Effect of Dietary Protein Content on Weight Gain

[dirtys1x]

I don’t see anything about protein being converted into fat here.

Here is my summary of the data:

The normal protein and high protein group had similar weight gains. Although, in the high protein group they increased their lean body mass by more, in trade off for less fat. The low protein group actually gained the least amount of weight, however they had decreased by almost a kg in their lean body mass.


A final note they made about the study:

“The key finding of this study is that calories are more important than protein while consuming excess amounts of energy with respect to increases in body fat. This study examined the hypothesis proposed by Stock10 that overeating a low or high protein diet would produce less weight gain than overeating a normal protein diet”

 

[CJ]

I don’t see anything about protein being converted into fat here.

Here is my summary of the data:

The normal protein and high protein group had similar weight gains. Although, in the high protein group they increased their lean body mass by more, in trade off for less fat. The low protein group actually gained the least amount of weight, however they had decreased by almost a kg in their lean body mass.


A final note they made about the study:

“The key finding of this study is that calories are more important than protein while consuming excess amounts of energy with respect to increases in body fat. This study examined the hypothesis proposed by Stock10 that overeating a low or high protein diet would produce less weight gain than overeating a normal protein diet”

That's the point of this Cals equated study, protein has benefit. The low protein group LOST lean body mass and gained on average 200g more fat mass that the normal and high protein groups. The normal protein group gained no extra fat but did gain muscle, while the high protein group gained even more lean tissue with no extra fat gain. And the resting energy expenditure also increased in the normal and high protein groups, but did not for the low protein group.

So based on this study, consuming a higher portion of your Cals as protein has body composition benefits. Not exactly groundbreaking, but there it is.

Now let's take it a step further, using a study where calories are NOT equated, but the extra calories were consumed in the form of protein. This study was also performed on trained individuals, so getting closer to our demographic...

The effects of consuming a high protein diet (4.4 g/kg/d) on body composition in resistance-trained individuals - Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition

Background The consumption of dietary protein is important for resistance-trained individuals. It has been posited that intakes of 1.4 to 2.0 g/kg/day are needed for physically active individuals. Thus, the purpose of this investigation was to determine the effects of a very high protein diet...

jissn.biomedcentral.com

Tha study..... "found no changes in body weight, fat mass, or fat free mass in the high protein diet group. This occurred in spite of the fact that they consumed over 800 calories more per day for eight weeks."

There is also some very interesting points in the DISCUSSION section of this paper that I'd encourage you to read, in regards to the first study.

Now let's follow up with another study with trained subjects performing a heavy resistance training protocol. Again, calories were NOT equated, the high protein group ate more calories, which were in the form of protein...

A high protein diet (3.4 g/kg/d) combined with a heavy resistance training program improves body composition in healthy trained men and women – a follow-up investigation - Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition

Background The consumption of a high protein diet (>4 g/kg/d) in trained men and women who did not alter their exercise program has been previously shown to have no significant effect on body composition. Thus, the purpose of this investigation was to determine if a high protein diet in...

jissn.biomedcentral.com

"There were no differences between the NP and HP groups for any of the body composition, performance or health variables at baseline. The NP and HP group experienced a significant change (pre vs post) for fat free mass, fat mass and % body fat (p < 0.05) (Table 4 and Figs 2, 3 and 4). The NP group also experienced a significant increase in body weight (p < 0.05) (Table 4 and Fig. 1). However, between group differences were found for fat mass and percent body fat; the HP group lost an average of 1.6 kg of fat mass versus 0.3 kg in the NP group. Moreover, the percent body fat decrease was −2.4 % and −0.6 % in the HP and NP groups respectively."

So the HP group ate more calories, more protein, and LOST more bodyfat. Sounds good to me.

And from my understanding, all the literature on this shows similar findings. I believe it is 19 studies to date, although I could be completely wrong on that number, it's what immediately popped into my head.

 

[FearThaGear]

That's the point of this Cals equated study, protein has benefit. The low protein group LOST lean body mass and gained on average 200g more fat mass that the normal and high protein groups. The normal protein group gained no extra fat but did gain muscle, while the high protein group gained even more lean tissue with no extra fat gain. And the resting energy expenditure also increased in the normal and high protein groups, but did not for the low protein group.

So based on this study, consuming a higher portion of your Cals as protein has body composition benefits. Not exactly groundbreaking, but there it is.

Now let's take it a step further, using a study where calories are NOT equated, but the extra calories were consumed in the form of protein. This study was also performed on trained individuals, so getting closer to our demographic...

The effects of consuming a high protein diet (4.4 g/kg/d) on body composition in resistance-trained individuals - Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition

Background The consumption of dietary protein is important for resistance-trained individuals. It has been posited that intakes of 1.4 to 2.0 g/kg/day are needed for physically active individuals. Thus, the purpose of this investigation was to determine the effects of a very high protein diet...

jissn.biomedcentral.com

Tha study..... "found no changes in body weight, fat mass, or fat free mass in the high protein diet group. This occurred in spite of the fact that they consumed over 800 calories more per day for eight weeks."

There is also some very interesting points in the DISCUSSION section of this paper that I'd encourage you to read, in regards to the first study.

Now let's follow up with another study with trained subjects performing a heavy resistance training protocol. Again, calories were NOT equated, the high protein group ate more calories, which were in the form of protein...

A high protein diet (3.4 g/kg/d) combined with a heavy resistance training program improves body composition in healthy trained men and women – a follow-up investigation - Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition

Background The consumption of a high protein diet (>4 g/kg/d) in trained men and women who did not alter their exercise program has been previously shown to have no significant effect on body composition. Thus, the purpose of this investigation was to determine if a high protein diet in...

jissn.biomedcentral.com

"There were no differences between the NP and HP groups for any of the body composition, performance or health variables at baseline. The NP and HP group experienced a significant change (pre vs post) for fat free mass, fat mass and % body fat (p < 0.05) (Table 4 and Figs 2, 3 and 4). The NP group also experienced a significant increase in body weight (p < 0.05) (Table 4 and Fig. 1). However, between group differences were found for fat mass and percent body fat; the HP group lost an average of 1.6 kg of fat mass versus 0.3 kg in the NP group. Moreover, the percent body fat decrease was −2.4 % and −0.6 % in the HP and NP groups respectively."

So the HP group ate more calories, more protein, and LOST more bodyfat. Sounds good to me.

And from my understanding, all the literature on this shows similar findings. I believe it is 19 studies to date, although I could be completely wrong on that number, it's what immediately popped into my head.

Couldn't have explained it better.

The study did show that as much as 50% of excess protein did get stored as fat.

But comparatively speaking, carbs and fat get stored at a much higher rate when taken in excess. This is not to mention that carbs and fats cannot build muscle.

 

[CJ]

Couldn't have explained it better.

The study did show that as much as 50% of excess protein did get stored as fat.

But comparatively speaking, carbs and fat get stored at a much higher rate when taken in excess. This is not to mention that carbs and fats cannot build muscle.

It actually states that 50% of the excess ENERGY was converted to fat. It makes no claim that PROTEIN was converted to fat.

 

[dirtys1x]

It actually states that 50% of the excess ENERGY was converted to fat. It makes no claim that PROTEIN was converted to fat.

This was what I was trying to get it. It doesn’t tell you anything about which sort of macro is stored as fat.

 

[Jonjon]

Serge Nubret

6lbs of horse meat a day!
I read him say protein that’s not used to build muscle get expended as energy. He believed it was never stored as fat.

 

[Yano]

This ain't the most scientific thing going so bear with me , the old timers and in a few stories you hear talk about "rabbit starvation". Where folks could trap and hunt rabbits and other small game , and plenty of it but no matter how much they ate , they would eventually get sick and starve out due to the meat being so lean , all protein no fat. Now does that hold water in a clinical or scientific setting , I have no idea that's far above my pay grade. I believe that the human body only can process 30 to 35 grams of protein roughly in 3 to 4 hours and the rest is wasted, I don't think it gets stored as fat being protein, the body would convert it into amino's and carbs right ? an in the case of being active or living as some one mentioned more like our ancestors did burning hundreds of calories at a time it would seem to make sense you could eat mass amounts of protein and still starve.