Tag Archives: high protein diet

Analysis of the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans

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In a previous post, I reviewed the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (Have You Read the New “Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030”?). For more insight into this topic, the following commentary is useful:

  • DK Tobias, FB Hu. NEJM 2025; 394: 1969-1971. The 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans — Progress, Pitfalls, and the Path Forward

Background: “The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGAs), updated every 5 years by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), set nutrition standards for federally supported programs, including school, military, and institutional meals; elements of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); and related public education and implementation efforts. The DGAs also influence federal policies and regulations, clinical practice and health professional education, food marketing, industry formulation, and individual food choices.”

Key points:

  • “In the current cycle, although the DGAC [Independent Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee] rigorously adhered to established procedures,3 its extensive report was not adopted as the guidelines’ scientific basis, and only 14 of its 56 specific recommendations were implemented. The USDA and HHS cited the committee’s evaluation of the evidence “through a health equity lens” … as their central rationale for dismissing most of its recommendations.”
  • “The new DGAs reintroduce the 1992 food pyramid, but invert it to feature meat, poultry, and full-fat dairy products more prominently, alongside vegetables and fruits, while relegating whole grains to the bottom wedge — an arrangement suggestive of a low-carbohydrate diet.”
  • “The new DGAs increase recommended protein intake to 1.2-to-1.6 g per kilogram of body weight per day — as high as double the adult recommended dietary allowance (0.8 g per kilogram per day).4 … But most Americans already consume well above the recommended dietary allowance of protein, primarily from animal sources,3 and there is little evidence that substantially increasing population protein intake confers additional health benefits.”
  • “The protein guidance appears to place greater visual and messaging emphasis on animal sources…This shift diverges from the broader scientific consensus, including the DGAC’s conclusion that dietary patterns higher in plant-derived proteins and fats, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains are associated with lower risks of chronic diseases, whereas higher intakes of red and processed meats are associated with increased risks.”
  • “The 2025–2030 DGAs embrace concise, consumer-oriented messaging, emphasizing that Americans should “eat real food” and eat less highly processed food.1 Although this advice reflects growing concern about ultraprocessed products, its lack of specificity regarding ingredients or quantitative thresholds limits its policy relevance.”
  • “Although the new DGAs continue to recommend limiting alcohol consumption, they no longer specify the quantitative upper limits included in previous guidelines, raising questions about the recommendations’ clarity and consistency.”
  • “Restoring confidence in the DGAs will require stronger scientific grounding and greater transparency in their development.”

My take: Many of the recommendations appear to fall in line with previous viewpoints expressed by RFK Jr, regardless of what independent experts have advised. Overall, the new guidelines do not represent a significant improvement from the previous guidelines due to the problems outlined in this commentary.

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Guanaco in Patagonia, Argentina

Is a High Protein Diet Beneficial and Safe?

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There has been a lot of hype about the benefits of a high protein diet. In a recent substack article (8/31/25) , Eric Topol reviews the data on this (for adults).

Here’s the link:Our Preoccupation With Protein Intake

Key points:

  • “The pervasive call for higher protein intake stems from the assertion that people are not getting adequate amounts in their diet, namely the 0.8 g/kg/day recommend by the National Academy of Medicine and the World Health Organization….
  • Regarding the need to increase protein intake 2-3 fold per day, Stuart Phillips, a leading expert on protein, energy, and building muscle mass, who is a professor at McMaster University in Canada, said “It’s baloney. But there’s a generation, particularly young men, and now an increasing number of young women, who are absolutely brainwashed by what they hear online”…there are no data to support more than 1.6 g/kg/day of protein intake.

Safety concerns:

  • “There are many observational studies that have raised the safety concerns for high-protein intake, particularly derived from animal protein, for increased risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and higher all-cause mortality. A prospective study of ~44,000 women in Sweden followed for 15.7 years found an association of high-protein diet with heightened cardiovascular risk.”
  • A “high protein intake is dangerous for people with kidney disease, present in 1 of 7 adults, but 9 of 10 people with reduced kidney function are unaware of it.”

My take (borrowed from Dr. Topol): “The body of evidence about protein does not provide support [for] very high protein intake, certainly not in excess of 1.6 g/kg/day…there is no way to store protein in the body…Resistance training is the principal driver for building muscle mass and strength, not high protein intake.” While this article focuses on adults, the premise is similar in children; though, on a per kilogram basis, children need modestly higher amounts. (Reference: JL Hudson et al. Nutrients. 2021 May 5;13(5):1554. Dietary Protein Requirements in Children: Methods for Consideration)

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Proof That Diet Changes Can Improve a Fatty Liver

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A recent prospective study (M Markova, O Pivovarova, et al. Gastroenterol 2017; 152: 571-85) showed that among individuals with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and type 2 diabetes that a diet high in protein (animal or plant) reduced liver fat over a 6 week period.

Among 37 participants, body fat and intrahepatic fat were detected with MRI and spectroscopy, respectively. Protein was increased to 30% of the diet. Fat was reduced to 30% and carbohydrates to 40% of diet composition. .

Key findings:

  • With a high animal protein diet, liver fat was reduced by 36%.  In the high plant protein diet group, liver fat was reduced by 48%.
  • Theses changes were unrelated to change in body weight.  However, these changes were correlated with down-regulation of lipolysis and lipogenic indices.

Some of the findings may be limited to older patients as this cohort was older than 60 years of age.  In the pediatric population, the dietary factor that has been linked most closely to NAFLD has been fructose, mainly in sugar-sweetened beverages (R Patusco et al. Top Clin Nutr 2017; 32: 27-46 -thanks to Ben Gold for this reference).

My take: This study shows improvement in liver fat with increased protein/reduced dietary fat.  While this study indicates that dietary modification is important in treating NAFLD, the optimal dietary intervention (eg. higher protein, lower sugar, lower fat) remains uncertain.

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