You're probably not eating enough protein

We need to double our daily protein intake to about 100g a day, says a leading scientist.

- JOHN NAISH

Suddenly we’re being told we’re not eating half as much protein each day as we should. Professor Stuart Phillips, an expert in muscle growth from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, said that the recommended level of protein intake in midlife must be at least doubled to save us from frailty and premature death.

Doubled? As a health journalist of more than 30 years’ standing, my lip curled at the news. Countless times I’ve heard medical-expert evangelists declare that we’re perilously deficient in some vitamin X or nutrient Y, only to discover that they’re quietly taking money from a supplement company or have a mad fad diet plan about to hit the shelves. Moreover, how on earth would we manage to double our protein intake without spending our whole time eating or developing an extortionate dependency on bodybuilders’ powders?

I canvassed some leading dieticians, eager to hear their derision. Oh, but hang on… ‘Prof Phillips is quite right,’ they tell me. Science is indeed revealing the sad fact that once we hit our forties our bodies’ ability to turn dietary protein into vital muscle starts to wither.

The official guidelines, the dieticians add, haven’t caught up. This leaves the recommended nutritional intake looking worryingly insufficient. We’re generally advised to consume 0.8g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day – about 55g on average for men and 45g for women.

Prof Phillips says we need twice that amount. ‘My advice is that if you are in midlife or older, aim for at least double: 1.6g per kilogram per day. That’s optimal,’ he says.