Ep 333 - Are High-Protein Diets Really Harmless?

Iron Culture

The MASS Crew

Sports & Recreation, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 827 Ratings

🗓️ 25 June 2025

⏱️ 95 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of Iron Culture, Dr. Eric Helms talks about his forthcoming article in the MASS Research Review covering the purported harms of high-protein diets. This isn’t your typical oversimplified dunk-fest that readily dismisses concerns about high-protein diets. Instead, Helms reviews a thorough paper that reviews common concerns in detail and assessed their plausibility in an objective manner. The claims include:

Claim 1 – protein reduces lifespan
Claim 2 – protein makes bones weaker
Claim 3 – protein harms kidneys
Claim 4 – protein causes diabetes

After that, Dr. Eric Trexler discusses a recent Instagram thread that pulled him into arguments against his will. The post was about his recent article on ketogenic diets and seed oils – two topics that are always bound to attract some controversy and heated debate. This conversation discusses the strengths and limitations of different types of scientific research and also touches on bias, objectivity, and the process of seeking the truth with an open mind.

Time stamps:
0:00 Intro
3:00 Helms’ new article about the purported harms of high-protein diets
19:25 Claim 1 – protein reduces lifespan
27:48 Claim 2 – protein makes bones weaker
43:38 Claim 3 – protein harms kidneys
50:53 Claim 4 – protein causes diabetes
57:22 Trex’s social media beefs – keto and seed oils
1:03:40 Types of observational studies
1:08:35 Seeking truth versus defending biases
1:17:32 Limitations versus fatal flaws
1:24:19 Limitations of RCTs (randomized controlled trials)
1:32:23 Wrapping up

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everybody. Welcome to Iron Culture presented by the mass research review. My name is Eric Trexler. It is 7 p.m. Eastern Time Monday night. It needs this time for another live episode. I'm joined by the good Dr. Eric Helms. I want to thank everyone for their patience.
0:21.6	If you got here on time, you did your job, got here at 6.59 p.m. sharp Eastern Time.
0:29.3	You may notice we started a few minutes late. There is some kind of mysterious infrastructure project
0:36.0	happening in the neighborhood of Eric Helms.
0:38.9	A lot of ominous heavy machinery.
0:42.6	We don't know what they're building.
0:43.7	We don't know what they're working on.
0:44.8	It's really hard to say if what they're doing is building different types of armaments.
0:51.3	We know New Zealand tends to be very aggressive.
0:53.9	It's hard to say, but there is some
0:55.7	massive top secret project causing all sorts of chaos and noise. So we had to reshuffle a little bit.
1:01.7	So we get Helms in a more leisurely condition, a more relaxed, a different vibe for the show. So Helms,
1:09.1	how are we doing tonight?
1:12.1	Well, I'm chilling now.
1:17.4	I had to retreat to our bedroom, which is on the other side of the house from where the,
1:20.0	like you said, ominous machinery is.
1:25.2	And I am particularly concerned, even though I'm relaxed, chill on my bed.
1:26.8	You see our nice headboard here.
1:31.6	But I'm particularly concerned because my wife is on the body corporate.
1:33.5	You say, what's a body corporate?
1:37.0	It's the New Zealand term for the homeowners association. So she volunteers for a good time to know what's going on in our area.
1:43.7	And either one of two things has happened in both are disastrous.
	...

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