MyMT™ Blog

Is Eating a High Protein Diet Bad For Your Arteries?

It took me a long time to understand why my menopause hot flushes were getting worse, despite the HRT, and why my weight was increasing, despite the daily exercise, including weight training.

Protein consumed in excess of need, does not always promote muscle development. Amino acids left over in the body, i.e. excess to requirement for metabolism, are converted into glucose or ketones, or they are decomposed and exit the body via the kidneys. 

Feasting on protein in excess of your daily energy needs, encourages glucose and fat synthesis (production) and for women in their menopause transition, who may also have gut and liver health concerns, high amounts of protein, especially animal proteins, which also contain saturated fats, may contribute to fat-gain. 

It was this aspect of protein metabolism that I never gave a thought to at the time I went into menopause. I certainly didn’t give a thought to how the high protein diet (over 1.5gm/kg/day) might also be contributing to hardening of my arteries. 

At a time when my Doctor noticed that my blood pressure and cholesterol was increasing, there was no mention of how much protein, particularly animal protein, I was having at the time. 

The high-protein diet mantra that continues to dominate the nutritional information shared from sport and fitness enthusiasts followed me for years. It was the same for Tineke, who used to be a Les Mills BodyPump instructor in the Netherlands.

She followed the high protein mantra for resistance training too. It worked, until of course, it didn’t work … simply because she went into her menopause transition and her lymphatic system changed, as did her blood vessels. She began to retain fluid, which made her feel ‘puffy’ and bloated.  

Despite the adoration for a high protein diet during the menopause transition, this isn’t entirely what it seems for midlife women.

When I began to realise that much of this advice to have a high protein diet (1.5 – 2.2gms/kg day), was better suited to women doing heavy resistance training, rather than me, who didn’t have time to spend hours at the gym, my women’s healthy ageing studies took me down a different dietary route – not only in the type of diet, but the amount of protein I was having.

If your hot flushes are driving you mad and you are on various supplements that are no longer working for you, then I wonder if you are also on a high protein diet? It could well be the missing link in your menopause-toolbox.

I talk a lot about protein in the MyMT™ programmes and women who join me, learn about the contribution of high-protein diets to their hot flushes.

You see protein, is ‘thermogenic’ or heat-generating. This means it increases your metabolism.

Protein as an important macronutrient, has appeared in sport science nutrition and is heavily promoted for muscle density improvement and strength as women get older (60+ yrs).

However, if you are having too much protein during your menopause transition, then this could well be the cause of your higher body temperature and of course, your hot flushes and night sweats, which are keeping you awake. 

New research out of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (2024) also suggests that high protein consumption (over 22% of total daily intake) may elevate atherosclerosis risk by activating immune cells that contribute to arterial plaque formation, with leucine playing a critical role. 

Leucine is an amino acid present in eggs, beef and milk, and the effect on the build-up of plaques in arteries, contributing to high blood pressure, backs up other emerging research, that high protein intake may increase the risk of cardiovascular events. [M. Juneau, Institute of Cardiology, Montreal, online, May 30th, 2024]

High protein diets have also been linked to Type 2 Diabetes, suggesting that the type of protein is just as important as the amount of protein for our health as we age.

With population changes to dietary intake of animal protein in China, a large study exploring the rise of Type 2 Diabetes there, looked at the role of animal protein in this rising condition. The study reported that Type 2 Diabetes risk increased with increasing consumption of total protein and animal protein, red meat, processed meat, milk, and eggs, respectively, while plant protein and yogurt had an inverse relationship. [Fan, Li et al., 2019]

What Are the Recommendations for Protein Intake for Midlife Women?

The recommendations for high protein diets ‘seems to be at odds with basic research in animals and observational studies in humans showing that low-protein or low protein, high plant carbohydrate diets, delay ageing and increase lifespan’ (Le Couteur, Solon-Biet et al, 2016), stated the research I was reading as part of my women’s health and ageing doctoral studies.

This paper was a turning point for not only me, but women on the 12 week menopause transformation programmes.

It helped me to untangle some of the source of our hot flushes, night sweats and menopause insomnia. Understanding the Okinawan Ratio was crucial to this.

The longest living people (especially women) are the residents of the Japanese island of Okinawa. Not only are they the oldest-living, but in general, many remain free from diseases of older age that beset older women living in Western Societies.

If you’ve been following my newsletter articles for a while now (thank you), then you will have head me talk about the high incidence of heart disease as women transition menopause and move into their post-menopause years.

Heart disease remains the number one health concern for women as they age, however, in countries such as South Korea, the incidence of CHD is the lowest in OECD countries for women. (Statista.com 2020). What we can learn from this in terms of lifestyle solutions is important. 

Heart disease is also low, compared to western countries, in the Japanese southern island of Okinawa. Dan Buettner (2017), in his studies of some of the Blue Zones countries, found that there were distinctive dietary differences, including the Okinawa Ratio for protein consumption. 

Whilst there are numerous factors that contribute to the health and longevity of Okinawan women, one of these factors relates to their daily nutrition, including food quality, caloric restriction and their protein to carbohydrate ratio.

Total energy from their diets was derived from only around 9-10% of protein per day.

This ratio differs from the average western diet of around 30-40% intake of protein, often in the form of meat and dairy products (Cordain, Eaton et al, 2005).

As such, this lower ratio of protein compared to plant carbohydrates (which was around 75-80% of the total daily diet) contributed to caloric restriction in Okinawan inhabitants.

Protein restriction is just one approach that allows for caloric reduction, which is increasingly seen as helping to extend lifespan, however, research continues to confuse many of us, about ‘how much is enough?’ especially when it comes to midlife needs.

My interest was piqued about reducing protein intake because in energy expenditure studies, protein, especially animal protein, is known to be thermogenic. This is the term used for ‘heat generating’. This thermic effect seems to be influenced by the composition and amount of food consumed.

I talk about this in more depth in my online Masterclass on Menopause  

There is convincing evidence that a higher protein intake increases thermogenesis and satiety (feelings of fullness), compared to diets of lower protein content, and that this may be good for weight loss and muscle retention, but what’s it doing for your body heat?

It is well known in exercise and nutritional science that increased thermogenesis from a high protein diet, creates some change to temperature regulation in the body.

This isn’t so good for women who are frustrated and exhausted from their hot flushes, is it?

But there’s another problem with diets that are too high in protein – a ‘high’ protein intake is defined by cardiovascular experts as higher than 22 – 30% of total daily intake. [Juneau, 2024; U. of Pittsburgh, 2024]

When I was trying to understand why my hot flushes were so frequent, I remembered from my lecturing days that high protein diets may also cause stress on the thyroid, liver, lymphatic system, kidneys and gut.

The result of this is increased inflammation, especially in the epithelial lining of blood vessels.

With additional inflammation in cells and tissues, the immune system and thyroid kick in to re-balance the internal temperature. Sweating is your natural response to your body trying to cool down.

That’s why in the newly revised MyMT™ Food Guide, which is in both of my different 12 week programmes, I teach you not only about cooling foods to eat in menopause, but also how much protein is ‘enough’.

The amount of protein for women’s health and ageing also differs depending on how much and the type of exercise you do.

From 1.0 grams/kg/day up to 1.6gms/kg/day, depending on whether you are overweight, or lean, or exercising or sedentary.  Different strokes for different folks. 

Improved nutrition is a major contributor to increased human lifespan in the last two centuries, but with this improved nutritional knowledge has come food-confusion, especially with regard to protein type and consumption.

But it’s an important topic for women in their menopause transition, because numerous human health and longevity studies indicate that the reduction of access to total number of calories and/ or protein, delays the ageing process.

It is also of note that elevated branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) are a marker of diabetes mellitus in humans too. (Giesbertz & Daniel (2016).

Whilst research in this area continues to progress, and there are numerous women who don’t even make the minimal requirements for protein intake (1.0 – 1.2gm/kg/day or up to 15% of total daily intake), women who are overweight in post-menopause and/or have gut health concerns, may need to explore how much total protein (including animal protein), they are having daily. 

The digestion of animal protein is known to increase the work of the gut, not only due to the work that for the increased thermogenesis, but because the kidneys are ageing and changing. High protein diets may therefore, place undue stress on these important but vulnerable organs. 

If you are not coping with your heat regulation, sleep, anxiety, depression, weight or joint problems as you move through menopause and beyond, then will you join me?

No matter where you live in the world, I would love to support you to feel like your old-self again. My video explaining the MyMT™ programmes is below. 

Dr Wendy Sweet (PhD) MyMT Founder & Member: Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine. 

References: 

Barnard ND, Kahleova H, Holtz DN, Znayenko-Miller T, Sutton M, Holubkov R, Zhao X, Galandi S, Setchell KDR. A dietary intervention for vasomotor symptoms of menopause: a randomized, controlled trial. Menopause. 2023 Jan 1;30(1):80-87. doi: 10.1097/GME.0000000000002080. Epub 2022 Oct 16.

Baum JI, Kim IY, Wolfe RR. Protein Consumption and the Elderly: What Is the Optimal Level of Intake? Nutrients. 2016 Jun 8;8(6):359. doi: 10.3390/nu8060359.

Buettner, D. (2017). The Blue Zones Solution. National Geographic Publ. 

Cordain, L., Eaton, SB., Sebastian, A., Mann, N., Lindeberg, S., Watkins, B., O’Keefe, J., & Brand-Miller, J. (2005). Origins and evolution of the Western diet: health implications for the 21st century, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 81, Issue 2, 341–354.

Fan M, Li Y, Wang C, Mao Z, Zhou W, Zhang L, Yang X, Cui S, Li L. Dietary Protein Consumption and the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: A Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of Prospective Studies. Nutrients. 2019 Nov 15;11(11):2783. doi: 10.3390/nu11112783.

Halton T., Hu F. (2004). The effects of high protein diets on thermogenesis, satiety and weight loss: a critical review. J Am Coll Nutr. 23(5):373-85. 

Juneau, M. (2024). Online: High protein intake could increase the risk of cardiovascular events. 

Kalantar-Zadeh K, Kramer HM, Fouque D. High-protein diet is bad for kidney health: unleashing the taboo. Nephrol Dial Transplant. 2020 Jan 1;35(1):1-4. doi: 10.1093/ndt/gfz216.

Kitada M, Ogura Y, Monno I, Koya D. The impact of dietary protein intake on longevity and metabolic health. EBioMedicine. 2019 May;43:632-640. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2019.04.005.

Le Couteur, D. G., Solon-Biet, S., Wahl, D., Cogger, V. C., Willcox, B. J., Willcox, D. C., Raubenheimer, D., & Simpson, S. J. (2016). New Horizons: Dietary protein, ageing and the Okinawan ratio. Age and ageing45(4), 443–447. https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afw069

Stachowiak, G., Pertyński, T., & Pertyńska-Marczewska, M. (2015). Metabolic disorders in menopause. Przeglad menopauzalny = Menopause review14(1), 59–64. 

Wolfe RR. Regulation of muscle protein by amino acids. J Nutr. 2002 Oct;132(10):3219S-24S. doi: 10.1093/jn/131.10.3219S.

Yoshizaki T, Ishihara J, Kotemori A, Yamamoto J, Kokubo Y, Saito I, Yatsuya H, Yamagishi K, Sawada N, Iwasaki M, Iso H, Tsugane S; JPHC Study Group. Association of Vegetable, Fruit, and Okinawan Vegetable Consumption With Incident Stroke and Coronary Heart Disease. J Epidemiol. 2020 Jan 5;30(1):37-45. doi: 10.2188/jea.JE20180130.

Zhang X, Kapoor D, Jeong SJ, Fappi A, Stitham J, Shabrish V, Sergin I, Yousif E, Rodriguez-Velez A, Yeh YS, Park A, Yurdagul A Jr, Rom O, Epelman S, Schilling JD, Sardiello M, Diwan A, Cho J, Stitziel NO, Javaheri A, Lodhi IJ, Mittendorfer B, Razani B. Identification of a leucine-mediated threshold effect governing macrophage mTOR signalling and cardiovascular risk. Nat Metab. 2024 Feb;6(2):359-377. doi: 10.1038/s42255-024-00984-2. Epub 2024 Feb 19. PMID: 38409323

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