2480: Straight Talk about Protein and Kidney Damage by Christian Finn of Muscle Evo on Renal Function & Brenner Hypothesis

[00:00:00] Dreaming of a better sleep, tossing in turning is not your destiny. And Ali is here to help.

[00:00:08] Ali invites you to sink into sweet, sweet slumber to improve your mental and physical

[00:00:13] health and overall wellness. More than just melatonin, Ali's ingredients help you

[00:00:18] wind your mind for a delightfully dreamy drift off.

[00:00:22] Sleep is on the way at Ali.com. That's ollly.com

[00:00:30] Why take one vacation with the family when you could take all of them?

[00:00:33] With Royal Caribbean, you don't just go to the beach.

[00:00:36] You visit a private island and race down the tallest water slide in North America.

[00:00:41] You don't just go for a road trip, you ATV and zip line through the jungle.

[00:00:46] You don't just go somewhere new.

[00:00:48] You repel down waterfalls and discover ancient temples because this isn't just any

[00:00:53] vacation. This is all the vacations. Come seek the Royal Caribbean.

[00:00:58] This is Optimal Health Daily, Episode 2480. Straight talk about protein and kidney damage

[00:01:06] by Christian Finn of MuscleEvo.net. And I'm Dr. Neal, your very own personal narrator.

[00:01:13] Hey there happy Monday and welcome back to another week of Optimal Health Daily.

[00:01:17] This is where I read you from some of the best health and fitness blogs on the web,

[00:01:22] kind of like an ongoing audiobook and always with a bit of my commentary at the end.

[00:01:26] Now with that, let's get right to the post as we optimize your life.

[00:01:35] Straight talk about protein and kidney damage by Christian Finn of MuscleEvo.net.

[00:01:42] The idea that a high protein diet puts stress on the kidneys that are unable to handle

[00:01:47] is something that people have been arguing about for years. It dates back to the early 1980s

[00:01:52] when Dr. Barry Brenner proposed a link between high protein diets and the progression of

[00:01:57] renal disease, and of course renal refers to the kidneys.

[00:02:02] In short, the Brenner hypothesis proposes that eating large amounts of protein on a regular

[00:02:07] basis has a negative effect on kidney function by increasing both lomerular pressure and renal

[00:02:13] hyper filtration. This compromises renal function which in turn increases the risk for or

[00:02:19] the progression of renal disease. It's true that a low protein diet helps to prevent the

[00:02:25] deterioration in renal function in patients with renal failure. That's because one of the

[00:02:30] main jobs of the kidneys is to remove the end products of protein metabolism from the body.

[00:02:35] They act like a bit of a sieve, filtering out any unwanted substances in the blood and sending

[00:02:41] them to the bladder where they can be removed in the urine. But the majority of scientific

[00:02:46] evidence cited by Brenner and his colleagues were generated from animal models and patients

[00:02:51] with existing renal disease. While protein restriction may be suitable for treating someone

[00:02:57] with existing kidney disease, there's no evidence to show that high protein intakes can lead

[00:03:02] to kidney damage and healthy individuals. A study by Belgian researchers examined the

[00:03:08] diets of young male athletes to see if their high levels of protein intake had any negative

[00:03:13] impact on kidney function. One group consisted solely of bodybuilders, while subjects in Group

[00:03:20] 2 took part in a variety of sports such as cycling, judo and rowing. On average, the bodybuilders

[00:03:27] consumed about 3,900 calories each day and 169 grams of protein per day or about 1.9 grams

[00:03:36] of protein per kilogram of body weight. Group 2 consumed around 2600 calories and 99 grams

[00:03:44] of protein daily or about 1.4 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. Some of the bodybuilders

[00:03:51] consumed up to 2.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. Despite the high levels of dietary

[00:03:57] protein, blood and urine samples showed that all markers of kidney function were well

[00:04:02] within the normal range. In a 12-month study of 68 overweight men and women, a low carbohydrate

[00:04:09] diet providing around 130 grams of protein per day had no adverse effects on renal function

[00:04:16] compared to a high carbohydrate diet providing roughly 85 grams of protein per day. There

[00:04:21] were no significant changes in creatinine levels in the blood or estimated glomerular filtration

[00:04:27] rate, both of which are used to check how well the kidneys are working. University of

[00:04:32] Connecticut researchers reached a similar conclusion when they reviewed years of research

[00:04:36] on the subject. After trawling through dozens of studies on dietary protein and renal function,

[00:04:42] they found no research carried out on healthy individuals to demonstrate a clear link

[00:04:47] between increased dietary protein intake and a detrimental strain on the kidneys. Their

[00:04:53] conclusion reads as follows. Quote, although excessive protein intake remains a health concern

[00:04:59] in individuals with pre-existing renal disease, the literature lacks significant research

[00:05:04] demonstrating a link between protein intake and the initiation or progression of renal disease

[00:05:10] in healthy individuals. More importantly, evidence suggests that protein-induced changes

[00:05:16] in renal function are likely a normal adaptive mechanism well within the functional limits

[00:05:22] of a healthy kidney. Without question long-term studies are needed to clarify the scant

[00:05:27] evidence currently available regarding this relationship. At present, there is not sufficient

[00:05:33] proof to warrant public health directives aimed at restricting dietary protein intake and

[00:05:38] healthy adults for the purpose of preserving renal function.

[00:05:43] When researchers from Florida's Nova Southeastern University compared two protein intakes

[00:05:49] over an eight-week period, 2.3 grams of protein per kilogram body weight, versus 3.4 grams

[00:05:56] of protein per kilogram body weight per day, they found no evidence to suggest that the

[00:06:01] high intake of protein had any kind of adverse effect on the kidneys. Despite the high

[00:06:06] levels of dietary protein, markers of kidney function remained well within the normal range.

[00:06:12] What's more, protein has formed a safe part of the human diet for many years and there's

[00:06:17] no good reason to believe that this level of intake is unhealthy or unsafe.

[00:06:26] You just listen to the post-titled Straight Talk about protein and kidney damage by Christian

[00:06:31] Finn of MuscleEvo.net and I'll be right back with my commentary.

[00:06:35] Why take one vacation with the family when you could take all of them? With Royal Caribbean,

[00:06:40] you don't just go to the beach, you visit a private island and race down the tallest

[00:06:45] water slide in North America. You don't just go for a road trip, you ATV and zip line through

[00:06:51] the jungle. You don't just go somewhere new. You repel down waterfalls and discover ancient

[00:06:56] temples because this isn't just any vacation. This is all the vacations. Come seek the Royal

[00:07:03] Caribbean.

[00:07:04] It's only a kick, a jump, a block. It's only a serve, it's only a tackle, a run,

[00:07:19] it's only for the fans. After all, it's only pressure. You got this. Adidas.

[00:07:32] Dr. Neil here for my commentary. When I was in school taking some of my advanced nutrition

[00:07:37] classes, we learned that eating too much protein can damage the kidneys. That was what researchers

[00:07:43] had found at the time. But as Christian said in today's article, that has changed over

[00:07:49] time. And again, one caveat to this, of course if someone has underlying kidney disease

[00:07:54] and their doctor says they need to reduce their protein intake, then that's absolutely

[00:07:59] what they should do. But back to this idea that unhealthy individuals too much protein

[00:08:04] can kill the kidneys, the unfortunate thing is when it comes to nutrition advice, these

[00:08:10] types of reversals in thinking like again high protein intakes can lead to kidney damage

[00:08:16] can lead to mistrust. But we need to remember changes to nutrition recommendations over time

[00:08:22] should actually lead to more trust. Let me give you an example, if there were lots of

[00:08:29] studies that found that extra protein didn't increase the risk for kidney damage and in

[00:08:34] spite of all this evidence, the nutrition recommendations never changed. Wouldn't that be worse?

[00:08:42] It's actually a really good thing that more studies are being conducted and that nutrition

[00:08:46] recommendations change based on these studies. If the recommendations never changed, that would

[00:08:53] actually be a reason to mistrust guidelines. Medicine, nutrition, exercise science in each

[00:09:00] of these fields we are learning more and more about how the human body responds to each

[00:09:06] thanks to evolving science. So when it comes to nutrition reversals like these where

[00:09:11] we change our thoughts about what we're recommending, that's actually a very good thing.

[00:09:17] Alright that'll do it for today's episode. Thank you so much for being here every day

[00:09:21] and sharing this show with someone. I hope you have a great start to your week and I'll

[00:09:26] be back here tomorrow as usual where your optimal life awaits.