Eating a meal with more protein makes your body burn more calories right after eating — but only if you’re not overweight; if you are, this calorie-burning effect doesn’t happen as much.

Pro

Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

Community contributions welcome

Effects of Varying Protein Amounts and Types on Diet-Induced Thermogenesis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis

Human

2024 Dec

Contradicting (0)

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No contradicting evidence found

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

Effects of Varying Protein Amounts and Types on Diet-Induced Thermogenesis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Score: 49

DOI: 10.1016/j.advnut.2024.100332

Merged Assertions

The following assertions have been merged into this one because they express the same claim:

Acute consumption of higher-protein meals (≥19.6% greater energy from protein) increases diet-induced thermogenesis by 45% (SMD: 0.45; 95% CI: 0.26, 0.65) in healthy adults with normal weight, but not in those with overweight or obesity, suggesting a weight-status-dependent metabolic response to protein intake.

NaN% similar

Similar Assertions

Eating a meal with more protein makes your body burn more calories right after eating — but only if you’re not overweight; if you are, this calorie-burning boost doesn’t happen.

99%

Even though eating more protein every day makes you burn more calories at rest, it doesn’t make you burn more calories after meals over the long term—your body gets used to it.

88%

Eating more protein makes your body burn a bit more calories just to digest it, compared to eating less protein.

86%

Your body uses a lot more energy to digest protein than it does to digest carbs or fat — up to 30% of the calories from protein are used just for digestion, while fat barely uses any.

85%

Even though eating more protein makes you burn more calories right after a meal, your body gets used to it over time — so after weeks, that extra calorie burn disappears.

83%