How Much Beef to Get Daily Protiein

The majority of Americans already exceed the recommendations for protein intake.

The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein is 0.8 g/kg of body weight per day for adults; 1.0 g/kg of body weight per day for adolescents and 1.5 g/kg of body weight per day for children.  This is deemed adequate, but it may not beoptimal.

Some experts suggest a range of 1 to 1.6 g/kg of body weight per day as a more optimal level. Individual protein needs are highly variable and depend upon life stage, body size and composition, health status, and activity level. While a higher amount may be beneficial for some, scientific evidence also shows "too much of a good thing" can be useless or even harmful. Excess protein is not stored or used efficiently by the body and may inflict a metabolic burden on the bones, kidneys, and liver. Getting the right amount of protein daily matters, but so does timing and the protein source.

Protein is part of every cell of the body, the building block for hormones and enzymes and plays an essential role in many biological functions, such as the building and repair of tissues in the muscles, skin, organs, blood, hair and nails. But to reap the most from your protein ingestion, timing may be a critical component.  Evidence suggests the upper limit on how much protein the body can use at a time is 30 grams.  Therefore, dividing your total daily needs into 25 to 30g servings of protein eaten at meals throughout the day helps the body more efficiently and effectively utilize it.

Protein-rich foods also tend to provide important nutrients like vitamin E, B vitamins, zinc, iron and magnesium. Numerous studies show that the substitution of plant protein for animal protein, especially when replacing processed red meat, was associated with lower mortality.  Plant foods supply an abundance of vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants and other protective compounds against disease. Despite growing public health concerns related to processed and red meat consumption, research findings show there has been little change in the excessive amount of meat consumed by Americans over the last 18 years. That is, until maybe now.

Enter, the COVID-19 meat shortage and rising prices, which may force many to reduce both consumption frequency and portion sizes of meat--- and inadvertently push Americans to replace it with more plant foods. It has been shown that sufficient protein is easily attainable from vegetarian, vegan, and other diets, such as the Mediterranean and DASH diets, which vary from zero to significantly less meat and animal products than the standard American diet.  The well-established benefits of a plant-based eating pattern, including the prevention of cardiovascular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity and the many other chronic illnesses afflicting Americans, support the notion that less is more when it comes to meat consumption. It is also no surprise that reducing meat consumption significantly benefits climate change, the environment and more humane treatment of livestock animals.

Protein is made up of twenty amino acids, but the human body can synthesize only eleven of them.  So,  the other nine must come from the food we eat. While meats are complete proteins that contain all the essential amino acids, individuals can get required amounts by including a diverse assortment of non-meat food sources in their daily meals.

For instance, other single-source complete proteins include fish, eggs, milk, cheese, yogurt, soybeans and quinoa.  However, most plant protein sources tend to be low in one or more of the 9 essential amino acids, and the combining of two different plant proteins to make complete proteins is required.

The good news is protein complementation does not have to be done at the same meal-- you can get all the amino acids over the course of a day. So, if you ate beans for lunch and then had rice with your dinner, you would be adding the limited amino acids methionine that was missing from the beans and lysine missing from the rice.
Here's a reference chart:

Food	Limited Amino Acid	Complement
Beans/Legumes	Methionine	Grains, nuts, seeds
Grains	Lysine, Threonine	Legumes
Nuts/Seeds	Lysine	Legumes, green leafy veggies
Vegetables	Methionine, Histidine, Valine	Grains, nuts, seeds, legumes
Corn	Tryptophan, Lysine	Legumes

While the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the food supply chain and our lives in unprecedented ways, it may also be the catalyst we Americans need to curtail our excessive meat eating ways and an opportunity to develop our palates for alternative meal options like spinach lasagna and black bean burritos.  Perhaps someday soon we will look at this meat shortage as a blessing in disguise for humans and the planet.

High-Protein Plant Foods

Food	Serving	Protein (g)
Lentils	½ cup	9
Black Beans	½ cup	8
Pinto Beans	½ cup	8
Red Kidney Beans	½ cup	8
Black-eyed Peas	½ cup	7
Chickpeas	½ cup	7
Tempeh	½ cup	16
Tofu	½ cup	10
Green peas, cooked	½ cup	5
Artichokes, cooked	1 medium	4
Spinach, cooked	½ cup	3
Wheat Berries	½ cup	6
Kamut	½ cup	6
Quinoa	½ cup	4
Oatmeal	½ cup	3
Pumpkin Seeds	1 ounce	9
Flax Seeds	1 ounce	6
Sunflower Seeds	1 ounce	6
Chia Seeds	1 ounce	5
Peanut Butter	2 Tablespoons	7
Almonds	1 ounce	6
Pistachios	1 ounce	6
Hazelnuts	1 ounce	4
Walnuts	1 ounce	4

References
2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines: Dietary Guidelines for Americans. (n.d.).

Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. (n.d.).

American Society for Nutrition - Nutrition Research & Practice. (n.d.).

Berryman, C. E., et al. (2018). Protein intake trends and conformity with the Dietary Reference Intakes in the United States: analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2001–2014.The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition,108(2), 405–413. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/nqy088

Delimaris, I. (2013). Adverse Effects Associated with Protein Intake above the Recommended Dietary Allowance for Adults. ISRN Nutrition, 2013, 1–6. doi: 10.5402/2013/126929

Gardner, C. D., & Hauser, M. E. (2017). Food Revolution.American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine,11(5), 387–396. doi: 10.1177/1559827617696289

Locke, A., Schneiderhan, J., & Zick, S. M. (2018). Diets for Health: Goals and Guidelines.American family physician,97(11), 721–728.

Song, M., et al. (2016). Association of Animal and Plant Protein Intake With All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality.JAMA Internal Medicine,176(10), 1453. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.4182

These materials are provided to you by Blythedale Children's Hospital and Kohl's
Eat Well, Be Well Nutrition Outreach Program.
For more tips and information, please visit www.blythedale.org/kohls.

Kohl's Eat Well, Be Well Program

Blythedale Children's Hospital, through the generosity of Kohl's Department Stores, is proud to offer Blythedale and Kohl's Eat Well, Be Well, an innovative outreach program designed to bring health and nutrition education to schools throughout Westchester and Putnam counties. Through this program, Blythedale staff members teach healthy eating habits to children by providing curricula, training and educational tools to school districts throughout the area. The program provides general nutrition guidelines to students, parents and school faculty. Blythedale Children's Hospital offers experts in nutrition and health-education to speak with local parenting groups, PTAs and school personnel.

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