HN

Comments (20)

• vannevar
  I don't think that any study on the benefits of protein intake is meaingful if it does not also take into account exercise. The effect of a protein-only diet on a largely sedentary animal that lives in a small cage is likely to be very different than the effect on a human who exercises regularly.
• edelbitter
  > all these data come from nonhuman lab animalsThough what I have see so far is far from everything that could be learned from these surprisingly-humanlike mammals. Still need more research on timing. Maybe protein metabolism is not that different from the better studied methods of derailing glucose metabolism. Maybe the damage is set and done after any prolonged phase of inappropriate diet, and later minor adjustments in consumption have very little additional effect, after controlling for weight and caloric intake.Maybe all humans need to do is watch their protein intake until puberty.. and then only 60 years later, as failing to retain muscle strength becomes more likely to kill them than any detrimental effect of excessive protein intake.
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  surfsvammel
  I don't know. Is there really a signal here when it comes to humans? It seems most of the arguments come from one study? Would be interesting to hear those here at HN that are smarter than me comment on this one.
• gblargg
  https://archive.is/c8Pep (avoid the popups)
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  fireflash38
  I imagine it goes over about as well as trying to get people to be more vegetarian.Protein has become pretty tightly associated in culture with healthy.
• m463
  We know calorie-restricted diets extend life. Are they saying that protein might be the underlying cause, or is their experiment just a hidden calorie-restricted diet?
• jonplackett
  Does this translate to humans though? At the least it should be tested with something living longer than a few years.Mice have a very short window to reproduce compared to humans so n optimisation to live longer in absence of sufficient protein makes more sense.We’re optimising quite different I would assume.
• llm_nerd
  Aside from the normal disclaimer that studies in mice often aren't applicable to human, their low protein diet was a calorie reduced diet, and indeed the outcome of the LPHC group was statistically the same as the calorie-reduced diet.In the LPHC they significantly bulked up the food with non-digestible cellulose, and the net effect was that they were basically testing calorie reduced diets twice.We already know that a calorie deficit extends lifespan in mice, and I'm not sure what this adds."Protein dominates the grocery shelves"This claim is insane. Like fully disconnected from reality.Simple carbs and fats dominate grocery shelves. Yes, they try to upsell you on high protein alternatives as premium priced products, but about 80% of the space in a grocery store are flours / corns / oils / sugars mixed into thousands of different products.
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  scythe
  >Think of the body like a car, suggests Clemence Blouet, a neuroendocrinologist at the University of Cambridge in the UK. You can drive fast, using lots of fuel and putting wear and tear on the auto. Or you can stick to a gentle 15 miles per hour, and the car lasts longer. Living in a high-protein or high-calorie fast lane, she muses, could lead to the accumulation of those pro-aging oxygen radicals. Protein, in particular, also turns on systems that promote growth as well as aging. Restricting the diet could mean fewer of those damaging radicals and less pro-aging actions, keeping the body in smoothly working order for longer.The implications here for quality of life are pessimistic. Also, the "extension" in the study is about 10%, but driving responsibly can make your car last many times longer.
• paulpauper
  I don't think it matters much. People are not mice. The vast majority of people will not overconsume or under-consume protein. There is a huge range where people are eating enough protein.
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  sublinear
  > Protein dominates the grocery shelves: Protein chips. Protein cookies. Protein water.Yeah and most of it is incomplete plant protein missing amino acids.> Protein restriction, Phillips says, is a sort of “lite” version of a more well-known longevity hack — caloric restriction.I'm confused by this since protein is much lower calorie than fat or carbs.