The PROTEIN Post
Featuring real science
This is T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. He conducted the largest research study ever done on the relationship between diet and cancer, colloquially known as The China Study. He is one of the most respected and accomplished nutritional biochemists in the world. His alma mater is Cornell University, just over an hour from where I live. I took the Plant-Based Nutrition certificate course he created, offered today. He is an impeccably reliable source and one of my nutrition heroes.
In his research, Dr. Campbell found that in lab animals with BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations (“cancer” genes), the genes remained dormant as long as the diet included 5% of its calories from protein. The genes “turned on” and began producing cancer cells when the protein content of the diet was increased to 20% of total calories. They could even turn them on, then off again, by raising, then reducing the protein content at two-week intervals, as Dr. Campbell said, “like a light switch.” This research has been repeated multiple times.
There are countless studies linking animal fats and proteins with our leading causes of death in the western world: Heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and more. One wonders why, then, the USA RDA for protein is a minimum of 10% of total calories with an “upper limit” of 35% — well above the carcinogenic level.
In his recent book, The Future of Nutrition, Dr. Campbell tells us precisely why. Of the 5-man committee that made the 35% upper limit recommendation, 3 had financial ties to Big Dairy. There was no science they reviewed that suggested 35% was a healthy or even safe level. That upper limit was bought and paid for by Big Dairy.
How much protein do we need?
So what we want, ideally, according to Dr. Campbell, who’s done a whole lot of research on actual humans, is about 10% of our total calories to come from protein. This is in agreement with the US RDA’s minimum required amount per day, which has been 10% since long before the “upper limits” came in. (*Body builders might need slightly more.)
On a 2000-calorie diet, that means 200 of those calories should come from protein.
Protein has 4 calories per gram. Since it’s given in grams on food labels, you need to know that. The number of grams times 4 will give you the number of calories from your protein source.
200 calories of protein then, (200 divided by 4) is 50 grams.
So 10% of caloric intake on a 2000 calorie diet would be about 50 grams of protein per day.
You’ll find this calculation is always very close to the more widely known formula of .36 grams of dietary protein per pound of body weight. For me that comes out to 46.8 grams of protein per day.
46.8 grams based on body weight is pretty close to the the 50 gram number I came up with using Dr. Campbell’s figure of 10% of total calories.
All Vegetables Have Protein
I need t-shirts that say that, to wear everywhere I go for the rest of time. I need to hire a sky-writers to declare it in the clouds. I need a billboard on every block. All vegetables have all nine essential amino acids in varying amounts. If you eat a wide range of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, you’ll have complete protein.
Here’s a fun brain exercise to help us understand this better. A potato is slightly more than 10% protein, which is about what we want in our diets. Let me show you how to figure this our for yourself. First on the nutrition label find the calories and move the decimal point one place to the left. In the cast of a potato, as you can see below, there are 110 calories, or 110.0 to make that decimal visible. Just move the decimal one spot, 11.00 calories. 11 calories is 10% of the total, and that’s how much should ideally come from protein.
Calories in your average potato: 110
10% of the total calories from protein is our goal.
10% of 110 is 11.
So we need at least 11 of those 110 calories to come from protein.
Now let’s do the math. Let’s find the protein listed on this label.
Protein content in your average potato: 3 grams. (see label above)
3 grams times 4 calories per gram = 12 calories from protein.
Goal: 11 calories from protein
Actual: 12 calories from protein
That’s one more calorie of protein than we require from this particular food.
Granted, we would not get the full amounts of all the amino acids needed from a potato. But we will get plenty of all nine if we eat a wide range of veggies, whole grains, nuts, and seeds. And we’ll digest and absorb it better with the help of all its accompanying fiber. Animal based proteins don’t have any fiber at all.
Nobody who has access to fruits, veggies, and whole grains, (other than those with a medical condition that prevents protein consumption and/or absorption) should need any sort of protein shake or supplement.
Sadly, a lot of people do not have that access, but that’s a whole other topic we’ll cover in a future post.
Here’s Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D himself—13 minutes that might save your life.
In the above video you’ll hear Dr. Campbell hypothesize that the presence of the animal proteins in combination with the absence of the plant-foods that are being displaced when a higher percentage of calories come from animals, is what causes the chain reactions that lead to cancer. It’s the ratio of plants to meat/dairy/eggs, as well as the inherent properties of each of these energy sources.
The ‘complete protein’ plant foods
Quinoa (a whole grain,) tofu, tempeh, edamame, buckwheat, amaranth, Ezekiel bread (yes, really!) spirulina, hemp seeds, and nutritional yeast are considered “complete” proteins, because they have all nine “essential” amino acids in the amounts we humans require.
In addition, the following combinations of foods provide “complete” proteins when served together: Brown rice and beans, pita and hummus, and peanut butter on whole grain bread.
Interestingly, the animals we eat are all herbivores. So where are they getting their proteins?
They get them from plants.
Here’s the thing: All vegetables have all nine essential amino acids in varying amounts. Therefore, eating a well-balanced, whole food plant diet provides all the protein we need. (Mariotti and Gardner)
Protein Quality
There is a long tradition in nutrition of referring to animal proteins, but not plant proteins as “quality proteins,” because animal proteins (like the big list of plants above) have all nine of those essential amino acids in just the amounts we need.
However, there’s a movement among doctors and nutrition researchers to change the definition of a quality protein. It turns out that a child fed plant-based proteins and a child fed animal-based proteins will grow to their same, ultimate size. But the one raised on plants will reach that size more slowly, while the one fed meat and dairy will reach that size more quickly. (Katz et al.)
I remember reading the same research, though I can’t source it after all these years, pertaining to giant breed dogs. Giant dogs fed a lower protein diet grew slower, but reached the same pre-determined maximum size. They also had fewer joint issues and less cancer, than those fed a higher protein diet, who grew faster.
Growing slower is better for our health than growing quickly. Plant proteins are better at slow, healthy growth. Animal proteins promote rapid, less healthy growth.
Additionally, animal protein consumption is correlated with heart disease, hypertension, stroke, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, type 2 diabetes, obesity, atherosclerosis and more. Doctors today are even using a whole food, plant-based diet and other lifestyle changes (stress management, exercise, good sleep, and healthy relationships) to prevent, slow, or even stop progression of lupus, Alzheimer’s, and multiple sclerosis. (Ornish et al.)
Plants actually have the reverse effect on all the above. While animal products cause that list of problems (a list that includes all our leading causes of death and “chronic,” “age-related,” [coughbullshitcough] diseases,) plants prevent, and in some cases even reverse them.
So plants are actually the higher quality protein.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has published a paper on this titled, Perspective: The Public Health Case for Modernizing the Definition of Protein Quality in the journal Advances in Nutrition.
What happens if we eat too much protein?
One of the things hammered home in nutrition studies is that if we eat too much of anything, it is stored as fat. If eat eat too much fat, it’s stored as fat. If we eat more carbs than we can burn, some of them are stored as fat. If we eat more protein than our body needs, that, too, will be stored as fat.
The only humans who need more than 10% of their calories from protein, according to Dr. Campbell, are body builders. I have not yet learned how much more they need, but I’m on the lookout for that information from a source I trust.
[Sidebar: A great documentary on plant-based athletes is The Game Changers. It’s on Netflix and can be found elsewhere and probably online.]
In addition to being stored as fat, animal proteins cause an abundance of inflammation in the body, and negatively impact our gut microbiome—that’s all the bacteria living in our guts. (Michael Greger MD FACLM, Volume 58)
This community of critters is so important that fecal transplant, and even poop-filled capsules (purified, of course) are being used to treat C. Diff, a nightmarishly contagious bacteria, successfully. Fecal transplants have also been shown to improve depression and colitis caused by treatments for other diseases. Anecdotal evidence suggests a wide range of ailments might also be improved. Research is ongoing.
What about plant-proteins?
While we don’t need to pound plant proteins or “add beans to everything” as lots of new converts feel they must, it’s good to know that higher levels of plant proteins do not seem to have the same negative health impacts as excess animal proteins do. We don’t yet know for sure why, we just know it’s so. There’s some evidence it’s related to the fiber that comes with the plant proteins.
So if you are feeling like you have to add beans to everything, it’s not going to give you cancer, auto-immune diseases, heart disease, or any of that. However, excess protein will still have to be stored, and what you can’t use or store in muscle, will be stored as fat.
Here’s a list of plant foods that are high in protein
All the beans (black, kidney, pinto, navy, lentils, cannellini, garbanzo (chickpeas,) black-eyed peas) (the vegetable, not the band.) etc.
All the peas (green peas, split peas, yellow peas)
All the whole grains (quinoa, brown rice, wild rice, buckwheat, millet, oats, cornmeal, sorghum, barley, farrow, couscous, buckwheat, amaranth)
All the nuts (almonds, walnuts, peanuts, cashews, Brazil nuts) *Nuts are high in fat. Eat in moderation.
All the seeds (pumpkin, sesame, chia, flax, sunflower, safflower, hemp) *Seeds can be high in fat. Eat in moderation.
All the green leafies (kale, mustard greens, turnip greens, Swiss chard, spinach, arugula)
All the cruciferous veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, Brussels sprouts, bok choy)
Lightly processed foods: tofu, tempeh, Ezekiel bread, nutritional yeast
Quick Reference
Our protein goal is 10% of our total calories from protein.
1 gram of protein = 4 calories
PRO-TIP
It’s the RATIO of protein to total calories.
We only don’t get enough protein when we eat empty calories.
Sugar, for example, increases our total calories without increasing our protein, bringing our total down below the 10% we seek.
It’s the percentage of the total calories. So if we don’t feel we're getting enough protein, looking at what foods to add is only half the solution. We must also look at what is adding protein-free calories to our total and ease back a little bit on that. And it’s generally going to be sugar or things containing sugar.
For me it’s Enjoy Life brand dairy-free chocolate chips, and well I know it. They are, however, aptly named.
Sources
Disla, Nelson, and T. Colin Campbell. The Future of Nutrition. BenBella Books, Inc, 2020.
Katz DL, Doughty KN, Geagan K, Jenkins DA, Gardner CD. Perspective: The Public Health Case for Modernizing the Definition of Protein Quality. Adv Nutr. 2019 Sep 1;10(5):755-764. doi: 10.1093/advances/nmz023. PMID: 31066877; PMCID: PMC6743844.
“Less Protein, More Plants - Dr. T. Colin Campbell.” YouTube, YouTube, 23 Dec. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlSRX6LWN-o.
Mariotti F, Gardner CD. Dietary Protein and Amino Acids in Vegetarian Diets-A Review. Nutrients. 2019 Nov 4;11(11):2661. doi: 10.3390/nu11112661. PMID: 31690027; PMCID: PMC6893534.
Michael Greger M. D. FACLM, Volume 58 · ·. “How to Cultivate a Healthy Gut Microbiome with Food | NutritionFacts.org.” Nutritionfacts.org, 8 Aug. 2022, nutritionfacts.org/video/how-to-cultivate-a-healthy-gut-microbiome-with-food/. Accessed 8 Feb. 2024.
In my other life, I’m a best-selling novelist. This is my latest thriller.
