About… High-Protein Diets: Let's Discuss about it

Abstract

Considering the continuous increase of overweight and obesity cases all over the world, the general population shows greater interest in the use of High-Protein diets to contrast this phenomenon. There are still several doubts about the long-term safety of High-Protein diets, especially with regard to the potential development and progression of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). High-Protein diets have been correlated to kidney hypertrophy, glomerular hyperfiltration, CKD acceleration, increased proteinuria, greater risk of nephrolithiasis and various metabolic changes. While it is now generally accepted that these conditions may determine progressive kidney failure in individuals already suffering from CKD, the consequences of a high protein intake on healthy subjects is less clear. A global understanding of the risks related to High-Protein diets is still limited due the lack of both rigorous long-term studies on humans and a universally recognised definition of High-Protein diet. For this reasons, High-Protein diets are not recommended for people with GFR <60 mL/min, and healthy subjects should first undergo a screening test to measure serum creatinine and microalbuminuria. Thus, considering that most of the studies and meta-analysis published until now show that High-Protein diets are neither salutary nor detrimental in terms of long-term weight loss, it seems premature to recommend such diets for the treatment of overweight and obesity conditions.