People 50- to 65-years old who consumed a high-protein diet, defined as consuming 20% or more of calories from protein, were 1.73 times more likely to die over the next 18 years than people who consumed a low-protein diet, defined as consuming less than 10% of calories from protein, according to a study from researchers at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California, USA.

“None of these associations was significantly affected by controlling for percent calories from total fat or for percent calories from total carbohydrates,” the paper notes.

“However, when the percent calories from animal protein was controlled for, the association between total protein and all-cause or cancer mortality was eliminated or significantly reduced, respectively, suggesting animal proteins are responsible for a significant portion of these relationships.”

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People 50- to 65-years old who consumed a moderate-protein diet, defined as consuming 10-19% or more of calories from protein, were 3.1 times more likely to die from cancer over the next 18 years than people who consumed a low-protein diet, defined as consuming less than 10% of calories from protein, according to a study from researchers at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California, USA.

“None of these associations was significantly affected by controlling for percent calories from total fat or for percent calories from total carbohydrates,” the paper notes.

“However, when the percent calories from animal protein was controlled for, the association between total protein and all-cause or cancer mortality was eliminated or significantly reduced, respectively, suggesting animal proteins are responsible for a significant portion of these relationships.”

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People 50- to 65-years old who consumed a high-protein diet, defined as consuming 20% or more of calories from protein, were 4.3 times more likely to die from cancer over the next 18 years than people who consumed a low-protein diet, defined as consuming less than 10% of calories from protein, according to a study from researchers at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California, USA.

“None of these associations was significantly affected by controlling for percent calories from total fat or for percent calories from total carbohydrates,” the paper notes.

“However, when the percent calories from animal protein was controlled for, the association between total protein and all-cause or cancer mortality was eliminated or significantly reduced, respectively, suggesting animal proteins are responsible for a significant portion of these relationships.”

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People 66-years and older who consumed a high-protein diet, defined as consuming 20% or more of calories from protein, were 28% less likely to die over the next 18 years than people who consumed a low-protein diet, defined as consuming less than 10% of calories from protein, according to a study from researchers at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California, USA.

“[T]his was not affected by percent calories from fat, from carbohydrates, or from animal protein,” the paper notes.

In other words, a high-protein diet INCREASED the risk of dying prematurely in people 50-65 years-old, but REDUCED the risk of dying prematurely in those 66-years-old and older.

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People 66-years and older who consumed a moderate-protein diet, defined as consuming 10-19% or more of calories from protein, were 21% less likely to die over the next 18 years than people who consumed a low-protein diet, defined as consuming less than 10% of calories from protein, according to a study from researchers at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California, USA.

“[T]his was not affected by percent calories from fat, from carbohydrates, or from animal protein,” the paper notes.

In other words, a moderate- to high-protein diet INCREASED the risk of dying prematurely in people 50-65 years-old, but REDUCED the risk of dying prematurely in those 66-years-old and older.

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People 66-years and older who consumed a high-protein diet, defined as consuming 20% or more of calories from protein, were 60% less likely to die from cancer over the next 18 years than people who consumed a low-protein diet, defined as consuming less than 10% of calories from protein, according to a study from researchers at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California, USA.

In other words, a moderate- to high-protein diet INCREASED the risk of dying prematurely from cancer in people 50-65 years-old, but REDUCED the risk of dying prematurely from cancer in those 66-years-old and older.

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People assigned to eat diets with a different composition of protein (15% vs 25%), fat (20% vs 40%) and carbohydrates (35% to 65%), but the same number of calories, lost the same amount of weight and same amount of fat according to a recent study from researchers at Harvard University. The average weight loss was 13.9 lbs after six months which was similar in all the diet groups, with 9.2 lbs coming from body fat, and 4.6 lbs coming from lean body mass (muscle) "with no differences between 25% and 15% protein, 40% and 20% fat, or 65% and 35% carbohydrate." Read the entire article | Email this article

Here is a 7-minute video of obesity researcher, George Bray, MD, talking about the results of their new study in which they overfed subjects roughly an extra 1,000 calories per day of either a low-protein diet (5% protein), a normal-protein diet (15% protein), or a high-protein diet (25% protein), and the effect that this had on body weight and body fat.

All groups gained weight. The normal- and high-protein groups gained the most weight (13-14 lbs vs 7 lbs for the low-protein group), and all groups gained roughly the same amount of body fat.

In other words, overeating caused weight gain regardless of weather they were overeating a high-protein diet or a low-protein diet.

Even though the low-protein group gained weight, they lost a small amount of lean body mass (muscle).

Dr. Bray notes that this shows that not eating enough protein -- a diet containing only 5% protein -- will not prevent loss of lean body mass. He notes that this finding was unexpected.

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When people were overfed 40% more calories than necessary with a low-protein diet containing only 5% protein, they gained an average of 7.1 pounds after two months according to a new study from researchers at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana USA.

This compares to a weight gain of 13.3 lbs on a 15% normal-protein diet, and a weight gain of 13.5 lbs on a 25% high-protein diet. Read the entire article | Email this article

When people were overfed 40% more calories than necessary with a high-protein diet containing 25% protein, they gained an average of 13.5 pounds after two months according to a new study from researchers at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana USA.

This compares to a weight gain of 7.1 lbs on a 5% low-protein diet, and a weight gain of 13.3 lbs on a 15% medium-protein diet. Read the entire article | Email this article

When people were overfed 40% more calories than necessary with a medium-protein diet containing 15% protein, they gained an average of 13.3 pounds after two months according to a new study from researchers at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana USA.

This compares to a weight gain of 7.1 lbs on a 5% low-protein diet, and a weight gain of 13.5 lbs on a 25% high-protein diet. Read the entire article | Email this article

Men and women eating raw foods and avoiding animal products and processed foods weighed 35-37 pounds less than those eating a typical Western diet according to a study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Read the entire article | Email this article