[vova_hn2]

There is basically no downsides to eating too much protein and there are a lot of potential problems if you eat too little.

Of course, you can carefully design other meals to be more protein-heavy, just because of your weird idea of a having an (almost)no-protein meal.

But it is much easier to make it a habit to include at least one high protein food in every meal.

[dripdry45]

So there’s a kind of filter in your kidneys that handles protein. Over a lifetime that gets worn out. Once it is perforated by too much protein, or if there was a problem with it, very bad things start to happen.

Having too much protein, especially the amount pushed by certain industries here in the United States, is maybe not healthy, no.

[gnabgib]

Err.. what? Kidney damage, inflammation, constipation, bloating, nutrient deficiency, potential heart problems, kidney stones. There's lots of downside of eating too much protein.

https://www.health.com/too-much-protein-side-effects-1189485...

[vova_hn2]

You just googled or asked a chatbot to find you an article and haven't actually read it, have you?

#1 literally says

> For people with healthy kidneys, higher protein intake is generally safe.

#2 addresses the issues of some specific diets ("very-low-carb or ketogenic diets") that "may be low in fiber-rich carbohydrates". I did not advocate for "very-low-carb or ketogenic diets". Also, it doesn't say anything about potential harms of protein itself.

#3 "It Can Crowd Out Other Nutrients"

Again, no mention of supposed "harms of too much protein", only harms of "too little everything else". I never suggested to go crazy and stop eating other foods.

#4 deals with "type of protein" that "may be just as important as the amount of protein" and is irrelevant to your argument.

#5

> A very high-protein diet, particularly one high in animal foods, can increase the risk of kidney stones, especially for people with a history of these conditions or those who don’t drink enough water.

Well, just drink enough water then. Also, I was talking about generally healthy people. I am not qualified to discuss diet choices of people "with a history of these conditions".

#6 "Protein Bars and Powders Can Backfire"

I never suggested any of this. Also, this doesn't address supposed harms of protein itself, so it is irrelevant again.

[gnabgib]

No, I'm interested in nutrition, I backed up the risks with a link. Complex carbs and simple carbs are not the same (your original dismissal). Fiber is important for everyone, there's studies that show too little fiber is the cause of a lot of nutrition issues (possibly including IBS, which is a strange relation). Too much protein is not healthy and has risks (despite your unbacked claim). Protein rich unprocessed food is fine, it'll come with fiber.

[vova_hn2]

> I backed up the risks with a link.

The problem is that your link doesn't really backs up your claims. #1 and #5 deal exclusively with people with various kidney conditions. #2, #3, #4 and #6 deal with issues that are only tangentially related to consuming too much protein.

All research that claims that eating too much protein is harmful is either about people with kidney disease or explores really far-fetched theoretical scenarios.

While harms of consuming too little protein are obvious and self-evident. Every tissue of your body constantly regenerates itself. Generating new tissue is impossible without protein, because protein is what it is made of.

> your unbacked claim

Sure, let's have some links: https://www.uclahealth.org/news/article/are-you-getting-enou...

> “We find most adults are not quite getting enough protein,” says Michael Garcia, MD, a UCLA Health clinical nutritionist.

> When you eat that protein also matters — the protein your body needs must be spread throughout the day. “We’re able to store certain nutrients, but we can't do the same thing with protein,” Dr. Garcia says. “And our bodies can only use so much protein in a sitting and a day.”

> “The recommended amount is really the absolute minimum we need to not fall into a deficient state.”

According to a link[0] provided by another commenter[1] in another subthread of this thread, maximum protein intake is about 2.5 times higher than the recommended protein intake (which is really just "the absolute minimum we need to not fall into a deficient state").

And since most people, who don't consciously control their diets, are very likely to eat closer to the lower bound, I think that telling people to "just eat more protein" is more likely to bring them health benefits than telling people to "just eat less protein"

Which is what TFA effectively does: it tells people about "underrated benefits" of replacing one meal a day by a meal that barely has any protein, which is equivalent to telling people to "just eat less protein".

I think that this article is potentially harmful to people who don't know any better, and I'm very surprised that the issue of reducing protein intake is neither addressed by TFA nor by other commenters. And that my attempt at addressing it receives so much pushback.

[0] https://www.health.harvard.edu/diet-and-nutrition/when-it-co...

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47654617