The Problem With Protein

Living in America, you soon learn one of our most revered mantras: PROTEIN.

Not only are we obsessed with eating and drinking it, we supplement non-protein foods such as fruit with protein powders.

Considered to be the most fundamental and sacred of all nutrients, the Dutch chemist Gerhard Mulder (1839), upon discovering these nitrogen-containing substances, used the Greek word proteios (“the first quality”) to name them proteins. Cultural bias powerfully influenced the “science” of nutrition from the onset.

A German scientist, Carl Voit (1831-1908), in spite of having discovered that humans needed only 48.5 grams of protein per day, proclaimed that good health required 118 grams per day.

One of his protégés, W.O. Atwater (1844-1907), organized the first nutritional research laboratory at the USDA and defined the caloric equivalence of proteins (4 cal/gm), carbohydrates (4 cal/gm) and fats (8.9 cal/gm). As director of the USDA, he recommended 125 grams of protein per day.

The burgeoning “science” of nutrition, so deeply rooted in cultural elitism, considered it factual that the lower classes were lazy and less intelligent and that these “deficient qualities” were due to a lack of protein in their diet.

If you were rich, you ate meat and if you were poor, you ate plants.

Meat and dairy products were/are thought to be synonymous with protein.

This is a myth!

For example, the percentage of calories from protein in asparagus is 32%; broccoli, 36%; kale 40%; lean beef, 32%; pork chops 23%.

In 1982, Francis Lappe issued an almost completely new 10th anniversary edition of her very influential book, Diet for a Small Planet. This book had been responsible, in large part, for perpetuating the myth that it is extremely difficult to obtain high quality protein from plants alone. In previous editions she stated that in order to get “complete protein” from plants, one had to carefully choose and combine specific types of plants. In her 10th edition, with regards to obtaining high quality protein from plants, she concluded, “With a healthy, varied diet, concern about protein complementarity is not necessary…if people are getting enough calories, they are virtually certain of getting enough protein.”

Proteins are chains of amino acids and there are hundreds of thousands of different kinds of proteins, including enzymes, hormones, structural tissues, and transport molecules. Only eight amino acids are considered “essential,” that is, we must obtain them through diet. All other proteins can be synthesized from those eight.

Dr. Thomas Lodi, M.D. is trained in Internal Medicine, Integrative Oncology, Metabolic Medicine, is a Certified Nutrition Specialist, is a licensed Homeopathic Physician in Arizona and a licensed Medical Doctor in New York. He is the founder and chief physician of An Oasis of Healing, an alternative cancer healing center in Mesa, Arizona in the United States. Contact his office at (480) 834-5414

Tagged as: Carl Voit, Gerhard Mulder, nutrition, protein