Protein And Protein Supplementation: Dietary Source And Nature-Based Supplements

Protein intake requirement may differ for different individuals. Read on to know how proteins or protein supplements affect health.

Dietary supplements are food, food component, nutrients/phytonutrients or nutraceuticals consumed with daily diet to achieve a specific health and/or performance benefit (1). Protein supplements contain protein/amino acids, while others are vitamins, minerals, multivita-min/multimineral, prohormones, herbal derivatives, combination and non-categorical dietary (plant, animal, synthetic) substances (2,3), consumed as powders, liquids, capsules or tablets. Protein in right amount has diverse physiological functions in human from muscle growth, repair, satiety, weight management, muscle recovery, to reduce soreness; while proteins fortified with calcium and vitamin D help in bone health.

Protein vs Protein Supplements

However, some experts oppose the use of supplement in any form for healthy individuals forgetting the WHO 'definition of health'. In May 2024, the National Institute of Nutrition Hyderabad, a premier body of the Indian Council of Medical Research issued an advisory on protein requirement, discouraging the use of protein supplements, mainly due to added sugar/artificial sweetener/flavouring additives that harm the body in long-term. However, the advisory is contradictory as:

• All protein supplements do not contain additives
• It is uncertain that all consumers get sufficient amount of protein from their regular diet
• The food plants cultivated in nutrient-depleted soil in highly polluted atmosphere contain required amount of protein per gm of food
• The fertilizer, pesticides, preservatives in food may bind with the nutrients, while the cooking utensil and methods destroy some of the nutrients
• Moreover, the basis of reduced protein requirement (0.66gm/Kg body weight) by an individual is not evidence-based or explained.

Contributing Role of Protein Supplements

Another concern is the essential branched-chain amino acids (BCAA) leucine, isoleucine and valine in whey-based protein supplements, that help to prevent CVD, muscle loss, improve muscle function, and type-2 diabetes when used as a part of multi-target strategy (4). Although high level of BCAAs is a risk factor for chronic diseases, but protein containing moderate amount of BCAAs help in glycemic control and metabolic health (5).

Till date, most supplementation trials showed conflicting results, due to inconsistence, contradictory and biased design, blinding and randomization, error in methodology including population selection, sample size, dose, and consumption timing to minimize the variation in body clock, circadian rhythm (6), that regulate the gastrointestinal absorption and metabolism (7).

Moreover, the studies conducted so far lack robustness, use one-size-fits-all approach without considering individual physical and physiological differences including BMI and metabolism. Thus, most trials failed to record the contributing role of supplementation, even in deficient population (8, 9,10).

Protein in Indian Diets

Most Indians are unable to get enough proteins from their daily diet due to diverse factors.

• Firstly, proteins are costly than carbohydrates and fats; and most plant proteins are incomplete due to lack of one or more essential amino acids in a single plant (11), while animal proteins have more saturated fats and cholesterol (12).
• Secondly, agriculture, pisciculture and dairy industries heavily depend on fertilizers, pesticide, antibiotics, hormones and various chemicals (13); while most food plants are cultivated in nutrient and mineral depleted soil (14).
• Thirdly, most agricultural field lack 'farmers friends' earthworm and beneficial microbes (15) that nurture plants. Rampart and injudicious use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, since the time of the 'Green Revolution', not only eliminate the beneficial soil flora (16) but forced the farmers to return to 'organic cultivation' of pre-fertilizer era.
• Moreover, most food items are preserved with hazardous chemicals to increase self-life, artificially coloured and flavoured (17,18); while dairy animals and fishes are artificially feed, reared with antibiotics, hormones etc (17).
• Additionally, fruits, vegetables and foods transported from long distance are picked up before they mature/ripen, stored for long with depleted vitamins B and C (19,20).
• Furthermore, most Indian household do not consume varieties of fruits-vegetables and foods, use (i) more oils and saturated fats; (ii) inappropriate cooking utensils and (iii) unhealthy cooking method that destroy several nutrients of raw food (17,20,21).

Do Indians need Protein Supplements?

Today, people are consuming poisonous chemicals via food, air and water in the name of 'global food security'. A sensitive method, replacing the present inadequate food-safety practices, has been developed to identify levels of harmful chemicals in raw food with a high-tech imaging on a metal-coated membrane using surface-enhanced Raman-Spectroscopy that detect low level of pesticide contamination in fruits (22).

Moreover, the data on protein content of almost every Indian food are age-old, and protein percentage of modern foods, grown on chemical-loaded soil may lack sufficient protein. Thus, most Indians need extra dietary proteins via supplementation, regularly to prevent India to became "obese and diabetic capital".

Designer Proteins? What is This?

The award of 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry recognizes the importance of 'proteins' and its structures using artificial-intelligence, with potential of innovating designer proteins. Proteins are versatile macromolecules of living cells. A healthy body need continuous protein balance in correct amount, location and shape, to maintain cellular fitness and functions including growth, damage repair and removal of defective/incorrectly produced proteins. This essential macronutrient, also serve as a bodily component, and energy source for growth, development and day-to-day maintenance (23).

Benefits of Dietary Protein

Getting sufficient dietary protein not only prevent malnutrition or deficiency but help to achieve optimum health. Global Health Agencies agreed that recommended dietary allowance (RDA), serve as baseline to maintain regular bodily function, should be 0.80 g/kg body weight per day for adults (24), equals to 48-56 gm per day for a 60-70 Kg person, which is about 10-15% of daily energy expenditure (24,25).

Is Higher Protein Intake Healthy?

Global research revealed that consumption of higher amount of protein in diet is healthy, as it reduces the carbohydrate intake, boosts muscle mass, maintain healthy weight, and provide satiety (26), reduce weight without losing muscle tone (27,28), and reduce circulating triglycerides in blood (29). A growing body of evidence, especially in older adults, support health benefits of protein at or above current dietary intake recommendations.

These benefits include

• Increases in lean body mass (30,31,32,33,34),
• Increased leg power (33) or gait speed (32),
• And improved bone density (35,36,37).

What Studies Say

A meta-analysis of 24 clinical trials for 6-12 months period on healthy adults revealed that consumption of protein above RDA not only reduces body weight, and fat mass; but also prevent weight regain after weight-loss, and preserve fat-free mass in low-to standard-calorie diets without affecting bone density, and renal function (38,28), regulate appetite, and body composition of women with normal-weight obesity (39).

High protein diet (HPD) decrease appetite by reducing gut-derived appetite-stimulating hormones glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), cholecystokinin, and peptide tyrosine-tyrosine (PTT); while increases appetite-promoting ghrelin (40) with satiety signaling that reduce food intake; increased diet-induced thermogenesis, blood amino acid concentration, hepatic gluconeogenesis and ketogenesis.

Moreover, protein-induced thermogenesis, in turn, increases energy expenditure compared to carbohydrates and fats, and prevent fat-free mass reduction that maintain resting energy expenditure during weight loss (29,41).

High Protein Diet For Health

Thus, HPD is an effective and safe tool for healthy lifestyle including weight loss that prevent obesity, and obesity-related diseases, which require long-term clinical trials for years. Consumption of more protein in diet may help to manage

• Obesity
• Metabolic syndrome
• Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
• Type-2 diabetes
• And cardiovascular diseases (42).

Protein For Weight Loss

To resolve obesity, in particular, body needs a negative energy balance, i.e., energy intake must be less than energy expenditure via an energy-restricted diet or ERD (43), which in turn may increase hunger and decreases satiety with risk of post-loss weight regain. Moreover, weight loss through ERD reduces fat mass, while fat-free mass prevents negative energy balance.

Thus, lower energy intake can be solved by an energy-restricted HPD (44,26). However, high amino acid level in blood is reported to stimulate mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signalling in mice that increase atherosclerotic plaque formation, plaque complexity and ischaemia by increasing atherogenic lipids and inducing apoptosis (45,46). Human trial (47,48) with dietary protein, and analysis of plasma amino acid in monocyte/macrophages showed leucine can activate mTOR signalling (46).

Protein in excess of 25 gm/meal can induce mTOR activation, and using a specific healthy protein diet with leucine researchers observed that intake of protein in excess of 22% of dietary energy requirements lead to atherosclerosis in male mice, indicating adverse impact of excessive dietary protein on CVD risk (46). However, this research information needs robust validation via clinical studies to prove the vascular effects of protein-based weight loss regimes.

How Much Protein Is Too Much?

HPD intake provides diverse health benefits for many people, but not all. Consumption of 10% of daily calories from protein, can prevent deficiency; but 20-30% calories from dietary protein improve metabolism, weight loss, strength and muscle mass (29). Studies suggests that consuming >22% of daily calories from protein is more beneficial that support good health. Thus, an average weight healthy adult may consume 20-30 gm of protein per meal, or 60-90 gm per day. However, more clinical study in divided doses is essential, to understand the implications on nutritional supplements in preventing or minimizing chronic diseases (49), including the advertisement and marketing, with empirical research in proper clinical setting.

Things to Keep in Mind For Protein Supplements

Taking supplement is the personal choice, where following points may help to get the best:

• Check whether you are consuming a well-balanced protein-rich diet from regular food, by calculating the amount of protein in your food items
• Consult a qualified dietitian to determine your protein requirement, the type and dosage of protein
• Select a reputable brand that uses organically grown raw materials with stringent manufacturing ethics from seed-to-supplements without any added ingredients
• Consume in moderation or right amount as part of a balanced diet, as excess may lead to bloating and constipation.

Disclaimer: This article is for information purpose, not a professional medical advice. Please seek the advice of your doctor before using in any medical condition.

(This article is authored by Prof (Dr) Debprasad Chattopadhyay, Former Founder-Director, ICMR National Institute of Traditional Medicine, Belagavi, Biomedical Science Center, Kolkata)

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