Nicole Astra: Dr. Mario, do our bodies actually need animal protein?

Dr. Mario E. Torres-Leon: What a great question, Nicole. This is something that has been debated over and over again. However, what is the clincher? The clincher is, do we have data to support one way or the other? And it's interesting, recently there was an article that came out of the Journal of Sports Medicine and researchers out of south Paolo Brazil. And they took on this particular question. Now, the fact of the matter is no matter what the source of the protein is, what is the distinction between a vegan, let's say, diet, or maybe somebody who has an omnivore sort of diet, is that there is a difference in terms of what is the protein content that a particular food element is going to have and the impact that that has on the body. So what does that mean? This is an important distinction to be made. What research has found is that after three months of looking over the period of those 12 weeks at the participants of the study and the particular diets that they were assigning to them, they noticed no statistical significant difference in terms of their muscle gain.

So now let's actually go a little bit deeper into that because there is a distinction that is super important. When we're talking about the protein that is animal-based protein, we know that the concentration or the amount of protein per weight that is being consumed is actually highest when we talk about animal protein. And when we compare that to a vegan or plant protein based sort of diet, we also know that the content of the protein per the volume or weight of food that is being consumed is actually less. Now independent of that, there's one key component that should be, everybody's bells in their heads should be ringing right now because it's actually really important. And it is that they both contain an amino acid that is essential for the production of muscle fibers, what's called anabolic activity or building up activity. And that amino acid is actually called leukin, L E U K I N.

And what researchers have found is that that particular amino acid is present whether somebody is having a vegan diet or they're actually consuming a diet that has protein from animal sources. But the difference, if you will, is that the amount contained in that plant protein sort of diet is going to be less. And the conclusion of that, since now researchers are starting to recognize and there's a data that confirms that the net result, in other words, after consuming your diet and adjusting for that difference in the quantity of a protein, that your muscle mass is going to end up being the same is that you'll have to consume more of the protein that comes from the plans to be able to compensate for what we know is the case, which is there is less concentration of those proteins in the vegan diet or plant protein based diets compared to the animal diets.

So the good news is there are alternatives, and we can definitely deep dive into some of those benefits at a later date, talking about how those diets are essential, when you're talking about the vegan, and the benefits of the have versus let's say going fully into an animal based protein diet.

Nicole Astra: And really the goal is complete nutrition. And people do need to be aware of what a balanced diet really entails.

Dr. Mario E. Torres-Leon: Exactly. And by knowing this data, Nicole, we can actually talk about that balance. And really, I like to think of it when I talk to my patients about creating harmony in terms of what's being consumed and ultimately, what are the effects that are being sought after, when we introduce some of those new elements into the dietary habits.

Nicole Astra: Great info. Thanks Dr. Mario.

Dr. Mario E. Torres-Leon: Thanks for having me.