Have you heard of the “protein intake ceiling”?

People say you can only digest ~30g of protein per meal and any additional protein is just peed out and wasted

This is BS

Let me tell you why

——THREAD——

This “protein intake ceiling” derives from studies years ago that observed increased nitrogen losses in the urine with increased protein intakes

This was thought to mean that the extra protein was wasted

We now know that when u eat protein, u don’t use it directly—u break it down into amino acids to create their own proteins

When u eat more protein, ur body can afford to lose some

So it replaces damaged or oxidized proteins

Meaning protein synthesis AND breakdown are increased

Going back to the old studies

This is why urinary nitrogen levels are increased

It doesn’t reflect wasted proteins

It reflects an increase in the damaged or oxidized proteins that the new proteins replaced

Also, your body doesn’t just use protein to build muscle, or make other proteins

It uses the nitrogen from amino acids to synthesize important non-protein molecules, such as purines and pyrimidines

These are the building blocks for nucleic acids such as DNA and RNA

Lastly, your small intestines store and absorb a ton of amino acids that your body will be ready to use when it has to

The overall protein usage from small intestine ingestion is around 91-95%

The moral of this thread is:

The idea that eating more than 30g of protein results in wasted protein is incorrect

Your body will break down and find a way to use all the protein you eat