Protein is all over the place currently. Whether or not it’s a health professional telling you to beef up your protein consumption, a girls’s well being professional warning you concerning the risks of muscle loss in perimenopause, or a perimenopausal influencer making a comedy reel about all of the overwhelming suggestions for higher well being in center age (extra protein included), it feels as if protein is having a second.
As a result of menopause is changing into large enterprise—and perimenopause together with it—these voices encouraging us to eat extra protein as we undergo the menopause transition are louder than ever.
Earlier than we get into whether or not girls in perimenopause or post-menopause want extra protein, let’s get a greater understanding of what protein does for the human physique typically.
What Protein Truly Does within the Physique
Protein is a naturally occurring substance within the human physique, composed of chemical constructing blocks often known as amino acids.
Our our bodies make a few of these amino acids, however there are 9 that we will’t make on our personal. These are those we should get from the protein we eat.
Protein in meals is present in each animal merchandise and vegetation. Some plant meals—like soy merchandise, quinoa, and sure leafy greens—comprise all 9 important amino acids, identical to meat does. Others comprise most, however not all.
Opposite to in style perception, this doesn’t imply you’ll be able to’t get sufficient protein from vegetation. It merely means your eating regimen needs to be diverse to make sure you’re getting all of the important amino acids your physique doesn’t produce.
Consuming protein-rich meals is necessary as a result of protein helps your total physique perform. Sure, it’s good for constructing muscle—but it surely’s additionally important for constructing and repairing practically your entire cells and tissues. In accordance with the FDA, proteins are chargeable for your bones, muscle tissues, organs, and bodily fluids, in addition to your pores and skin, hair, and nails. Additionally they play a job in immune response, imaginative and prescient, blood clotting, and the manufacturing of enzymes and hormones.
With out protein, we wouldn’t have the ability to develop or survive.
In contrast to carbs and fats, our our bodies can’t actually retailer protein. As an alternative, we break down the protein we eat to get these necessary amino acids, that are then used all through each system within the physique.
That’s why it’s so necessary to eat sufficient protein repeatedly. When you digest it, it’s used or recycled inside your physique—and also you want extra to maintain every thing operating easily.
I’m not suggesting you continuously have to be consuming protein, however making certain that you’ve sufficient regularly is crucial.
How A lot Protein Is Sufficient?
Ladies’s mind well being registered dietitian Barbie Boules recommends that ladies goal for 1.2–1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of physique weight per day.
For somebody who weighs 150 kilos (68 kg), that’s not less than 82 grams of protein day by day.
Dr. Lauren Colenso-Semple, a analysis scientist specializing in girls’s well being and health, agrees that you need to goal for no less than 1.2 g per kg or 0.55 g per pound.
Each specialists agree that the present RDA (advisable day by day allowance) of 0.8 g/kg is simply too low. Additionally they word that intakes at or above 1.6 g/kg (0.73 g/lb) aren’t harmful and could also be proper in instances of very energetic people, however they’re not crucial for everybody both.
For context:
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6 oz rooster breast = 37.8 g
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6 oz tofu = ~14 g
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1 cup cottage cheese = 28 g
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1 giant egg = ~6 g
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2 tbsp peanut butter = 8 g
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¼ cup steel-cut oats = 5 g
Basically, when you’re consuming a a eating regimen of principally minimally-processed meals from all kinds of sources, you have to be simply tremendous.
Protein and the Menopause Transition
So, what about girls within the menopause transition? Do they really want extra protein than everybody else?
Probably not.
There are some wild claims suggesting that ladies lose as much as 10% of their muscle mass throughout menopause—however the knowledge doesn’t again that up.
Each ladies and men lose a small quantity of muscle mass yearly beginning of their thirties. Ladies lose round 0.37% per 12 months, whereas males lose round 0.47% per 12 months. That is very true when you’re not doing something to intentionally construct muscle mass (we’ll get to that in a second).
As soon as we hit 75, muscle-mass loss will increase to round 0.64–0.7% per 12 months for girls and 0.8–0.98% per 12 months for males.
In accordance with Dr. Colenso-Semple—quoted in an article for The Vajenda—this is smart as a result of as we grow old, we’re usually much less bodily energetic, which impacts muscle loss:
“Relying on the measurement method, the speed of muscle loss is ~0.05% to ~1% per 12 months. Ageing and lowered bodily exercise typically go hand in hand, so muscle loss in people over 75 tends to be larger than muscle loss in people of their early 60s.”
She additionally notes that, to this point, the proof doesn’t point out that the lower in estrogen—which performs a giant position within the menopause transition—has any direct influence on muscle loss.
The 2 issues that put some perimenopausal and post-menopausal girls at barely increased danger for muscle loss are decreased bodily exercise and having much less lean muscle to start with.
When you’re beginning with much less muscle, you don’t have as a lot to lose.
Protein Alone Received’t Construct Muscle
We all know protein is crucial for constructing muscle—however protein alone received’t make your muscle tissues develop.
You may’t eat your technique to extra muscle.
If that had been true, individuals on the carnivore eating regimen could be ripped with out ever setting foot in a gymnasium.
As a way to really construct muscle, it’s a must to add power coaching. With out rising the load you’re asking your muscle tissues to hold, they received’t develop or get stronger.
So the advice for girls in perimenopause to eat considerably extra protein than Dr. Colenso-Semple’s prompt 0.55 g per pound of physique weight is pointless.
What turns into extra necessary as you grow old is staying bodily energetic—and ideally including resistance coaching—to forestall and sluggish the method of muscle loss that’s extra related to getting older than menopause itself.
So eat all of the protein you need, however ensure you’re additionally giving your muscle tissues a lift by lifting weights, too.
The Backside Line
Protein is crucial at all ages—but it surely’s not a magic bullet.
For midlife girls, the mix of enough protein and common power coaching is what retains your physique robust, useful, and succesful for many years to return.
Eat sufficient, transfer your physique, raise some weights, and construct a physique that lasts. —Naomi
References:
Article in The Vajenda by Dr. Jen Gunter: https://vajenda.substack.com/p/muscle-mass-and-perimenopause
Entrance Web page Health podcast with Dr. Lauren Colenso-Semple and Dr. Eric Trexler masking protein particularly: https://podcasts.apple.com/il/podcast/ep-5-is-protein-over-rated/id1809853430?i=1000709352461
