Kayla Christy Instructor: Malcolm Campbell English (1102) 27 March 2014 High Protein Diets An average person eats

2,500 calories, 83 grams of fat, 60 grams of protein, 25 grams of fiber and wide assortment of vitamins and minerals a day. In a year, you would consume 602 pounds of sugar, 133 pounds of vegetable oil, 96 pounds of protein, and 40 pounds of fiber (Chacha.com). Due to how much we consume, food and nutrition is very important to any human being. No matter the age or gender, food always has the same importance. The importance of daily nutrition is increasing throughout todays society because of the numerous health risks we are discovering from food daily. The need for nutrition has increased so significantly because of various reasons, such as the obese rate, the chance of disease, or even the pressure of physical appearance within our society for example. This has led many people to cut certain foods out of their diet or trying one of the various dieting programs. Not everyone is dieting though, which is why our obesity rate is excessively rising every day. The United States of America has an obesity rate of 34.9%, over one-third of the population. As you can see, dieting has a much larger audience then you would expect, from dieters, nutritionists, body-builders, and athletes to psychologists, overweight humans, and people with diseases. This topic can affect anyone who consumes food, which is every single person out of our worlds population of 7,155,636,689 (Census.gov). Some say high protein diets are the best type of diet out there, while others say it could lead to health risks in the future. Dieting is, based off of information found on Dictionary.com,

"food and drink considered in terms of its qualities, composition, and its effects on health; a particular selection of food, especially as designed or prescribed to improve a person's physical condition or to prevent or treat a disease; such a selection or a limitation on the amount a person eats for reducing weight; the foods eaten, as by a particular person or group; food or feed habitually eaten or provided." (Dictionary.com) . A diet which has recently become popular is the high protein diet. A high-protein diet is a diet with a consumption of atleast 35%-50% protein. Praised by many, but what kind of effects do high protein diets have on your body? Differents sources say high-protein diets may have long term effects, such as kidney disease, kidney failure, high cholesterol, osteoporosis, kidney stones, or even cancer. While other sites may praise the short terms effects, such as rapid weight loss, less hunger, and excessive thirst. Many people eat an abundance of protein because it is infamous for slimming your waistline very quick. According to the McKinley Health Center at the University of Illinois, protein is one of the three macronutrients that your body needs for growth, tissue repair, immune function, and energy. The other two macronutrients your body needs are carbohydrates and fats, which both have unique functions for themselves. Macro means you need these nutrients in large amounts. Along with macronutrients, our bodies need water and micronutrients, such as minerals and vitamins. Inside the Womens Health Magazine article, writer Selene Yeager states how high-protein foods positively affect us by taking longer to digest, metabolize, and use, which means your body burns more calories in order to process them through the digestive tract. Proteins cause you to feel full sooner and for a longer period of time, because the stomach takes longer to break down the proteins (Yeager). Although proteins may have more calories, you will not be eating as much, so it evens out. There have been many experiments, tests, and studies done to show the positive effects of high protein diets such as the one below

'A Johns Hopkins University study found that a diet in which roughly a quarter of the calories (about 60 percent more than the

recommended 10 to 15 percent) come from lean protein sources reduced blood pressure, LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels, and triglycerides better than a traditional higher-carb diet. Other

research finds that diets rich in protein can help prevent obesity, osteoporosis, and diabetes' (Womens Health Magazine).

There are many different types of high protein diets out there today, such as the Caveman Diet, the Adkins Diet, the South Beach Diet, the Zone Diet, the Stillman Diet, and the Paleo Diet. All of these diets are considered high protein diets, because the suggested protein intake is a large quantity of protein-rich foods. The daily recommended protein intake on a normal, balanced diet is ten to thirty-five percent according to the Institute of Medicine's Dietary Reference Intake. Adult women need, on average, 46 grams of protein a day, while adult men need about 56 grams (WebMD). Many high protein diets are also paired with low carbohydrates. This usually occurs because when you consume low amount of carbohydrates and high amount of proteins it results in weight loss. When people eat lots of protein but few carbohydrates, such as in high-protein diets, their metabolisms change into a state called ketosis, which means the body converts from burning carbs for fuel to burning its own fat. Ketosis tends to suppress appetite, causing people to eat less, and it also increases the body's elimination of fluids through urine, resulting in a loss of water weight (WebMD). These types of diets are not always as good as they seem though. By increasing your protein intake, you put yourself at risk for not getting other necessary nutrients, such as fiber or glucose, that come from other foods that are not high in protein. You also have to consider in these diets whether you are eating incomplete or complete proteins. Complete proteins carry all the nutrients you need, while incomplete proteins

only carry a few. Foods, such as animal meat or animal products like eggs, are usually complete proteins, while foods, such as plants, are usually incomplete proteins. This doesnt just affect people who are on diets, but also vegetarians who dont eat meat (Yeager). Vegetarians are able to form complete proteins to eat, by combining two incomplete proteins together. Although high protein diets have not been publicly announced to have negative effects on you, they are beginning to do research to show what kind of things can be a result, as shown in the experiment done at the University of Granada. An experiment done in rats by scientists at the University of Granada, Spain, shows a high-protein diet increases the chance of developing kidney stones and other renal diseases (University of Granada). There are results that also show that high protein diets may lead to a higher chance of kidney disease. There is another experiment I found that was done on rats during mating, pregnancy, and lactation, while they were on a high protein diet. From this experiment, a high protein diet affected the children in a negative way, causing them to have a higher mortality rate than children with a mother on a normal diet (University of Granada). While there are these experiments shown for the negative effects, there are also ones done to show what the diets do to help. Such as the experiment done by the scientists at Aberdeen's Rowett Research Institute that show how a high protein, low carbohydrate diet is most effective at reducing hunger and promoting weight loss, at least in the short term (Zelman). The main point in my research that I have learned is you need to focus either on the long term effects, such as kidney disease, kidney failure, high cholesterol, osteoporosis, kidney stones, or even cancer, or the short terms effects, such as rapid weight loss, less hunger, and excessive thirst. Whichever way you think is how you will determine which side you are on. For me, I believe I will stick in between the two with a balanced diet, so I can stay happy and healthy.

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and Fat - University of Illinois. The Board of Trustees of Web. 26 Mar. 2014.

the University of Illinois, 4 Feb. 2014.

"Population Clock." Population Clock. United States Census Bureau, n.d. Web. 23 Mar. 2014. University of Granada. "High-protein diets, like the popular Dr. Dukan diet, increase the risk of developing kidney disease in rats, study suggests." ScienceDaily. January 2014. Walther, Thomas, Nils Dietrich, Martina Langhammer, Marzena Kucia, Harald Hammon, Renne, Wolf-Eberhard Siems, and Cornelia C. Metges. "Abstract." National Ulla Center for ScienceDaily, 21

Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 09 Mar. 2011. Web. 27 Mar. 2014. Yeager, Selene. "PROTEIN WEIGHT LOSS." Womenshealthmag.com. Rodale Inc., 2 Web. 26 Mar. 2014. Zelman, Kathleen, MPH, RD, LD. "Do High Protein Diets Cause Weight Loss?" Do High Diets Cause Weight Loss? United HealthCare Services, Inc., n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2014. Protein Sept. 2010.