Hello and welcome to Zoe Recap, where each week we find the best bits from one of our podcast episodes to help you improve your health.

Today we're asking the question, how much protein should I eat?

From steaks to protein shakes, tofu to high protein ice cream. Protein is more available now than ever before.

Diet's high in protein are associated with staying fuller for longer and become popular with

people trying to lose weight. Food manufacturers picked up on this and today food packaging

everywhere is plastered with a catchy slogan, high in protein.

So, are we getting too little or too much protein in our modern diet?

My guest today is Christopher Gardner, professor at Stanford University and a member of Zoe's scientific advisory board who's published widely on the relationship between protein and our health.

So I have some U.S. data that shows how much protein people eat, and it's pretty much double, double the RDA, just eating food, not even trying.

And so to me it's sort of this American idea of,

go ahead, let's see, that's what the RDA is,

but I know I'm above average.

So let me make sure I get some extra here.

It's like, no, you don't understand the concept.

It was built in to recognize that some people would need more. And as a nutritionist,

when I teach students, I have to say, this is not an individual approach. You should not look at the

RDA to see if you are meeting your individual requirement. This is a population health approach,

so that everybody were to get that amount, almost no one would be deficient.

And just as you were a bit surprised, every time I tell that story, the audience I explain it to

is a little surprised.

And so Christopher, you know, I am surprised because I've had this experience and I suspect there's

quite a lot of people who have had this experience.

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