Dr. John & Mary McDougall
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A Brief History of Protein: Passion, Social Bigotry, Rats, and Enlightenment
John McDougall M.D.
Nutrition is an emotional subject and nothing arouses people's passions more than the subject of protein in their diet. Widely divergent opinions on whether more protein or less is best, and on the merits of animal vs. vegetable sources, have been debated for more than 150 years. And for all that time solid scientific research has clearly supported the wisdom of a diet low in protein -- favoring vegetable sources. So far, however, the scientific facts have fought a losing battle against popular opinion -- which values high-protein diets based on animal foods. Mark Twain once said, "Truth is mighty and will prevail. There is nothing wrong with this, except that it ain't so." Even though the facts may never become popular knowledge, I will always believe it is your fundamental right to know the truth about your nutritional requirements -- this vital information should be taught from childhood as basic education, along with reading, writing, and mathematics -- and along with health facts such as cigarettes cause lung damage, drunk driving kills, and automobile safety belts save lives.
High Protein Standard Set by Social Bigotry
One of the earliest proponents of high protein diets was the distinguished German physiologist Dr. Carl Voit (1831-1908).1,2 After studying laborers who consumed approximately 3100 Calories daily, he concluded that protein intake for people should be 118 grams (g) per day -- this value became known as the "Voit standard." How did he reach this conclusion? He believed that people with sufficient income to afford almost any choice of foods -- from meat to vegetables -- would instinctively select a diet containing the right amount of protein to maintain health and productivity. Other European and American authorities made similar observations about the eating habits of working men with sufficient incomes to afford meat and came to similar conclusions -- ultimately recommending diets high in protein (100 and 189 grams of protein a day). No experiments were performed on the human body to reach these conclusions. Information on the diets of vigorous individuals living during these times and following low-protein vegetarian diets was largely ignored.2,3 The healthy active lives of hundreds of millions of less affluent people laboring in Asia, Africa, and Central and South America on diets with less than half the amount of protein recommended by Dr. Voit (and almost no meat), were overlooked when experts established protein requirements that still affect us today.3,4
What arrogance! To conclude that the superior intellect of moderately affluent people of European descent would cause them to naturally come to correct conclusions about their personal nutritional needs. What foolishness! You can see the effects of self-selection when unrestricted food choices are available. What do more than one billion people living in the 21st century choose? McDonald's, Burger King, Pizza Hut -- need more be said about people's innate wisdom to make food selections in their best interests? Unfortunately, these flawed recommendations based upon such social bigotry have not yet been silenced by over 100 years of scientific research.
Russell Henry Chittenden Tells the Truth a Century Ago
Such narrow-minded thinking should have been stopped by 1905 when Russell Henry Chittenden, Yale University Professor of Physiological Chemistry, published his scientific findings on human protein needs in his classic book, Physiological Economy in Nutrition.2 Professor Chittenden believed Dr. Voit had cause and effect reversed: people did not become prosperous because they ate high protein diets, but rather they ate meat and other expensive high protein foods because they could afford them. One hundred years ago he wrote, "We are all creatures of habit, and our palates are pleasantly excited by the rich animal foods with their high content of proteid (protein), and we may well question whether our dietetic habits are not based more upon the dictates of our palates than upon scientific reasoning or true physiological needs."
He reasoned that we should know the minimal protein requirement for the healthy man (and woman), and believed that any protein intake beyond our requirements could cause injury to our body, especially to the liver and kidneys. As he explained it, "Fats and carbohydrates when oxidized in the body are ultimately burned to simple gaseous products . . . easily and quickly eliminated..." "With proteid (protein) foods . . . when oxidized, (they) yield a row of crystalline nitrogenous products which ultimately pass out of the body through the kidneys. (These nitrogen-based protein byproducts) -- frequently spoken of as toxins -- float about through the body and may exercise more or less of a deleterious influence upon the system, or, being temporarily deposited, may exert some specific or local influence that calls for their speedy removal." With these few words Professor Chittenden explained the deleterious effects of diets high in protein and meat -- consequences too few practicing doctors know about today.
The First Scientific Experiments on Our Protein Needs
Professor Chittenden's first experiment was on himself. For nine months, he recorded his own body weight, which decreased from 143 pounds (65 Kg) to 128 pounds (58 kg) on his new diet of one-third the protein that Dr. Voit recommended. Chittenden's health remained excellent and he described his condition as being with "greater freedom from fatigue and muscular soreness than in previous years of a fuller dietary." He had suffered from arthritis of his knee and discovered that by reducing his intake of meat his condition disappeared and his "sick headaches" and bilious attacks (abdominal pains) no longer appeared periodically as before; plus he fully maintained his mental and physical activity, with a protein intake of about 40 grams a day.
Chittenden performed valid scientific studies by collecting data on the daily dietary and urine histories of his subjects (including himself) to determine protein utilization. Because he was contradicting the known "truths" of his time, he proceeded with extreme caution with his further investigations. He organized three controlled trials with increasing demands for testing the adequacy of diets lower in protein than commonly recommended.
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