No, We Don’t All Eat “too Much” Protein.

Let me rant a bit—I promise it’ll be interesting and to the point—but I’m sick of the articles that pop up every few months claiming we’re all eating “too much” protein. They misrepresent how the body uses protein and demonize perfectly healthy foods that are, in fact, rich in protein. It’s time to set the record straight.

It’s true that most of us consume more than the recommended daily intake of protein, but that’s a good thing—the recommended daily intake is a minimum. True, high-protein foods are trending right now , and overall, they’re not always a great nutritional choice. It’s also true that you can eat a healthy diet with minimal or no meat, but meat isn’t synonymous with protein. Let’s review what we know about the role of protein in a healthy diet and how to tell if you’re eating too much or too little.

What foods contain protein?

Let’s remember that protein is one of the three calorie-dense macronutrients (fats, carbohydrates, and protein) that make up most of the food we consume. Proteins are made up of amino acids, which are essential for the growth, repair, and functioning of our bodies.

Protein can be obtained from a variety of sources. Meat is particularly rich in protein; a chicken breast contains about 35 grams of protein. Other animal products, such as milk and eggs, are also rich in protein. Plant foods tend to be lower in protein than animal products, but it’s easy to meet or exceed protein requirements even on a vegan diet. For example, legumes, grains, and soy products like tofu contain significant amounts of protein.

If you need a cheat sheet on how much protein you should consume based on your activity level, you can find it here . And this is a good place to start debunking the “too much protein” myth, because before we can declare any amount of protein “too much,” we need to understand how much is “enough.”

The Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) should be considered a minimum.

The government sets targets for various nutrients to encourage us all to eat a healthy, balanced diet. These targets underlie the “% Daily Value” labels on the back of packaged foods, as well as the nutrient composition of school lunches. The Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) is defined as “the average daily intake of a nutrient sufficient to meet the nutrient needs of almost all (97–98 percent) healthy people in a group.”

In other words, if 100% of us consumed the recommended daily allowance of protein, then at least 97% of us would be getting enough protein—we would meet the minimum requirement for maintaining health. Yes, this number is a minimum to prevent malnutrition, not a maximum, and not a recommendation for optimal health.

By the way, if you’re wondering how this number is determined, it’s based on nitrogen balance . As the body functions daily, it breaks down proteins, which in turn releases nitrogen. If you consume enough protein (which contains nitrogen), the amount of nitrogen excreted will equal or exceed the amount consumed. In other words, if you’re not breaking down your own proteins (in excess of what you consume), then what you eat must, in some sense, be sufficient.

There is no maximum amount of protein for healthy people.

In this sense, the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) is the minimum needed to maintain health. More is good; less means you may not get enough. Some nutrients also have an upper limit (UL), indicating that exceeding a certain amount is too much. Upper limits are calculated for vitamins and minerals; for protein, no upper limit is defined.

Therefore, there is no official definition of “too much” protein. If someone consumes more than the recommended daily intake, they are not consuming too much; they are simply consuming more than the minimum. And you really should be consuming more than the minimum.

What is the recommended daily intake of protein, and how much protein does the average American actually consume?

The recommended daily intake of protein is 46 grams per day for a 125-pound woman and 56 grams per day for a 154-pound man. (The USDA used these data as examples.) This is based on the recommended daily intake of 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, which equates to 0.36 grams per pound. Therefore, a 200-pound person would need 72 grams of protein per day.

A USDA report states that most adult men consume an average of 90-100 grams of protein per day, although men aged 70 and older consume only about 80 grams per day. Women typically consume about 70 grams per day, and women aged 70 and older consume an average of 62 grams.

Exceeds the recommended daily intake? Yes. Too much? That’s undeniable. And before you say we’re getting almost double the recommended intake, let’s check the math. These recommended daily intake figures are based on people weighing 125 and 154 pounds. On the other hand, average food intake figures are based on real people , not ideals. The average American man weighs 200 pounds, and the average American woman weighs 171 pounds . So, to compare the numbers:

• The average woman weighs 171 pounds (about 77 kg), so her recommended daily protein intake is 62 grams. (The average woman consumes 70 grams of protein per day.)

• The average man weighs 200 pounds (about 90 kg), so his recommended daily protein intake is 72 grams. (On average, men consume between 90 and 100 grams of protein per day.)

Again, there’s no need to stick to the minimum; an extra 8 grams or even 28 grams is perfectly acceptable. It’s probably better to exceed the norm than to barely make ends meet, and many of us may not be getting enough. Let me explain.

Many older people don’t get enough protein.

Let’s start with older adults. Not only does protein intake tend to decline with age, but older adults are also susceptible to problems associated with muscle loss . Starting at age 30, people lose 3-5% of their muscle mass per decade, but strength training and protein intake can help preserve muscle mass and thus prevent or reduce this loss.

Dietary guidelines note that “approximately 50 percent of women and 30 percent of men aged 71 years and older do not meet the recommended amount of protein in their diets.” Meanwhile, research has found that older adults who do not meet the guidelines “are more likely to experience limitations in bending, squatting, or kneeling, standing or sitting for long periods, climbing 10 steps, preparing food, and walking a quarter mile.”

So, even if it’s true that the average adult gets more protein than recommended, it’s clear that many older adults consume less. These are the people who experience problems with daily living. It may be a vicious cycle—was the decline in function the cause or the consequence of the dietary change?—but it seems that this group certainly shouldn’t consume less protein.

Pregnant and breastfeeding women require more than the recommended daily intake of vitamins and minerals.

There’s another large group of people who benefit from more protein, not less: pregnant and lactating women. Instead of 0.36 grams of protein per pound of body weight (62 grams for a 171-pound person), the recommended daily intake for pregnant and lactating women is 0.5 grams per pound (or 86 grams of protein per day ).

During pregnancy, calorie needs also increase, so increased food intake makes it easier to get more protein. However, it’s much wiser to focus on getting enough protein rather than worrying about getting too much.

A high-protein diet promotes healthy exercise and muscle growth.

You knew we were heading in this direction (I say between sets of barbell squats, wiping a protein shake from my lips): People who exercise should get more protein than just the recommended daily intake.

While scare articles about “too much protein” sometimes mention the need for protein among bodybuilders or elite athletes, they usually dismiss it as a special issue that doesn’t affect the average person. But I think it’s worth taking a closer look—and frankly, this situation affects far more people than just a few athletes.

There is no official recommended daily intake (RDA) for nutrients for athletes; athletes can avoid malnutrition by consuming the same 0.36 grams per pound of body weight as everyone else. However, this doesn’t mean the RDA is the best guide.

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which governs track and field competitions, recommends that most athletes maintaining or gaining weight consume 0.59 to 0.77 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day. This equates to 101 to 131 grams for the average 171-pound woman and 118 to 154 grams for the average 200-pound man .

A group of organizations, including the American College of Sports Medicine, generally agrees, recommending a range of 0.54 to 0.9 grams per pound of body weight for all athletes whose weight is stable or increasing. This includes people involved in endurance training, such as long-distance running, as well as strength athletes whose training primarily involves lifting weights. These ranges could reach 153 grams for our 171-pound woman and 180 grams for our 200-pound man .

You don’t have to be an Olympian to consider yourself an “athlete” in this sense. If you’re training for a half marathon, you’ll do a lot of long-distance running and should eat accordingly. And if you “just” lift weights in the gym, but take it seriously enough, train regularly, and work hard, you should also consider eating within these ranges.

A high protein diet promotes healthy weight loss.

Dieting for weight loss isn’t just a popular American pastime; some believe it’s also healthy. If you’ve recently been on a diet or are planning to start one, you shouldn’t settle for the recommended daily intake of nutrients.

Research shows that protein intake (and strength training—they go hand in hand!) are important for maintaining muscle mass during weight loss. After all, your goal is fat loss, not muscle atrophy. Muscle loss is especially relevant when using weight loss drugs like Ozempic , but anyone on a diet should be aware of this issue.

For example, this study found that diets with protein levels of 0.48 to 0.72 grams per kilogram of body weight (that’s 82 to 123 grams for a 171-pound woman and 96 to 144 grams for a 200-pound man ) led to less weight gain after dieting and helped people maintain muscle mass and feel fuller while dieting.

What if you’re losing weight and exercising? The IAAF recommends that athletes “undergoing qualitative weight loss” reduce their calorie intake by at least 0.72 grams per pound of body weight, and possibly as much as 1.09 grams per pound. This would be 186 grams for a 171-pound athlete or 218 grams for a 200-pound athlete . Most people won’t need such high values, and it’s unclear whether athletes need them. But I’m providing these numbers so you can see how high the realistic ranges can be.

Ultimately, it’s widely believed that weight loss is more effective and produces better health outcomes with higher protein intakes than with lower ones. When people focus simply on reducing the amount of food they eat without considering what’s actually in their diet, it’s easy to forget about protein. But evidence suggests that protein intake should be increased while overall calorie intake is reduced.

Does “too much” protein turn into fat?

Articles about “too much” protein often make the claim that protein causes weight gain, and there’s some truth to that—but it also doesn’t mean what you think.

When you consume more food than your body needs, it can store it as fat. This is true regardless of what the excess consists of—protein, carbohydrates, fat, or even alcohol. The protein you eat is used in the body for many different purposes. It can be incorporated into muscle tissue, used for the growth and repair of various types of cells, and so on. It can also be used for energy—essentially, burned to produce calories.

So, if you were to eat a perfectly balanced diet and then decide to add another 100 grams of protein per day to your diet, of course, most of that protein would be used for energy, and since we would have excess energy, it would be stored as fat.

But if you were to consume more protein, but that protein replaced other foods in your diet, there wouldn’t be any extra calories to store. No one’s saying you should drink a couple of protein shakes in addition to your regular diet. They say (and I say) that you should plan your meals and snacks to include more protein.

For example, if your typical lunch is a turkey and cheese sandwich with potato chips, you can increase the protein content of your diet by adding more turkey to the sandwich and replacing the chips with an apple. The total calorie count will remain the same, but the protein will increase. As long as your total daily calorie intake doesn’t exceed your needs, the “extra” protein won’t be stored as fat.

Is it bad to get too much protein?

In general, high-protein diets don’t have serious health consequences. However, there is one important exception: if you have certain medical conditions, you may be advised to limit your protein intake to protect your health.

For example, people with chronic kidney disease are often advised to use the recommended daily protein intake (0.36 grams per pound of body weight) as a maximum rather than a minimum. The kidneys play a vital role in processing protein for excretion, so reducing protein intake reduces the burden on the damaged kidney. However, after starting dialysis, people with chronic kidney disease may be advised to increase their protein intake to improve their health, as the body is now able to handle higher levels.

People with certain other disorders, such as phenylketonuria and homocystinuria, may also be advised to follow a low-protein diet. Obviously, if you have one of these conditions, you should get nutritional advice from your healthcare team (ask for a referral to a dietitian!) rather than from general articles online.

Wasn’t there a study that said too much protein was bad?

Beyond the known medical concerns, isolated reports of excessive protein consumption tend to fit into the “X is good for you/X is bad for you” news cycle . These aren’t holistic assessments of protein’s overall health effects , but rather specific research questions that are still being sought.

For example, a 2017 study found that a high-protein (and fiber) diet modestly worsened one measure of insulin resistance, while improving metabolic health and body composition. The researchers concluded that the subjects’ biochemical processes were likely simply responding appropriately to the nutrient changes in their diets. Several years later, a study of women with high BMI and insulin resistance found improvements in their insulin resistance when following a high-protein diet .

Or, for example, a 2024 study found a link between a high-protein diet and atherosclerosis. But if you look at what the researchers were studying, they were investigating how leucine (an amino acid found in proteins) affects the mTOR pathway in certain types of white blood cells . Incidentally, this mTOR pathway is involved in many more processes in the body than atherosclerosis, and performs many beneficial functions.

So, are these results interesting and worthy of further study? Absolutely. Should protein intake recommendations be changed? Only if it turns out that this effect (1) actually leads to worse health outcomes and (2) outweighs the known benefits of higher protein intake. The current evidence does not yet support the need to lower the recommended protein intake or set an upper limit.

There are no immediate health problems that can be solved by reducing protein intake.

So, if protein is good for us, and most of us can’t get “too much” of it, why do so many people claim we overeat it? I think part of the reason is misunderstanding (the authors are typically not trained in nutrition, especially sports nutrition), but more often than not, I think they’re discussing an entirely different issue.

Often, the “too much protein” argument is simply a way to talk about the environmental impacts of meat or dairy consumption. People who make this argument are trying to take our double cheeseburgers out of our hands and assure us everything will be fine. I don’t think attacking protein is the appropriate way to make this point, as plant proteins exist and are a wonderful alternative. But I understand their position.

Ultimately, if you’re trying to prove that we consume “too much” protein for our health, you really can’t do so without some evidence that we consume so much protein that it’s detrimental to our health on a large scale. And such evidence simply doesn’t exist.

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