Someone please tell me the truth, and be able to back it up: does excess protein convert to fat?
Sorry if this is a rookie question. I’m sure this has been asked before. I usually go for 40 grams of protein and no more than 50 grams at once every time I eat a meal (usually 6 meals a day).
Thanks,
Eric
No. As of yet I’ve never found any studies showing macronutrients magically turning into other types.
Surplus calories, even from protein can lead to fat gains, but protein is generally the last macronutrient broken down for energy and subsequent fat storage.
If you’re getting fat it probably isn’t from eating too many chicken breasts.
[quote]Ghost22 wrote:
No. As of yet I’ve never found any studies showing macronutrients magically turning into other types.
Surplus calories, even from protein can lead to fat gains, but protein is generally the last macronutrient broken down for energy and subsequent fat storage.
If you’re getting fat it probably isn’t from eating too many chicken breasts.
[/quote]
I think this might be a troll, but yah, for anyone who stumbles on this in years gone by, excess macros usually turn to fat. or muscle. lift weights for the latter.
If protein can turn to glucose, what happens when glycogen stores are filled up? Does that protein-to-glucose go to be stored as fat as would excess carbs-to-glucose?
I think that’s what the OP is referring to.
I was thinking about this when talking to someone about Dr. Lowery’s article. When you do take in 50-60g protein in a meal, and let’s say only 20-30g is utilized, what happens to the excess? Where does it “go”? My understanding is that the stomach digests and denatures the protein, and the protein gets absorbed through the villi in the small intestine and goes to the liver via portal vein (?) to be distributed into the blood stream (the amino acids). Does the extra “sit” in the liver? I would really like to know, thanks.
Absorbed protein is either used as aminoacids for biosyntesis or degraded to carbon skeletons and urea. The carbon is mostly used in the citric acid cycle and the urea is expelled in urine. The carbon cannot be converted into fat, but it can supply the energy surplus to promote the storage of dietary fat.
Protein not absorbed in the small intestine is eaten by bacteria in the colon. Ever had vicious protein farts when overindulging in protein powders? Thats why.
ALL macros can be converted into fat. The only molecular difference with protein is the nitrogen. This nitrogen is converted in the liver to ammonia and excreted through the urine. The remaining Carbon, hydrogen and oxygen is essentially glucose and will be stored as fat if it isn’t used.
Approximately
100g fat = 100g stored fat
100b carbs = 70g stored fat
100g protein = 25g stored fat
These numbers are all based on an excess amount of the specified macros.