Do You Really Need More Protein? A Look Beyond the Hype
If you have spent any time looking at online wellness content over the last couple of years, there is a good chance you will have heard that you need to eat more protein - for your muscles, your metabolism, your hormones, hunger, ageing… it may seem that it’s a solution to almost every health goal and the risk of not hitting certain targets can appear high.
The reality is protein intake is important, but so is balance in our diets. Unfortunately, the way the protein message is typically - through the media, social media and commercial channels - tends to create confusion and often an unnecessary level of anxiety along with it.
In this blog, my aim is to offer a balanced and practical perspective on protein intake, helping you to separate useful, workable nutritional information from the noise.
A note before we start: I do mention some numbers in the opening paragraph of the section called Shining a Light on Protein Requirements to explain where the mainstream advice comes from. However, I am not suggesting you track anything, count grams or weigh yourself. If seeing numbers around food are difficult for you, please feel free to skip this paragraph.
WHAT IS PROTEIN
Protein is one of the three macronutrients, alongside carbohydrate and fat. It is made of long chains of amino acids - the building blocks of every cell in your body. Your body can make eleven of the twenty amino acids that exist but it can’t make the other nine which are called “essential” amino acids, meaning that you need to consume them in your diet.
Protein’s role in the functioning of our bodies is varied. It’s not only about muscles, it helps build and repair tissue throughout the body, forms part of many hormones and enzymes, supports the immune system, and provides the building blocks for neurotransmitters that affect mood and mental clarity. It also gives bones their structural framework alongside minerals like calcium, and can be used for energy when needed.
We need to eat protein in meaningful amounts every day because unlike dietary fats and sugars we can't store a surplus for later.
SHINING A LIGHT ON PROTEIN REQUIREMENTS
The standard recommendation for the general adult population is around 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight a day. That figure was set as a floor i.e. the minimum to prevent deficiency, and it is recognised that athletes and highly active people typically need more than this. The least contested suggestion for later life (65years+) is that a little more than this is sensible, somewhere in the region of 1.0 to 1.2 grams per kilogram.
National dietary surveys suggest most adults in the UK comfortably exceed the recommended intake without any conscious effort. This is largely because animal proteins, such as meat, dairy, eggs, are abundant and cheap relative to income in westernised food systems.
However, there are population groups who may under-eat protein, sometimes without realising.
Insufficient dietary intake is especially common in those with a history of dieting or restriction who may have spent years eating less overall than their body needed. In my practice, I regularly see people struggling across a spectrum of disordered eating concerns whose physical health, sense of wellbeing and energy genuinely benefit from increasing their protein intake.
And protein also does seem to matter to our health as we get older. As we age, we gradually lose muscle mass and bone density. These processes speed up for women around menopause as oestrogen declines, potentially impacting strength, mobility and independence in later life.
Consuming adequate amounts of protein is one of the things that is known to help slow down these processes, although it is simultaneously true that our response to protein blunts as we get older which means the same amount of protein produces less muscle-building signal in an older body than in a younger one.
In practice, this biological shift means older adults (most of the research here is on people 65 and over) may benefit from eating a bit more protein per meal to get the same effect someone younger would get from less. Whether this shift begins gradually earlier, through the 40s and 50s, is a reasonable question but isn't well studied.
However, a UK study of older adults specifically found under half met even the baseline recommendation, and under 15% met the higher figure some experts now propose for that age group. So there is a gap in this population.
Understanding how dietary protein forms one part of a balanced plate and can bring steady, grounded satiety is also helpful for those with blood sugar concerns such as diabetes because protein slows the rate at which carbohydrate is absorbed, softening the steep rise in blood sugar that comes from eating carbohydrate alone.
So the underlying message, that protein is worth paying attention to, particularly as we get older, is not wrong. But if you’ve heard you need to consuming a specific amount daily in order to stay healthy, here is where some of the confusion lies.
BREAKING DOWN THE HYPE about Protein
Here is what tends to get missed out of conversation about protein in the media and social media:
First, the evidence around consuming specific amounts is far less conclusive than is often suggested. Most of it is drawn from studies of younger adults, the over-65s, athletes or people in various states of illness and then extrapolated. Even within these groups, robust research on optimal (rather than minimum) intake is limited. And for people in perimenopause or midlife specifically, it is close to non-existent. So, when you see a precise figure presented as fact, it is usually an estimate stretched from a population group so may not translate well to your personal situation.
Second, the figures being quoted by different sources vary wildly. You might be told on social media you need anywhere from the standard recommendation to nearly three times it. The idea that the 'right' amount ranges that dramatically is itself a sign that nobody actually knows with precision.
Third, protein has drawn attention in recent years because it is filling and because it helps preserve muscle while someone is eating less overall. In other words, the drivers behind the trend are often more concerned with the project of thinness dressed up in the language of health and hormones, than genuine health and wellness.
And fourth, despite the focus on eating more of it, extra protein does little for muscle on its own. It helps mainly when combined with resistance exercise. So the simple instruction to 'just eat more protein' misses half the picture (and helps sell a great deal of protein powder in the process).
How to get enough without counting anything
For many reasons, I would discourage turning daily protein intake into a daily sum to solve. Whilst it may sound like a well-intentioned concept, for most people, and particularly for anyone whose relationship with food is, or has ever felt, complicated, the daily tracking of grams of protein can make eating stressful, fuel food preoccupation and ironically lead to restriction.
The good news is that you don't need to weigh, track or calculate food to eat 'well'. As we've covered, nobody agrees on exactly what the 'right' number is anyway - so instead of chasing a figure, the aim is simply to move comfortably beyond the minimum whilst developing awareness of your own hunger and fullness cues along the way. Here is a principle that supports that:
Include a source of protein at each meal, most of the time, and ideally with most snacks too. If the majority of your meals contain something protein-rich, the amount tends to take care of itself, without a spreadsheet in sight.
In practice, this might look like eggs, yoghurt or beans on toast at breakfast rather than toast alone. It might mean adding chicken, fish, tofu, lentils, cheese or chickpeas to a lunch that would otherwise be mostly salad or bread. It might mean a handful of nuts, some hummus or a piece of cheese alongside fruit as a snack.
It could also be as simple as choosing a protein-enriched bread instead of your usual loaf, adding a spoonful of nut butter to porridge, or stirring lentils through a soup you’d already be preparing.
A few more practical pointers:
Plant proteins such as beans, lentils, chickpeas, soy products seeds, nuts and whole grains, are all valid sources, alongside animal proteins. However, if you are purely plant-based, you may want to be a little more aware of portion sizes. Unlike animal proteins, the levels of essential amino acids vary significantly from plant to plant - so eating a decent variety across the week helps to take care of this (you don’t need to stress about combining proteins at every sitting).
Spreading protein across the day, rather than loading it all into one meal, tends to help support steadier energy and fewer cravings. It also links to something I mentioned earlier: because the body can't store surplus protein for later, there's a practical ceiling to how much any single meal can put to use. Regular, moderate amounts through the day tend to be more useful than one large hit.
Starting the day with a proper meal, rather than skipping or under-eating at breakfast, tends to steady hunger and appetite signals through the day. Protein appears to play a particular role in this. In one study, a high-protein breakfast reduced food cravings and evening snacking compared with skipping breakfast altogether. This fits with a wider, well-established principle: regular eating through the day reduces the build-up of physiological pressure that tends to drive difficult evenings.
My conclusions
Protein is genuinely important nutritionally and, for people who have spent years under-eating whether through active dieting or restriction or the restrict-binge cycle, deliberately including more of it can be a helpful, stabilising place to start supporting the body and dietary patterns.
Simultaneously, know that the version of the protein message currently being sold through most channels i.e. eat vastly more and track every gram, is neither well-supported by the evidence nor good for your relationship with food. Your protein intake doesn’t need to be wrapped in a food rule or a precision figure that makes you feel like you are failing if you’re not compliant. You can let that one go.
Eat enough, from foods you enjoy, with something protein-rich at most meals, and you are almost certainly doing fine. Nourishing your body is not a full-time maths problem and the calmer your eating becomes, the more energy you free up for everything else in your life that really matters to you.
Take a nourishing step forward today
If this resonated with you, you don't have to navigate this alone. I offer nutritional therapy and behaviour change support for binge eating disorder, emotional eating, disordered eating and yo-yo dieting patterns, and I'd love to help you find your way back to more ease and trust with food.
Explore my support options or book a confidential, no-obligation enquiry call to see if working together feels right.
Reference sources
Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN). Reference Nutrient Intake for protein
Institute of Medicine, National Academies. Dietary Reference Intakes: Recommended Dietary Allowance for protein
British Nutrition Foundation. Protein and plant-based protein: UK average intake data from the National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS). nutrition.org.uk
Bauer, J., Biolo, G., Cederholm, T., et al. (2013). Evidence-based recommendations for optimal dietary protein intake in older people: a position paper from the PROT-AGE Study Group. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 14(8), 542–559.
Mamerow, M.M., Mettler, J.A., English, K.L., et al. (2014). Dietary protein distribution positively influences 24-h muscle protein synthesis in healthy adults. Journal of Nutrition, 144(6), 876–880.
Leidy, H.J., Ortinau, L.C., Douglas, S.M., & Hoertel, H.A. (2013). Beneficial effects of a higher-protein breakfast on the appetitive, hormonal, and neural signals controlling energy intake regulation in overweight/obese, "breakfast-skipping," late-adolescent girls. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 97(4), 677–688.
Morris, S., Cater, J.D., Green, M.A., Johnstone, A.M., Brunstrom, J.M., Stevenson, E.J., Williams, E.A., & Corfe, B.M. (2020). Inadequacy of protein intake in older UK adults. Geriatrics, 5(1), 6.
