Too much protein is ‘just as bad as smoking’, claim scientists

LONDON: Middle-aged people who eat protein-rich food are four times more likely to die of cancer than someone who only eats a little, according to a new study. The researchers said eating a lot of protein increased the risk of cancer almost as much as smoking 20 cigarettes a day. 

They reached their findings, published in the journal Cell: Metabolism, after tracking thousands of people over 20 years. 

"We provide convincing evidence that a high-protein diet — particularly if the proteins are derived from animals — is nearly as bad as smoking for your health," one of the academics behind the work, Dr Valter Longo, of theUniversity of Southern California, told Daily Telegraph. 

A high-protein diet was defined as one in which 20 per cent of the calories came from protein. They recommended eating 0.8g of protein per kilogram of body weight a day during middle age. 

However, the researchers said protein had benefits during later life. 

Dr Eileen Crimmins, a co-author of the study, said: "We also propose that at older ages, it may be important to avoid a low-protein diet to allow the maintenance of healthy weight and protection from frailty." 

However Dr Gunter Kuhnle, a food nutrition scientist at the University of Reading, criticized the study for making a link to smoking. 

"While this study raises some interesting perspectives on links between protein intake and mortality ... It is wrong, and potentially even dangerous, to compare the effects of smoking with the effect of meat and cheese," he said. 

"The smoker thinks: 'Why bother quitting smoking if my cheese and ham sandwich is just as bad for me?'" 

And Professor Tim Key, of Cancer Research UK, said: "Further research is needed to establish whether there is any link between eating a high protein diet and an increased risk of middle aged people dying from cancer."

Sex makes you smarter

Sex not only helps decrease stress levels and burn away calories, but boosts yourintelligence too!

Love-making proved to greatly increase the creation of new neurons located within the hippocampus - an area of the brain that is responsible for the formation of long-term memory, say researchers.

"We discovered that even though there had been the production of new neurons, the cognitive abilities acquired during the experiment decreased once the mice were subjected to long periods without sexual activity," psychologists from the University of Maryland in the US were quoted as saying.

Increased sexual activity floods an individual's brain cells with oxygen, they noted.

Another study by Konkuk University in Seoul, South Korea, provided further substantial evidence.

According to the Korean study, sex increases intellectual functions.

Sexual activity buffers the creation of neurons in the hippocampal region of the brain, which acts against detrimental functions caused by extreme stress.

Older couples that are more sexually active have less odds of getting dementia which is due to a variation of complicated reasons, said a report in Glamour magazine.

Are you a Smoker?

Are you among those who use cigarettes but don't consider themselves to be smokers? You then belong to the category of 'non-identifying smokers (NIS)'. 

Researchers at University of California (UC),San Diego report there is a surprisingly large number of people who say they use cigarettes but don't like them to be called smokers. 

The phenomenon has both individual and social ramifications. 

"For individuals, the behaviour puts them at many of the same health risks as identified smokers," said Wael K Al-Delaimy, professor at the UC San Diego's department of family and preventive medicine. 

"There is a risk for such smokers to continue to smoke and be adversely impacted by the tobacco they smoke. They do not seek any assistance nor do they plan to quit because they falsely believe they are not smokers," explained Al-Delaimy. 

Almost 22 percent of these smokers consumed tobacco on a daily basis. 

In their analysis, Al-Delaimy and colleagues defined NIS as people who had smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime, reported smoking at least one day in the past 30 days or who said they smoked at least "some days". 

In all cases, when asked if they considered themselves to be a smoker, the respondents replied 'No'. 

The younger NIS are typically college students who smoke as a means of social facilitation and who believe they can quit at any time. 

Older NIS belong to the marginalised parts of society who see little advantage in identifying themselves as smokers or providing accurate reports of their smoking behaviour, said the study that appeared in the journal Tobacco Control..