Ahh, yes, protein...

JC> To put it crudely, the more energy we burn up for building proteins,
the more > we need to support that growth. ... > > ... of fat which is
425 kcalories. (1g fat=9 kcal) Human milk contains also > 9.5%
carbohydrate, so that's 112g of carbohydrate times 4 is 450 kcals. (1g >
carbo=4 kcal). Total kcals for baby is 874. [Assume protein intake is
for > growth, not energy!]

Two points here:

>a) about the same amount of energy is taken from fat and carbohydrates.
>Is it also appropriate for adults?

The amount of chemistry occuring is in proporsion to the energy
expended. Simple and cartesian perhaps, but a law of physics maybe?
The resultant metabolisms must be different I guess, but do
people on lower fat _repair_ their protein slower or differently.
Surely the growth is at a molecular level, amino acids and so
forth, and energy is burnt to get a protein mol. A cell is a complex
set of reactions, growth is presumably by splitting, genetics like!
Each split will require energy from blood sugars, and the amount
of that is calculated in the kcal for the food.
If one ate fruit one is closer to the baby than a traditional
SAD of course. But low protein folk don't wither away...

>b) I think one of the reasons why protein intake should be maintained
>to the amount required for growth and repair, NOT for energy, is that
>catabolic degradation of proteins used to produce energy has uric acid
>as a side product. We all know that uric acid is highly toxic and high
>intake of proteins may lead to a lot of diseases.

Strange that nutrtionists talk of % of cal as protein. Obsurd to me!

> An adult male (sedentory) requires about 2500 kcalories per day and

>... contnuing the calculation:
>174 pounds = 174 x 0.454 = 79 kg
>34gr / 79kg = 0.43 gr/kg

>What's funny about this is that this result is quite close to the value
>of 0.5 gr/kg suggested more than 20 years ago by Dr. Herbert M.
>Shelton.

The "official" figure would be about 0.9 g/kg bodyweight. Without
looking at metabolism, which as any bodybuilder will tell you is
crucial, I think the govt guidelines are junk.

Shelton huh? Perhaps there's sense in my madness afterall! ;)


Thanks Pierre,

J,C