On Thu, 30 Jul 1998, Amadeus Schmidt wrote:

> On Mon, 27 Jul 1998 12:31:25 -0400, Todd Moody <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >I'd be very interested in reading more about this.  Since I
> >weight 100 kg, that would mean that I need only 37g of protein
> >per day.  But I know from experience that if I were to eat this
> >little protein I would immediately begin to lose muscle mass.
> 0.371 was for optimum protein quality, which has a rating of 136 on
> a scale where egg has 100.
> If all of your protein came fro
> m meat (valued 91) then you'll
> need about 37*136/91 (55 grams).
> Some percentage (10% ?) should be added for digestibility.
> Then, you need to have your caloric needs from fats or carbs since
> otherwise protein will be used to get energy.

Why wouldn't body fat be used?

> Burning protein to get energy seems not wise, since it causes
> acidification, nitrogen and purin load on the kindeys without any
> advantage.

Agreed.

> I think the body (not growing) needs exactly as much protein that it looses.
> Looses in feces, hair, nail, horny skin...
> Once built-up encymes and membranes are recyled to amino-acids again.
> This process reuses much more protein per day as is ingested from food.

I understand, but I would really like to read more detailed
material about the procedures used to arrive at the .37 g/kg
figure.  I am not yet convinced that used proteins are perfectly
recycled, and that claim is central to your argument.  If this is
the case, surely it must be a standard piece of physiological
knowledge, but I have not found it in any physiology text.

> I'll post again after I have sources in english about the
> nitrogen balance tests.

Thank you.

Todd Moody
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