The exact amount of protein you need depends on many factors, including activity level, age, muscle mass, and overall health.
Few nutrients are as important as protein. Not getting enough of it will affect your health and body composition.
However, opinions regarding how much protein you need vary.
Most official nutritional organizations recommend a fairly modest protein intake.
The DRI (Dietary Reference Intake) is 0.36 grams of protein per pound (0.8 grams per kg) of body weight.
What is protein, and why is it important?
Protein is essential to good health. The very origin of the word — from the Greek protos, meaning “first” — reflects protein’s top-shelf status in human nutrition. You need it to put meat on your bones and to make hair, blood, connective tissue, antibodies, enzymes, and more. It’s common for athletes and bodybuilders to wolf down extra protein to bulk up. But the message the rest of us often get is that our daily protein intake is too high.
The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein is a modest 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. The RDA is the amount of a nutrient you need to meet your basic nutritional requirements. In a sense, it’s the minimum amount you need to keep from getting sick — not the specific amount you are supposed to eat every day.
To determine your daily protein intake, you can multiply your weight in pounds by 0.36, or use this online protein calculator. For a 50-year-old woman who weighs 140 pounds woman and who is sedentary (doesn’t exercise), that translates into 53 grams of protein a day.
Protein: Is more better?
For a relatively active adult, a daily protein intake to meet the RDA would supply as little as 10% of his or her total daily calories. In comparison, the average American consumes around 16% of his or her daily calories in the form of protein, from both plant and animal sources. But is that too much?
For some people, there may be potential benefits of higher daily protein intake to preserve muscle mass and strength. How and when you consume protein might also influence its effectiveness. Some studies described in the summit reports suggest that protein is more effective if you space it out over the day’s meals and snacks, rather than loading up at dinner like many Americans do.
What should you do?
Research on how much protein is the optimal amount to eat for good health is ongoing, and is far from settled. The value of high-protein diets for weight loss or cardiovascular health, for example, remains controversial.
Before you start ramping up your daily protein intake, there are a few important things to consider. For one, don’t read “get more protein” as “eat more meat.” Beef, poultry, and pork (as well as milk, cheese, and eggs) can certainly provide high-quality protein, but so can many plant foods — including whole grains, beans and other legumes, nuts, and vegetables. The table below provides some healthier sources of protein.
It’s also important to consider the protein “package” — the fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that invariably come along with protein. Aim for protein sources low in saturated fat and processed carbohydrates and rich in many nutrients.
One more thing: If you increase protein, dietary arithmetic demands that you eat less of other things to keep your daily calorie intake steady. The switches you make can affect your nutrition, for better or for worse. For example, eating more protein instead of low-quality refined carbohydrates, like white bread and sweets, is a healthy choice — though how healthy the choice is also depends on the total protein package.
Can aid weight loss and prevent weight gain
Protein is important when it comes to losing weight.
As you may know, you need to consume fewer calories than you burn to lose weight.
Evidence suggests that eating protein can increase the number of calories you burn by boosting your metabolic rate (calories out) and reducing your appetite (calories in) (1Trusted Source).
Consuming 25–30% of your total daily calories from protein has been shown to boost metabolism by up to 80–100 calories per day, compared with lower protein diets (2Trusted Source, 3Trusted Source, 4Trusted Source).
Yet, protein’s most important contribution to weight loss is likely its ability to reduce appetite, leading to a reduction in calorie intake. Protein is better than fat or carbs at keeping you feeling full (5Trusted Source, 6Trusted Source).
In one study in men with obesity, consuming 25% of calories from protein increased feelings of fullness, as well as reduced late-night snacking desires and obsessive thoughts about food by 50% and 60%, respectively (7Trusted Source).
In another 12-week study, women who increased their protein intake to 30% of calories ate 441 fewer calories per day and lost 11 pounds (5 kg) by simply adding more protein to their diet (8Trusted Source).
Plus, protein does more than aid weight loss — it can likewise prevent weight gain.
In one study, a modest increase in protein from 15% to 18% of calories reduced the amount of fat people regained after weight loss by 50% (9Trusted Source).
A high protein intake also helps you build and preserve muscle mass, which burns a small number of calories around the clock.
Eating more protein makes it much easier to stick to any weight loss diet — be it high carb, low carb, or something in between.
According to the previously mentioned studies, a protein intake of around 30% of calories may be optimal for weight loss. This amounts to 150 grams per day for someone on a 2,000-calorie diet.
You can calculate it by multiplying your calorie intake by 0.075.
Protein in pregnancy
During pregnancy, the body needs more protein for tissue development and growth. Protein benefits both the mother and baby.
The authors of one study suggest that people consume 0.55–0.69 grams per pound (1.2–1.52 grams per kg) of protein daily during pregnancy (16Trusted Source).
Elsewhere, experts recommend consuming an extra 0.55 grams per pound (1.1 grams per kg) of protein per day during pregnancy (17).
The recommended daily allowance for protein during breastfeeding is 0.59 grams per pound (1.3 grams per kg) per day, plus 25 additional grams (18).
Dietary sources are the ideal way to obtain any nutrient. Good sources include:
are also good sources. During pregnancy and lactation, choose fish that are low in mercury and high in omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, sardines, and anchovies.
However, take care to avoid those that may be high in mercury, such as shark, swordfish, tilefish, and king mackerel (19Trusted Source, 20Trusted Source).
Ideally, you should get all your protein from food sources. In some cases, your healthcare provider may recommend supplements. However, there are no guidelines for supplementing with protein during pregnancy.
