You don’t need to make fun of steaks or to gorge on protein shakes to get enough macronutrients – a high -level nutritionist says that plant proteins are best, and better for your intestinal health than meat.
Federica Amati, Ph.D., is the main nutritionist at Zoe, a science and nutrition society and a postdoctoral medical scientist at the Imperial College in London.
Hitting protein targets is currently a huge health trend. But Amati told Business Insider that most people have enough and do not have to worry about eating more protein unless they are an athlete or actively try to change their body composition.
But Or People get their protein from things, she said.
Amati referred to a study of 2024 published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition involving 50,000 healthy nurses aged 30 to 55 at the start of the study, between 1984 and 2016. Nurses who ate more proteins, and specifically plant proteins, had a higher chance of being free of 11 major chronic diseases, having good mental health cognitive or physical as they acted. Meanwhile, participants who ate more animal protein had an increased risk of chronic disease.
This observation is reproduced in a study in 2021 by researchers from the University of Oxford, published in the journal BMC Medicine. The 474,985 British Middle Age participants who ate more red and transformed meat were more likely to develop heart disease, pneumonia, diabetes and growth in the colon. Participants who ate more poultry were more at risk of gastrointestinal diseases and diabetes, the study revealed.
Amati said that the results of the 2024 study suggest that health benefits came from the consumption of more fruits, vegetables and whole foods, not protein. Researchers argued that this could be due to the fact that dietary fiber, micronutrients and polyphenols in plant foods are associated with positive health effects, including reduced low density lipoprotein, or “bad” cholesterol, lower blood pressure and reduced inflammation.
Amati still eats animal proteins, but gets most of his macronutrient contribution through plants. Zoe
Amati always has animal proteins: she eats fatty fish twice a week, eggs and fermented dairy products – Kéfir and Greek yogurt specifically – regularly – regularly. But most of its proteins come from plants, she said.
Even if you are not fully based on plants, research suggests that it is possible to make a “huge” reduction in the risk of chronic disease by replacing certain animal proteins with plants, said Amati.
She shared some of the best sources of high fiber vegetable protein that she eats regularly.
Nutritional yeast
Nutritional yeast, or “Nooch”, is a disabled yeast that has a cheesy flavor and contains B vitamins.
“It is a fine example of food that has both proteins and fibers,” said Amati. In terms of nutritional value, 100 grams of noocs contains about 50 grams of protein and around 20 grams of fiber.
A dietitian that follows the Mediterranean diet previously said to Bi that she incorporates Nooch into her diet by sprinkling him on savory dishes to replace cheese. The colleague from Amati to Zoe, the intestinal health expert Tim Spector, uses it instead of cubic broth to add flavor to his kitchen.
Soy
Soy products are good sources of protein and fiber. For example, there are about 10 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber in 100 grams of Édamame beans, and about 20 grams of protein and 7 grams of fiber in 100 grams of Templeh. And 100 grams of tofu contains about 8 grams of protein but less than 1 gram of fiber.
Tofu is a large source of plant protein. Natasha Breen / Getty images
A study in 2020 on 210,000 people, published in circulation, a review of the American Heart Association, found that participants who ate at least one portion of tofu per week had a lower risk of heart disease than those who ate it less than once a month. The researchers suggested that this could be due to the fact that the estrogen type compounds in the tofu could have caused effects that reflect the beneficial effects of estrogens in women who did not take additional hormones – or because fibers and minerals found in tofu help reduce the risk of coronary disease.
Oats
Amati often eats oatmeal or oat from one night in the morning, adding kefir, chia seeds and fruit.
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Regarding nutrition, 100 grams of steel -cut oats contain approximately 10 grams of fiber and 12 to 13 grams of protein. Oat also contains a type of soluble fiber called beta-glucane, which has been associated with reductions in LDL, or “bad” cholesterol.
Legumes
Amati eats legumes every day as part of his “five -per day” objective personalized for intestinal health. She often eats lenses or canned beans with whole grains and lunch vegetables.
Different types of beans have different nutrient content, but 100 grams of canned chickpeas contains about 7 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber.
Nuts and seeds
Nuts and seeds are also one of the five a day of Amati.
She said that the chia seeds are rich in macronutrients: they have about 17 grams of protein and 30 grams of fibers per 100 grams of dry seeds.
To incorporate nuts and seeds in his day, Amati keeps a bag of nuts mixed in her bag at any time to eat like a snack, and she sprinkles nuts on her morning oatmeal.
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