Basic Pursuits

It has long been suspected that eating protein induces a feeling of satiety. I noticed 20 years ago that diet specialty foods from Jennie Craig always had added protein. Protein's suspected ability to make the dinner feel full is probably the key to the success of the Atkins (low carb). Eating protein, many concluded, makes you feel full and you eat less.

Now researchers have tested the theory and what they have learned is that what we have suspected has been right all along. Scientists at the University of Washington concluded that "...An increase in dietary protein from 15% to 30% of energy at a constant carbohydrate intake produces a sustained decrease in ad libitum caloric intake..."

The study concluded that people who eat a diet in which 30% of the calories come from protein are likely to eat less than people whose diet consists of only 15% protein. In the study the 30 percenters lost weight, mostly from body fat.

Protein is also essential for building muscle. In an infrequent piece of good news for us old folks, researchers at the University of Texas Medical School recently concluded that older people are just as capable of turning dietary protein into muscle as younger people.

Of course no one's body isn't going to turn protein into muscle unless it needs the muscle. That's true no matter how old you are. If you want muscle, exercise.