Protein isn’t overrated, but it is overhyped for certain goals and underappreciated for others. The standard recommendation of 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight per day is enough to prevent deficiency, but it falls short of what most active people and older adults actually benefit from. At the same time, the fitness industry’s obsession with extreme protein intake ignores real evidence that more isn’t always better, and that very high animal protein consumption may carry long-term health costs.
The honest answer is somewhere in the middle: protein matters more than the bare minimum suggests, but less than supplement marketing would have you believe.
The Minimum vs. the Optimal
Government recommendations worldwide set protein intake at 0.8 to 0.83 grams per kilogram of body weight per day. For a 170-pound person, that’s roughly 62 grams. This number was designed to maintain nitrogen balance in about 98% of adults, meaning it prevents your body from breaking down its own muscle to meet basic needs. It was never meant to be the amount that helps you thrive, build muscle, or age well.
A large meta-analysis published in the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle found that intakes of 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram per day improved lean body mass in both younger and older adults. For people doing resistance training, strength gains were slightly but significantly greater at 1.6 grams per kilogram or above, which is double the RDA. So if you’re sedentary and otherwise healthy, the standard recommendation is probably fine. If you exercise regularly, especially with weights, it’s likely too low.
What Protein Actually Does for Hunger and Weight
One area where protein genuinely earns its reputation is appetite control. When researchers compared a high-protein diet to a normal-protein diet eaten at the same total calories, the high-protein group reported significantly greater fullness and less hunger throughout the day. Their bodies also burned more energy at rest: sleeping metabolic rate was measurably higher, and so was diet-induced thermogenesis, the energy your body spends digesting food. Protein costs more calories to process than carbohydrates or fat, and the difference is meaningful over time.
The high-protein diet also increased fat oxidation, meaning the body shifted toward burning more fat for fuel. These effects weren’t driven by eating fewer calories. They happened at the same caloric intake, purely from swapping out some carbohydrates and fat for protein. If you’re trying to lose weight or maintain a lower weight, protein’s effect on satiety is one of its most practical, well-supported benefits.
The Per-Meal Ceiling
A persistent claim in fitness circles is that your body can only use 20 to 25 grams of protein per meal for muscle building, and anything beyond that is wasted. Early research supported this idea, showing that muscle protein synthesis plateaued around that range when subjects consumed fast-digesting whey protein in isolation. But this finding came with a narrow context: young adults, a single protein source, no other food eaten alongside it.
More recent work has challenged the ceiling. A study using resistance-trained men found that 40 grams of whey protein after a full-body workout stimulated greater muscle protein synthesis than 20 grams. Larger people, older adults, and those doing more demanding training sessions appear to benefit from higher amounts per sitting. The real-world takeaway: you don’t need to obsessively split your protein into six equal meals. Your body can handle and use more than 25 grams at a time, especially if you’re eating a mixed meal with other macronutrients that slow digestion.
How Much Athletes Actually Need
The International Society of Sports Nutrition recommends that active individuals consume between 1.4 and 2.0 grams of protein per kilogram per day. Where you fall in that range depends on what you do. Endurance athletes (runners, cyclists, swimmers) are advised to aim for the lower end, around 1.0 to 1.6 grams per kilogram. Strength and power athletes benefit from the upper end, 1.6 to 2.0 grams per kilogram, particularly when they’re new to training or ramping up volume.
For a 170-pound strength athlete, the upper end means about 155 grams of protein per day. That’s achievable through food alone for most people eating a varied diet with animal protein sources. It does not require multiple protein shakes. In fact, some research suggests that protein requirements may actually decrease as athletes become more experienced, because the body gets better at retaining protein with consistent training.
Aging Changes the Equation
Protein becomes more important, not less, as you get older. After about age 65, your muscles become less responsive to protein’s muscle-building signal. You need a higher dose to trigger the same repair and growth process that came easily at 30. Researchers studying age-related muscle loss have proposed that older adults consume at least 1.2 grams per kilogram per day, with particular emphasis on leucine, an amino acid that plays a central role in stimulating muscle repair. The current RDA of 0.8 grams per kilogram, set identically for all adults over 19, likely leaves older people under-nourished for maintaining strength and mobility.
Age-related muscle loss begins gradually in your 30s and accelerates after 60. It’s a leading contributor to falls, fractures, and loss of independence. For older adults, adequate protein intake combined with resistance exercise is one of the most effective tools available.
Not All Protein Is Equal
Protein quality varies significantly between sources, and this matters most for people relying heavily on plant-based options. The Digestible Indispensable Amino Acid Score (DIAAS) measures how well your body can absorb and use the amino acids in a given food. Whey protein scores 85, soy scores 91, and both qualify as high-quality. Pea protein scores 70, and rice, hemp, oat, and corn proteins all fall below 75, placing them in the “no quality claim” category.
This doesn’t mean plant proteins are useless. It means you need to eat more of them, or combine different sources, to get the same amino acid profile you’d get from a single serving of dairy, eggs, or meat. If you eat a varied plant-based diet with soy, legumes, and grains throughout the day, you can meet your needs. But a single scoop of pea protein isn’t interchangeable gram-for-gram with whey.
The Case Against Too Much
Here’s where the “overrated” question gets interesting. A widely cited study published in Cell Metabolism followed over 6,300 adults aged 50 to 65 for 18 years. Those reporting high protein intake had a 75% increase in overall mortality and a four-fold increase in cancer and diabetes mortality compared to those eating less protein. The association was driven specifically by animal protein. When the protein came from plant sources, the increased risk was either eliminated or significantly reduced.
The mechanism appears to involve a growth hormone called IGF-1. Higher protein intake, particularly from animal sources, raises IGF-1 levels. Subjects in the low-protein group had IGF-1 levels 35% lower than the high-protein group. For every 10 ng/ml increase in IGF-1 among the high-protein eaters aged 50 to 65, cancer mortality risk rose by an additional 9%. IGF-1 promotes cell growth, which is beneficial when you’re building muscle but potentially harmful when it promotes the growth of abnormal cells.
Notably, this relationship reversed after age 65. In older adults, higher protein intake was actually associated with reduced mortality, likely because the threat of muscle wasting outweighs the risks tied to elevated growth signaling. The implication is that the ideal protein intake probably shifts across your lifespan: moderate in middle age, higher in later years.
What About Your Kidneys?
The belief that high-protein diets damage kidneys is one of the most persistent nutrition myths for healthy people. A meta-analysis of 30 trials found that high-protein diets did increase the kidney’s filtration rate, a sign that the kidneys are working harder. But they caused no change in creatinine levels, the standard marker of kidney damage. In people with healthy kidneys, the increased workload appears to be a normal physiological response, similar to how your heart rate rises during exercise without indicating heart damage.
For people who already have chronic kidney disease, the picture is different. Higher protein intake can accelerate progression. But in otherwise healthy adults, protein intakes in the range of 1.2 to 2.0 grams per kilogram have not been shown to cause kidney problems.
The Bottom Line on “Overrated”
Protein is overrated if you think you need 200-plus grams a day, if you believe animal protein has no downsides, or if you’re spending heavily on supplements while already eating a protein-rich diet. It’s underrated if you’re an older adult eating the bare minimum, if you’re trying to lose weight and haven’t considered protein’s effect on hunger, or if you exercise regularly but still eat like a sedentary person. For most people, landing somewhere between 1.2 and 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight covers the gap between “enough to survive” and “enough to function well,” without pushing into territory where the risks start to accumulate.