A November 2022 study by the University of Sydney said,
“As people consume more junk foods or highly processed and refined foods, they dilute their dietary protein and increase their risk of being overweight and obese, which we know increases the risk of chronic disease,”
“It’s increasingly clear that our bodies eat to satisfy a protein target,”
“Humans, like many other species, have a stronger appetite for protein than for the main energy-providing nutrients of fats and carbohydrates. That means that if the protein in our diet is diluted with fats and carbohydrates, we will eat more energy to get the protein that our bodies crave.”
“The problem with randomised controlled trials is that it treats diet as a disease, when it’s not,”
“Laboratory studies may not be indicative of what people are actually eating and doing at a population level. So this study is important as it builds on work, showing that people do seek out protein. And it confirms that, at a population level, as the proportion of energy from protein increases in the diet, people eat less fats and carbohydrates.”
“The results support an integrated ecological and mechanistic explanation for obesity, in which low-protein, highly processed foods lead to higher energy intake in response to a nutrient imbalance driven by a dominant appetite for protein,”
“It supports a central role for protein in the obesity epidemic, with significant implications for global health.”
“The protein mechanism in appetite is a revolutionary insight,”
“Obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease - they’re all driven by diet, and we have to use what we’re learning to bring them under control.”