Diets high in animal protein increase the risk of calcium imbalance

In the video above, James DiNicolantonio, Pharm.D., co-author of my book, “Superfuel: Ketogenic Keys to Unlock the Secrets of Good Fats, Bad Fats, and Great Health,” explains why a diet high in animal-based protein can put your health at risk by increasing your risk of a negative calcium balance.^One

A negative calcium balance occurs when the body loses more calcium than it absorbs. Almost all calcium (99%) is found in the teeth and bones, so the body compensates for the calcium deficiency by leaching calcium from the bones.

This process helps maintain essential calcium levels in the blood, which are important for essential functions such as muscle contraction, blood clotting and nerve transmission, but can weaken bones and increase the risk of conditions such as osteoporosis.

“Animal foods like meat, fish, eggs, and dairy are some of the most nutrient-dense foods you can eat, but animal-based diets have one drawback: their high acid load,” says DiNicolantonio. The solution, according to DiNicolantonio, is to balance the acids and bases in animal foods.

Meat-based diets have been linked to negative calcium balance since the 1930s

DiNicolantonio cites a study published in 1930.² Arctic explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson details his year-long journey eating only meat.^three In data recorded over 12 periods, “the calcium balance was negative every time,” says DiNicolantonio. “What this all proves is that we have known since 1930 that eating a carnivore diet, a carnivore diet, has a negative impact on calcium balance.”⁴

Another example involved 10 healthy participants who followed a strict low-carb diet for two weeks, followed by another carbohydrate-restricted diet rich in animal protein for four weeks.

This led to a decrease in calcium balance, leading the researchers to conclude that “six weeks of LCHP (low-carbohydrate, high-protein) dieting significantly increased renal acid load, increased the risk of stone formation, and decreased estimated calcium balance and may increase the risk of bone loss.”⁵

But in this case, the participants still maintained a positive calcium balance, which DiNicolantonio says was because they were getting more than 800 milligrams of calcium per day.⁶

“You cannot enter a negative calcium balance if you consume more than 800 mg of calcium and take a multivitamin with vitamin D, which increases calcium absorption. However, you still increase this tendency by increasing urinary calcium levels by about 100 mg per day. .

… So if you're on a meat-based diet, you'd want to get about 600 milligrams of calcium by consuming about 16 ounces of milk or three slices of cheddar cheese or a mixture of the two, because you'd be getting about 81 milligrams of calcium extra. If you eat 1.5 pounds of meat (which is what most people get from an animal-based or meat-based diet), you'd be getting about 1.5 pounds, maybe even 2 pounds, of calcium a day.”

Another study published in Calcified Tissue International found that higher acid levels from increased dietary protein intake lead to increased acidity in the body and greater loss of calcium through urine.⁷ Meanwhile, studies have shown that high-protein diets can increase urinary calcium loss, or calciuria.

A study of 39 premenopausal women who lowered their protein intake to the U.S. recommended dietary allowance found reductions in gastric acid excretion, calciuria, and bone resorption, suggesting that reducing protein intake may reduce bone loss.⁸ But DiNicolantonio said:⁹

“Don't get this mixed up. I don't recommend a low-protein diet, and I don't think a low-protein diet is good. The real goal, what I do, is to have a high-meat protein diet. I just offset that with the base, because I know that a low-protein diet is not good for your bones. So you have to make sure you're getting your protein in.”

Problems with high acid load in the body

Diets high in animal protein can cause excessive acid production in the body. To neutralize excess acid, the body uses alkaline minerals, primarily calcium. This calcium is often moved from the bones, causing bone density to decrease over time. High acid levels can also increase calcium excretion through urine, further depleting the body's calcium stores and worsening bone loss. DiNicolantonio explains:

“When we eat animal foods, a lot of hydrogen ions (H+), or acids, are formed in the body, which must be balanced with bases (citrate or bicarbonate). If you don’t balance the acids and bases, your body will strip away connective tissue and muscles. It must be released to form ammonia so that the kidneys can remove the acid.

Also, producing ammonia to remove acid is harmful to the kidneys. Furthermore, the body needs more positively charged ions (sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, etc.) to remove the negatively charged sulfates from animal foods (animal foods are rich in sulfur-containing amino acids).

If you don't get enough positively charged ions in your diet, your body will tear down your bones for alkaline minerals. Also, the high acid load in your body can activate osteoclasts to break down bone and lower the pH of your interstitial fluid (the fluid that surrounds your cells), which can lead to insulin resistance. In other words, if you don't balance the acid and base of your animal foods, you can end up with:

• kidney damage
• insulin resistance
• bone destruction
• Mineral loss
• “Kidney stones”

Metabolic acidosis causes chronic disease

Metabolic acidosis occurs when the body produces too much acid or when the kidneys cannot remove enough acid from the body. Eating a lot of animal protein can increase sulfur production due to the metabolism of sulfur-containing amino acids found in meat, poultry, and fish. According to DiNicolantonio:¹⁰

“Metabolic acidosis is a chronic disease that many people in the Western world have but do not realize… The normal healthy body has numerous buffering systems to prevent acid build-up.

However, if their cushioning capacity is reduced or they are unable to meet the acid load, damage can occur, including destruction of muscle, connective tissue, and bone. Animal proteins are the largest source of dietary acids because they are high in sulfur-containing amino acids. Methionine and cysteic acid form sulfuric acid and hydrogen ions in the body.”

Even low-grade metabolic acidosis can result in:¹¹

DiNicolantonio points out that the average Western diet leads to a net acid excretion of 50 to 100 mEq (milliequivalents measure the concentration of ions in solution) per day. But “a healthy person's kidneys can excrete 40 to 70 mEq of acid per day before it remains in the body,” he says. “Most Americans eat a diet that produces more than this amount of acid per day.”¹³

Additionally, “an animal-based or carnivore diet typically supplies 150-250 mEq of acid per day, unless these types of diets consume exogenous substances that form bicarbonate (bicarbonate mineral water or supplements, fruits or vegetables). This means it leads to significant acid build-up.”¹⁴

How to Balance Dietary Acids and Bases

What you eat affects your body's acid-base balance, and maintaining a diet that balances acidic and alkaline foods can help protect your health.

“Animal proteins, especially meat, eggs, and cheese, build up a lot of acid in the body.” DiNicolantonio said. “Fruits and vegetables contain a lot of organic anions, such as citric acid, malic acid, and gluconic acid, which are converted into bicarbonate in the body. Bicarbonate is a base in our body that neutralizes acids.”¹⁵

I don't recommend a vegan or vegetarian diet that includes more alkaline fruits and vegetables, but they may help offset the acid load. “I personally try to neutralize acids in my diet by calculating how much acid is produced in the foods I eat,” says DiNicolantonio. for example:

In general, protein should make up about 15% of your daily calories. More specifically, most adults need about 0.8 grams of protein per pound of their ideal weight (this is their ideal weight, not necessarily their current weight), while Europeans need about 1.76 grams of protein per kilogram.

For example, if your ideal weight is 135 pounds, your protein requirement would be 108 grams. If you split it into two meals, that would be 54 grams per meal. For reference, a 1-ounce steak contains about 7 grams of protein, so a 5-ounce steak would contain 35 grams of high-quality protein. For children, the average intake per meal is about 5 to 10 grams, while young adults typically need 20 grams per meal.

For most normal-weight adults, 30 grams per meal is actually the minimum amount needed to stimulate muscle protein synthesis. The key is to balance the acid load of animal foods in your diet with natural compounds that help neutralize the acids. In addition to fruits and vegetables, DiNicolantonio recommends:¹⁶

• Sodium citrate — Five grams (g) inhibits 60 mEq of acid. It should be taken with food.
• Potassium citrate — 3 g suppresses 30 mEq of acid. Typically, you should not consume more than 3 grams per meal.
• Bicarbonate mineral water (low sulfate content) — 1 mEq of bicarbonate suppresses 1 mEq of acid. “Normally, bicarbonate levels are quite low and should not affect stomach pH. Drinking bicarbonate mineral water slowly accumulates bicarbonate in the body, making it a better choice than sodium or potassium bicarbonate supplements.”

You can learn more in DiNicolantonio's Acid Base Balance Overview video.¹⁷