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Protein diets are dangerous to your health
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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Protein diets are widely popular among healthy eating advocates. This diet is based on animal proteins (beef, veal, liver, heart, fish and seafood, black and red caviar, hard cheeses, eggs, etc.), which are necessary for the body to function normally (due to a lack of protein, the ability to restore tissues gradually decreases).
This type of diet promotes rapid weight loss, however, according to experts, such a diet can significantly harm your health.
A recent study on this topic showed that a protein diet significantly increases the risk of premature death. Several thousand volunteers aged 50 to 65 took part in the experiment. The health of the participants was monitored by doctors. As the examinations showed, when following a protein diet, premature death was recorded in 75% of cases, in addition, the risk of developing a malignant tumor increased fourfold. Scientists suggest that a protein diet is comparable in danger to smoking 20 cigarettes a day.
The research group has already published the results of two studies that prove the harm of such a diet. According to the results of one of the studies, people who consumed large amounts of protein had a fourfold increased risk of developing diabetes or cancer. As a rule, such patients consumed up to 20% of protein from the total caloric intake of the diet. In general, meat lovers had twice the mortality rate compared to those who consumed no more than 10% of protein from the total caloric intake. As the researchers noted, it is preferable to consume plant protein in food, which is more beneficial for health.
Scientists explained that consuming animal protein in large quantities affects the production of growth hormone, which is important for the metabolism of adults, but in addition, growth hormone increases the likelihood of developing cancer.
A protein diet is only useful for people over 65, since at this age the production of growth hormone is significantly reduced, and protein helps to increase its secretion. In old age, experts recommend consuming about 0.8 g of animal protein per 1 kg of weight.
Another study by a Sydney research group found that a protein diet promotes fat deposition and reduces appetite. In the experiment, the specialists used about a hundred rodents that were kept on various diets, as a result it was found that a large amount of protein provokes the development of endocrine and cardiovascular diseases and reduces life expectancy.
According to scientists, the most dangerous diet is one that contains a large amount of fat and a small amount of protein.
Earlier, the US media analyzed more than 40 diets that the average American chose most often. The results showed that the most optimal and useful is the Dash nutrition system, which is based on vegetables, fruits, and grains.
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