Nearly 100% protein diet ?

[Externet]

Hello.

Being human diet needs varied, what would happen with an almost only protein diet ? (plus water)

Is there any study, or experiment with results of consumption of only -let's say boiled egg whites- even for a limited time of a week?

Miguel

[ecoli]

You would die of malnutrition, or at least get sick (if for a short period). Humans need a well balanced diet.

[Bluenoise]

Anyone know which nutrient/vitamin would most likely be the first to get depleted and cause death?

[ecoli]

water soluable vitamins probably... the body doesn't make those and they need to be suplemented.

[Mokele]

On the other hand, one could get all the vitamins needed from eating meat. It's the snake diet: eat the *whole* animal. Bones, fur, organs, eyes, blood, everything. Technically, if it has everything it needs, so will you.

 

Of course, that's not very apetizing, and your kidneys will still crap out in maybe 20 years from the overload, but in the short term it'd fix the malnutrition issue.

 

Mokele

[Glider]

Hello.

Being human diet needs varied' date=' what would happen with an almost only protein diet ? (plus water)

Is there any study, or experiment with results of consumption of only -let's say boiled egg whites- even for a limited time of a week?

Miguel[/quote']

Protein isn't a fuel. It provides 'building materials', and we can't store it. On a pure protein diet, you would become hypoglycaemic, you would begin to metabolise your own body fat rapidly, then you would become ketotic (ketoacidosis), and if you kept it up, you would eventually die.

[husmusen]

Originally posted by Glider

Protein isn't a fuel.

 

I was under the string impression that Protien could be used by the body to produce energy, IIRC the body defaults to it when sugars and fat are not available.

 

IIRC 1g of Protein can be turned into about 17-18KJ by the body.

 

But your correct it wouldn't be very good for you at all.

Like a pure fat or a pure sugar diet.

 

However I think you can survive on a blubber, and offal diet, for at

least 6-10 months or so. Either that or someones being telling me tall stories about eskimoes.

 

I'm surprised noone has said Atkins diet yet .

 

Cheers.

[YT2095]

I`de estimate that you`de be constipated and in alot of distress, Long before any other problems began to manifest themselves. especialy with an Egg diet!

[Bluenoise]

On the other hand' date=' one could get all the vitamins needed from eating meat. It's the snake diet: eat the *whole* animal. Bones, fur, organs, eyes, blood, everything. Technically, if it has everything it needs, so will you.

 

Of course, that's not very apetizing, and your kidneys will still crap out in maybe 20 years from the overload, but in the short term it'd fix the malnutrition issue.

 

Mokele[/quote']

 

Right but the catch is that you must eat the meat raw. Cooking the meat will destroy many much needed vitamins. Like vitamin C for example. Remember early sailors got scurvy even though that they were surviving off of diets very high in fish. The act of cooking it was what probably did them in. However, not cooking it would have had it's own set of health concerns probably far greater.

 

Protein isn't a fuel. It provides 'building materials', and we can't store it. On a pure protein diet, you would become hypoglycaemic, you would begin to metabolise your own body fat rapidly, then you would become ketotic (ketoacidosis), and if you kept it up, you would eventually die.

 

That's incorrect protein is a fuel. Amino acids are metabolised for energy as well as building block molecules for your body.

 

Anyways take the inuit for an example they traditionally survived off a diet of 100% animals. Though admittidly it was very high in fat content.

[Mokele]

Right but the catch is that you must eat the meat raw.

 

Yep, hence the "snake diet". It's even better to eat it whole, since then you can be sure to get the gut contents, which are a major source of nutrition for carnivores.

 

Protein isn't a fuel.

 

As husmusen and bluenoise pointed out, it can be converted to energy (this is why we urinate, because the conversion produces nitrogenous wastes). It's just not very efficient compared to converting carbs or fats to energy.

 

But, in a normal human diet, most of the protien is converted back to aa's and then made into more protiens. Then again, Big Macs aren't "normal human diet", in the biological sense of what we evolved to eat.

 

Mokele

[YT2095]

can we actualy convert D or L proteins or AAs to each other?

 

covert a D to and L or otherway around.

[Skye]

I believe D aa's can be converted to L by degradation via D amino acid oxidases, that produce a ketone with no chiral centre.

[insane_alien]

i wouldn't try it if i were you after a week you start feeling crap. (i tried something similar) after a week i stopped cos i felt really bad and went back to my normal diet (which is VERY varied cos i don't like eating the samething twice in a fortnight apart from toast and spaghetti bolognese)

[Evangelante]

I'll say it now. I was on Atkin's but that isn't full protein. I do know what will happen if you start eating pure protein.

 

1. You'll get constipated.

No doubt that will happen, you'll have very little fiber to run things down and have them digested better.

2. You won't get all your vitamins.

No way that's going to happen. Sure other creatures contain vitamins, that doesn't mean you'll get all of them you need as a human.

 

Now if you eat protein for a period of time such as a week, you will be able to do just fine. However the digestion period will be slowed down and you may not go crap until you actually eat some fiber.

 

There is also the idea that you may have a heart attack since everyone's biological system is different. You have to remember that fiber helps attack certain types of fat within the body. Fiber is a very needed component of the human body.