Is Protein Good or Bad for You

A recent study has sent nutrition into confusion as it suggests that animal based protein can cause massive health problems. This makes a lot of diets like the Atkins diet potentially damaging in terms of long-terms effects.
Animal protein is quite simply protein derived from animal products, meat, eggs, dairy etc. This kind of protein was found to increase cancer risk by four times in people under 65 when it makes up a large portion of the diet. Non-animal protein, such as in beans and legumes have a much lower impact on health when eaten at similarly high volumes.
Just to confuse things further, high animal protein diets in those over 65 supposedly promote good health and longevity.
The finding s were the result of a study of 6,381 people, aged 50 or over from the USA, which was undertaken by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
It throws the health benefits of diets like the Atkins into question, as they require massive amounts of protein, and many people in Britain eat more animal based protein than required. The British Dietetic Association 45g for women and 55g for men per day of protein.
It is important to realise that this is a fresh study on nutrition and lifestyle, a notoriously difficult area of study because of how many factors can affect it, such as the fact that the people in the study could have changed their diet over time throughout the study. It is too early yet to draw any firm conclusions and this theory could still be disproved. So don’t throw that ham sandwich away too hastily.