SHOULD PARENTS BE WORRIED?

SHOULD PARENTS BE WORRIED?

By Shane Robert

I try not to read exercise and nutrition articles that come from the mainstream media. Most of them are infuriating for their lack of understanding of how to interpret a study, or for pushing some nonsense diet trend. As bad as those are, there is nothing that grinds my gears more than the fearmongering headlines and articles.

Despite my best efforts to avoid them, some of these articles are brought to my attention. Usually by a client or family member who saw the article and wants to know my opinion or, perhaps more accurately, my rebuttal. I try to keep calm and give a level-headed, reasoned, and informative response, ignoring my instinct to yell, “What a load a b.s.!”

I recently had just such an occurrence when a client sent me a text that said, “thoughts,” with a link to an article from a well-known news outlet with the headline:

TEEN BOYS ARE EATING PROTEIN TO BULK UP—SHOULD PARENTS BE WORRIED?

Good gravy, Marie! I hate this on so many levels. The article went on to imply a few things that are just so aggravating. The overall theme of the article seemed to be that the desire to eat more protein and ‘bulk up’ is a worrying sign that portends trouble. After all, why would any sane person want to ‘bulk up’ and change their bodies? There was, of course, the necessary warning that this desire to eat more protein could be a gateway to harder physique supplements like the dreaded life-ruiner creatine. Naturally, following the use of creatine, our city streets will be overrun with hyperjacked and aggressive steroid addicts.

It even went so far as to talk to a registered dietician. That’s good, right? Bring in someone educated on the topic to allay everyone’s fears that their sweet baby boy is going to become a steroid zombie. Alas, this RD chose to caution parents that high protein intake is stressful to the liver and kidney (a claim that has been SOUNDLY debunked over and over again) and very likely will lead to nutrient deficiencies or even DEATH from protein toxicity (a condition also known as Rabbit Starvation that occurs when a diet consists of naught but very, very lean protein like rabbit or caribou). Instead, so says this RD, kids are fine sticking to the all-mighty government recommendation of .8 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight.

Frankly, this RD should have their license revoked and possibly be tarred and feathered. While protein toxicity is a real thing, fat is a very necessary nutrient in our diet (see the Skinny of Fat series for more details). Show me a single instance where it has happened in a Western country. The only time you hear about it is someone in a survival situation or dealing with widespread crop failures, which means basically never! Crazy carnivore diet people don’t even get this issue.

The idea that, if you are lucky and manage to avoid death, you will experience some kind of nutrient deficiency is just as absurd. Let’s say we have a 135-pound kid who is currently eating. Even if someone goes from eating 50 grams of protein, right around the RDA, to 135 grams per day, that’s only 340 calories. If this person only eats the standard 2000 calories per day, which is probably low for a teenager, that still leaves 1,660 calories to get fat and carbs! And guess what? Study after study shows that the RDA is woefully low on protein to maximize muscle protein synthesis, so the RD is wrong there, too.

It bothers me that the idea of wanting to build muscle and get stronger is somehow bad. It bothers me that trying to eat to support that goal is somehow bad. In a society where the majority of people struggle with being overweight or obese, is eating more protein and lifting weight really the thing we should be cautioning parents about? How is self-improvement viewed as a negative thing, possibly even a mental health condition? Maybe the headline should read:

NEARLY 20% OF KIDS ARE OBESE—SHOULD PARENTS BE WORRIED?