We always talk about how healthy proteins are for our body which is actually true. But on the same hand sometimes excess of these can also be a problem. Proteins are one of three essential nutrients that create base for our healthy diet. Other two include fat and carbohydrates, if these are not in sufficient amount in our diet, then it may cause health problems and adversities. The key is that all three of these should be present in adequate amount to maintain balance of the body and diet, if you consume too many proteins with negligible fats and carbohydrates, it could lead you to protein poisoning. Today we will try to understand this problem and know the causes, symptoms and effects of this poisoning on health.
What is Protein Poisoning?
We talked to clinical nutritionist Ms. Supriya Pandey from Fatima Hospital, Lucknow. She told us about issue of protein poisoning and importance of correct balance in diet. According to her, liver and kidneys play an important role in determining the level of metabolism in the body. If excess amount of proteins are consumed, then increases ammonia, urea and amino acids in the blood stream which can affect your health adversely. It can cause symptoms similar to malnourishment which could lead to extreme fatigue and weakness. However, there are minimal cases which have resulted to fatalities yet, but it can be take months to recover from that stage once a person get protein poisoning.
This condition happens when a person takes excess of proteins and neglects other nutrients from his diet. It is becoming more common these days because youngsters are getting indulged in heavy workout regime and due to misinformation and lack of awareness, they end up taking heavy protein and nutrient less diets which causes harm to their health.
Symptoms of Protein Poisoning
- Mood changes
- Headache
- Nausea
- Weakness
- Extreme fatigue
- Low blood pressure
- Slow heart rate
- Food cravings and sudden hunger
- Diarrhoea
What Causes Protein Poisoning?
As nutritionist mentioned earlier, too less amount of other nutrients in the body with excess of proteins cause protein poisoning. Here are some nutrients which are essential for the body and lack of which can cause protein poisoning.
- Minerals
- Carbohydrates
- Fats
- Vitamins
If there is less than adequate amount of any of these nutrients, the body functions start getting affected and it declines calories in the body. Hence protein poisoning in simple words is caused by imbalance of macronutrients in the body with excess of proteins leading to decline in health.
How Much Protein Is Too Much Protein?
Well, according to nutritionist, if there are more than 35% of total calories coming from proteins itself, then it can lead to protein poisoning. In simple terms, if you consume more than 175 grams of protein in a day which gives around 2000 calories, then there are high chances of you having protein poisoning. It also increases the risk of other chronic diseases and affects the health by decreasing the efficiency of body functions.
When the body functions decrease, then it can cause further health problems which results to a chain reaction in which all the functions get affected somehow in a certain time frame. If this is not treated and controlled, then it may also lead to fatalities.
Effects of Protein Poisoning
There may be some initial effects which might take place of serious problems. We will discuss about some effects of protein poisoning leading to health problems.
1. Dehydration
Excessive amount of protein in the diet can affect your kidney function and make it hard for you to pass urine. This may result to dehydration in the body and affect your health adversely. Dehydration may further cause imbalance, weakness and nausea that might be problematic. You need to have more vegetables and water from immediate effect to avoid this issue.
Also Read- Bone Spurs: All You Need To Know About This Bone Disorder
2. Weight gain
Once you start taking in excess of proteins, it may cause increase in your body weight. This is because excess proteins can disrupt your gut health and result to accumulation of proteins in muscles which will increase weight of your body.
3. Foul Breath
Bad breath is another issue which is very important factor in your routine life. You cannot afford to have bad breath all the time. High proteins may lead to foul breadth from your mouth and this may get prolonged until you control your protein intake. This situation occurs because body consumes fat and carbs accumulated over the muscles and stomach that burns and causes foul breadth. It can be easily treated by consuming sufficient amount of carbohydrates and other important nutrients.
4. Mental Health Problems
Due to excess intake of proteins in the body, it might also cause depression and mental health issues because balance of body is gone. Healthy body means having healthy mind, if one gets affected, then the other might also have problems coping up. Due to high disproportionate amount of proteins and low carbohydrates in the body, it may cause anxiety, depression, mood swings and bundle of negative emotions.
Also Read- Getting Cramps Regularly? Know Possible Causes Behind This Condition Of Water Retention
Conclusion
Protein Poisoning is basically having excess amount of proteins in the body with lack of other macronutrients that are important to create balance. Protein poisoning is caused when there is 35% or more calories coming from proteins which start declining the body functions. It can result to severe weakness, anxiety, nausea, headache, and low blood pressure, etc as its symptoms. Protein poisoning is more common in younger adults because of misinformation and lack of awareness. This can be easily treated by regulating the diet and creating balance of all the important macronutrients again in the body. However this does not have any relation or affect from keto or any other forms of high protein diet until the proteins and other things are in control.
Read More Articles on Other Diseases
Picture Credits- Pixabay.com