In overweight women eating a 1250 kcal/day diet, increasing protein intake from 48 grams to 124 grams per day reduces hunger, desire to eat, prospective food consumption, and fast-food cravings,...

Pro

Against

Mechanism

Synthesis from 1 study

How it works

Eating more protein releases chemicals in the gut that tell the brain you're full, which reduces hunger and cravings. But when fatty or sugary foods are available, the brain still drives you to eat them the same amount as before.

Most probable mechanism

In Simple Terms

When more protein is eaten, the body releases more amino acids into the blood, which triggers the gut to send fullness signals to the brain. This reduces feelings of hunger and food cravings, but does not stop the body from eating fatty or sugary foods when they are available.

Causal chain

Dietary protein is digested and absorbed, increasing plasma concentrations of essential amino acids including leucine, phenylalanine, and glutamate

Supported by evidence

which leads to

Elevated plasma amino acids stimulate enteroendocrine cells in the small intestine to secrete satiety hormones including cholecystokinin, glucagon-like peptide-1, and peptide YY

Supported by evidence

which leads to

Satiety hormones activate vagal afferents and cross the blood-brain barrier to bind receptors in the hypothalamus and brainstem, suppressing orexigenic neuropeptide expression and enhancing anorexigenic signaling

Supported by evidence

which leads to

Neural and hormonal satiety signals reduce subjective hunger, desire to eat, prospective food consumption, and fast-food cravings while increasing perceived fullness

Supported by evidence

which leads to

Despite increased satiety signaling, hedonic reward pathways in the mesolimbic system remain responsive to high-fat and high-carbohydrate foods, permitting unchanged ad libitum intake of these foods

Supported by evidence

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

Community contributions welcome

Increased Protein Consumption during the Day from an Energy-Restricted Diet Augments Satiety but Does Not Reduce Daily Fat or Carbohydrate Intake on a Free-Living Test Day in Overweight Women.

Randomized Controlled Trial

Human

2017 Dec

Contradicting (0)

Community contributions welcome

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

Increased Protein Consumption during the Day from an Energy-Restricted Diet Augments Satiety but Does Not Reduce Daily Fat or Carbohydrate Intake on a Free-Living Test Day in Overweight Women.

Score: 68

DOI: 10.3945/jn.117.255554

Similar Assertions

In overweight women on a 1250 kcal/day diet, eating 124 grams of protein per day does not lead to lower overall calorie intake when they are allowed to eat freely afterward, even though they report feeling fuller and having fewer food cravings.

92%

In overweight women eating fewer calories, increasing daily protein intake from 48 grams to 124 grams does not change how much fat and carbohydrate-rich food they eat later, even though they report feeling fuller and having fewer food cravings.

92%

Overweight women who eat 124 grams of protein per day while on a 1250-calorie diet experience lower hunger, less desire to eat, reduced thoughts about future food intake, and fewer cravings for fast food than those who eat 48 grams of protein per day on the same diet.

91%

When the proportion of protein in the diet is lowered from 15% to 10% of total calories, people tend to eat more total food to maintain their protein intake, resulting in higher overall energy consumption.

80%

Among overweight women eating fewer calories, consuming beef protein or plant-based protein results in the same levels of fullness, food cravings, and later consumption of fats and carbohydrates.

80%