High Protein Diets: Allies or Enemies? Article Review

Abstract

The belief that, either in high intake or in general, protein consumption causes kidney damage is widely extended. It is known that protein intake limitation helps reducing diabetic and non-diabetic CKD, and their associated consequences. On the other hand, protein helps in sport performance and building muscle mass, and some clinical trials have shown what protein intake causes at functional and biochemical parameters in healthy sportsmen and women. There are two opposite arguments about protein intake: some say it causes kidney damage, others say that there is no negative impact. Putting them together, one could tell that protein intake in a kidney that is already malfunctioning may lead to its destruction, while there is no risk of harm in those that are healthy. Defenders of the first argument support that there is a need to be careful with protein quantity, and that it should be reduced; those who support free protein consumption, even high protein intake, argue that it apparently doesn’t bring kidney damage. In this review considerable data and sources were gathered, such as clinical trials in animals and humans (healthy, pre-illness stage and ill ones), in order to clarify if those statements are reasonable or not, and to put new hypothesis and possible answers on the table.