Protein: How much do you need?

A patient came to see me.  Lovely lady.  Mother of 4 young kids.  She was experiencing sudden episodes of extreme fatigue, feeling faint, short of breath, and very anxious.  A previous doctor told her she was burnt-out and had prescribed an anti-depressant medicine for her.  It wasn’t helping.  In fact, she felt worse, and the episodes were becoming more frequent and more intense. 

I asked about her diet.  She didn’t have much time to attend to her own nutrition because she was always preparing meals and lunchboxes for her kids and husband.  She read that intermittent fasting was good for energy and brain fog so her first meal would be around 2pm when she would have a baguette with butter, jam and cheese, usually with a glass of orange juice.  She might have a cookie and some fruit in the afternoon.  And dinner… maybe some salad, chicken nuggets or whatever the kids didn’t finish.

Her blood tests showed she was low in iron, low in vitamin B12, low in protein and her average blood sugar was high placing her in the pre-diabetic range even though she was slim and really didn’t eat much at all. 

We calculated her protein intake, and it was less than 20g per day, way below her recommended daily requirement of 65-70g.  I asked her to make simple change:   Include protein-based foods whenever she ate (meals and snacks).  And, to stop the anti-depressant.  Within 3 weeks, the episodes had completely disappeared and her overall energy levels improved.   

By adding protein-based foods to her meals, she improved her blood glucose and corrected the nutrient deficiencies.

So, how much protein do you need? 

For most people:  0.8-1.2g protein per kg bodyweight per day

If you are very active, recovering from surgery or pregnant, you will likely need more than this.