High protein-diet: insulin sensitivity or resistamce?

My first, instinctive, response is that high protein diets were fine for home sapiens for some 50,000 odd years and beyond, and previous homo-species had the same diet before that.

I'm also pretty sceptical re: 'foods that come with the protein', ala milk w/whey shakes, the saturated fats that come with lots of red meat, the unsaturated that come with fish etc. Isolating the effect of any 'high protein' diet is going to be difficult; you can't honestly point the finger at the protein and exclude everything that comes along with it, relative to the protein source.

From the Livestrong page, "Dietary changes in the carbohydrate to protein ratio produce changes in glucose regulation, as shown by Donald K. Layman and colleagues published in "Human Nutrition and Metabolism" 2003. Therefore, high-protein diets influence insulin levels within the body."

This sentence is just stupid.

Obviously that has nothing to do with you. But that as nearly as many holes as a recent photo-comparison argument that was attempted recently.

Going back to my undergrad and research days, low carb diets increase insulin sensitivity. You're much more likely to get a 'sugar rush' than you will on a high-carb diet. High-carb diets have clearly and thoroughly been shown to induce insulin resistance (welcome to type 2 diabetes etc). High protein, by definition must be low carb, low(er) fat.

This is the first time I've ever heard someone say that high-protein (absolute and in terms of diet proportion) is bad due to impact upon insulin regulation.



Frankly, I think they're taking a few things out of context, and are also ignoring 50k years of anecdotal evidence regarding high-protein diets. They're also not touching total caloric intake at all; type 2 diabetes is almost impossible to develop for those eating sub-maintenance.


I understand the concept they're driving at, but I think there's some major flaws in the argument and conclusion.
 
The specific reason is basically my health. Im on quite a high protein diet and am wary of doing anything detrimental to my health. I cut out PWO's for this exact reason. Its good to have the facts so we can all make fairly informed choices regarding diet and lifestyle.
 
Oh yeh, I mean, obviously most ppl here have what would be considered a 'high protein' diet. But for my own peace of mind, I consider the anecdotal/non-strictly empirical evidence of the diet that the species has been on for millenia; high protein, low(er) fibre, relatively higher fat intake (at least compared to 'recommended'), reduced carbohydrates and figure that if random club wielder, or hell, random village-raiding Viking made it this way, and all their pals did, then we're probably 'ok'.

PWO = ?

If for whatever reason you develop or have impaired kidney function, then you'll have to drop the protein down considerably, or at least manage it differently and really figure out how much you can tolerate, but what the ill-informed often refer to as 'high protein' is not going to cause kidney malfunction or impairment.
 
PWO= pre work-out drinks.

We have annual health checks at my work place. Everything is fine but theres no harm in making sure youre on the right track. I found the advice on that first sight strange and contradictive and found the need to query it with you guys.
 
There's a lot of conflicting research over high-protein diets. For a while, science was unified in saying that high protein was unsafe. Then, some studies were released saying that high-protein was okay. Afterwards, research went back and said high-protein was not okay.
There seems to be no absolute answer other than the fact that moderate protein aka 1g/lb, or if you want to get super technical, 0.82g/lb (I forgot where I read this) is safe for sure.

I personally go 1.5g/lb. This is mostly because I am young and eat and drink extremely healthy 99% of the time so I am confidant my kidneys will not fail. Also, I'm on a cut and most scientists agree that when one is at a calorie deficit, higher protein than normal is useful for preserving muscle. Lastly, studies saying that high-protein=bad have their experimental groups on ridiculously high protein. Like, abnormal amounts. Constantly.

P.S. PWO aren't "bad" per se but I don't use them. As with anything, they are only bad with overuse and misuse. One needs to cycle them properly so the body doesn't adapt to depend on artificial stimulants for energy. For me, it's more of a matter of pride. I want to rely on my own balls-to-the-wall for a workout, not some concocted stimulant.
 
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