Protein Intake
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Protein is an important macro-nutrient and most of us should get at least 0.8g/kg of protein per day in our diet.
The WHO (World Health Organization) writes in their Technical Report Series 935 on “Protein and Amino Acid Requirements in Human Nutrition” from 2007 ( ISBN 92 4 120935 6 ):
The requirement indicated by the meta-analysis (6) (a median requirement of 105 mg nitrogen/kg per day or 0.66 g/kg per day of protein) can be accepted as the best estimate of a population average requirement for healthy adults. Although there is considerable uncertainty about the true between-individual variability, the safe level was identified as the 97.5th percentile of the population distribution of requirement, i.e. 133 mg nitrogen/kg per day, or 0.83 g/kg per day protein. Thus 0.83 g/kg per day protein would be expected to meet the requirements of most (97.5%) of the healthy adult population.
This TRS from the WHO was my main source to increase my protein intake for years now. During my first years at university I had way too less protein, mainly eating spaghetti with Barilla Genovese pesto.
This ~0.8g/kg of protein intake per day, also matches the findings of a structured literature search in PubMed considering newly published papers (2000– 2017) by a DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) working group.
One very neat summary table of different sources comes from the European Commission: “Dietary recommendations for protein intake for adults and older adults”. Here is an even more dense summary:
| Source | AR | PRI/RDA |
|---|---|---|
| EFSA 2012 | 0.66g/kg | PRI 0.83g/kg |
| WHO/FAO/UNU 2007 | 0.66g/kg | PRI 0.83g/kg |
| DACH 2016 | 0.6g/kg | 0.8g/kg |
| NNR 2012 | 0.66g/kg | RDA 0.83g/kg |
| AFSSA 2007 | 0.66g/kg | 0.83g/kg |
Unfortunately, the site uses some abbrevations without explaining them, so here they are:
- AR: average requirement
- PRI: population reference intake, e.g. meeting the protein needs for 97.5% of the healthy population (PRI is defined by AR plus 2 standard deviations, see 4.1 in “Scientific Opinion on principles for deriving and applying Dietary Reference Values” by the European Food Safety Authority (efsa))
- RDA: recommended dietary allowances: basically the same definition as PRI, however this definition stems from the US
So, this basically means that I should at least aim for 0.8g/kg of protein per day in my diet, so that my body can keep the amino acid balance. If I want to gain muscles, more protein is beneficial. I try to eat more than 0.8g/kg, because the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) writes in their 2017 review:
For building muscle mass and for maintaining muscle mass through a positive muscle protein balance, an overall daily protein intake in the range of 1.4–2.0 g protein/kg body weight/day (g/kg/d) is sufficient for most exercising individuals, a value that falls in line within the Acceptable Macronutrient Distribution Range published by the Institute of Medicine for protein.
→ Net, net, I try to eat as much protein as I can from various sources and I need to be at least above 0.8g/kg/d on average.