Your protein source is important!
Protein is “IN”. With the advent of high protein named diets (Paleo, Atkins, Caveman, etc) and all the good press protein has received as of late (satiety, muscle building, weight loss), its no surprise that many are jumping on this bandwagon. Head to your local grocery store and the amount of protein supplements (beyond foods) is staggering. Heading to a natural health or supplement store adds an even more dizzying array of choices.
Historically people chose protein (be it food or supplement) based on primarily two factors: price and taste preferences. Because protein is protein is protein…. NOT SO FAST.
Recently researchers involved in a long, large scale study (over 81,000 people) measuring the link between lifestyle, diet, disease and mortality set their sights on investigating protein sources and their link to health outcomes.
They found:
People consuming the most meat protein intake saw a 61% increase in cardiovascular mortality risk
People consuming the most protein from nuts and seeds was linked to a 40% reduction in risk
No significant associations with risk were found for protein sourced from grains, processed foods or the collective group ‘legumes, fruits and vegetables’.
Even after adjusting for factors associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) like fats and elements of vegetarian dietary patterns the results stand.
These are rather compelling results that add a healthy argument for being vegetarian (or mostly vegetarian), eating and supplementing your protein from a wide variety of foods with a focus on including nuts and seeds.
““These results provide more evidence on the benefits of avoiding red meats, and including small quantities of nuts (12-14/d) in the diet to probably reduce risk of cardiovascular disease,” advised researchers.”
