, because our gut becomes less efficient with age and absorbing that protein. So, we just need to take in more. So, if you're somebody in your 60s and older, if you're not active, it would be about that same 1.2 grams recommended per kilogram per day, but an active 6-year-old needs more than an active 20-year-old. Interesting. And is there ever a chance, or is there any concern, can you have too much protein? Yes, you could have too much protein, and that would put a load on your kidneys, especially, could potentially stretch your kidneys. It would be rare. A lot of nutritionists and dietitians will, they, for the overwhelming majority of people, you can get your protein needs in whole foods. You don't need to have a protein shake.

6:40It can become more of a challenge, people get older and elderly, because things like appetite go down, your sense of taste actually becomes dull, so your desire to eat isn't enough, so that's where protein supplements may be needed. Because if a person's not getting enough protein, and again, this is for people in their 70s and 80s of age, that the body will start to take the protein from the muscle, and then that's when muscle mass goes down. So muscle mass tends to be highest around the person's age when they're 30, and that's where the average person, but if they're active and getting enough protein, they're not going to lose the same amount of muscle mass, somebody who isn't as active. So that's an important thing that I think a lot of people don't realize that with age our protein need actually goes up because we can't absorb it as well.

7:46Fandool is now available everywhere in the US. So you can get in on the sports action no matter where you are, including these places. May this year most rewarding season ever with Fandool. Age and location restrictions apply. Product availability varies by market. CFandool.com for eligibility. Gambling problem called 1-800-Gemma. Bonjour, Compadre, it's the... Why slide, Neko-Shigayder? How do I negotiate so many great travel deals? My greatest gadget. The priceline app, it's got hotel deals, flight deals, rental car deals, all of those deals in a bundle, deals, game day deals, concert trip deals, no one deals more deals than priceline. Older horses, there's more. The app lets you filter hotels by neighborhood, vibe, star level, and amenities like pools and spas and beach fronts. Wait, I'm not done. Stop cutting the ice slide! Yeah, that's an interesting point. Like because like you said, people might equate it more to teenagers or people in their 20s or 30s, maybe if you're really into going to the gym or working out.

8:55But that's really interesting looking at how it's still needed at different phases in life. You mentioned sources of protein as well. Are there some that are better than others because there would be people hearing this who are vegetarian or even vegan or maybe people who are pescatarian? Does it matter the source of the protein? It doesn't matter so much. If somebody is a vegan, then it would be complimenting different sources. But there are plenty of vegan fitness gurus, bodybuilders who have no problem maintaining their muscle mass. It's just with whether it's something like yogurt or meat or fish. It's just easier to get that protein intake then, let's say, for a vegan. But definitely there are a lot of things like a mentioned edamame, lentils, kidney beans, any type of beans, nuts, quinoa, tofu.

10:05These are all great soy milk. These are all great protein sources as well. One final question on this. Is it something that people should be monitoring and keeping track of how much protein knowing what food's there eating and how much protein there is? Is it important to do that? Because it sounds like even though your body does go through changes, whether it's breaking down your own muscles or reacting if you don't have enough protein, it sounds like you might not know if you're not getting enough. Yeah, it's... You might not know. I think there would be until people are getting into their seventh or eighth or ninth decade, it's probably not as important unless you're on a specific program where you're looking to build muscle. That could be for any reason. It doesn't have to be for being a bodybuilder. There are people who might just be very slight build and want to build up their muscle.

11:09As well. So you need that. If you're going into the gym or doing exercise, you need to maybe increase your protein intake. Another rule of thumb is that dietitians have suggested is aim for 30 grams or more protein per meal. So if you have three meals, that's 90 grams. And some things like are easy. Like if you are having Greek yogurt, it's really clear. Like if you're having any type of packaged food, it's going to be clear on the protein intake on that container. And then there are some, if you like, bread. There are some high protein breads. And once you, like most of us will eat, we might eat things differently from day to day, but over the course of a couple of weeks we're pretty much eating the same things repeated. So when you get knowledge of what you're eating, then you don't have to keep track of it mentally as much. So it's not as hard as it might sound.

12:18All right. Well, it's a good reminder on what the body needs when it comes to protein amounts. Scott Lear, we will leave it there for today. Great to talk with you. Thanks for taking the time again. All right. Thanks a lot, Joe. Bandool is now available everywhere in the US. So you can get in on the sports action no matter where you are, including these places. May this year, most rewarding season ever with fan rule, agent location restrictions apply product availability varies by market. See fan rule dot com for eligibility gambling problem called 1-800-Gemma.