Considering the health effects of excess dietary protein, what advice would you
ID: 124020 • Letter: C
Question
Considering the health effects of excess dietary protein, what advice would you have for a college athlete who tells you he want to bulk up his muscles and report the following information about his food intake? He eat large portions of meat (usually red meat) at least twice a day. He drinks whole milk two or three times a day and eat eggs and bacon for breakfast almost every day. He avoids breads, cereals, and pasta in order to save room for protein rich foods such as meat , milk,and eggs. He eats a piece of fruit once in a while but seldom eats vegetables because they are too time consuming to prepare. Considering the health effects of excess dietary protein, what advice would you have for a college athlete who tells you he want to bulk up his muscles and report the following information about his food intake? He eat large portions of meat (usually red meat) at least twice a day. He drinks whole milk two or three times a day and eat eggs and bacon for breakfast almost every day. He avoids breads, cereals, and pasta in order to save room for protein rich foods such as meat , milk,and eggs. He eats a piece of fruit once in a while but seldom eats vegetables because they are too time consuming to prepare.Explanation / Answer
Dietary proteins is good to build muscle mass for an athlete or sports person. But it should contain the proteins from animals as well as plants because the food containing animal and plant proteins together give the full protein value. The college athlete has only consumed the animal proteins, which is not good for health. As he has not consumed carb, fruits and vegetables, there will be loss of nutrients in his diet in terms of vitamins, minerals which are the key nutrients to keep the body healthy and to boost up the immunity as the fruits and vegetables contains antioxidants which eliminates the free radicals formed in the body. On the contrary, he may be suffered in near future from various health problems related to excess protein rich diet which include weight gain, high cholesterol, kidney disease, osteoporosis, reduced liver and brain function, diabetes, prostate cancer and calcium stones.
Therefore, the college athlete should be advised to restrict the protein intake within the required limits. He should also be advised to include carb, fruits and vegetables in his diet to maintain the healthy body.