Metabolic Consequences of a High Dietary-Protein Intake in Adulthood: Assessment of the Available Evidence

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Abstract
In Western Europe and the United States, protein consumption amounts to about 1.5 to 2 times (Adolf et al. 1994) the recommended intakes (WHO 1985), which is currently considered to be harmless and, according to public opinion, may be even beneficial. Usually relatively short-term experimental studies on the effects of high-protein intakes have been performed, and so the consequences of longer-term or chronic nutrient intake are difficult to judge. Epidemiologic evidence, on the other hand, which aims to circumvent this difficulty, can be flawed by various biases, confounding effects or even limitations of the data which make it difficult to obtain clear-cut cause-effect relationships (Taubes 1995).
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