Getting enough nutrients, such as protein, is essential for your health and body composition. However, there are various opinions as to how much protein you should need per day.

A fairly modest protein intake is often recommended by most official nutrition organizations.

The DRI of protein is 0.36 grams per pound of body weight, which amounts to 46 grams daily for the average sedentary woman and 56 grams for the average sedentary man—may be enough to prevent deficiency.

However, the amount you need is dependent on several factors, including your physique goals, muscle mass, age, activity level, and overall health.

Here we examine the optimal amounts of protein you should take per day and how lifestyle factors, such as the activity level and physique goals, factor in.

What is protein?

Protein is an essential macronutrient needed to make muscles, organs, skin, and tendons, as well as various molecules that have vital functions, including hormones, enzymes, and neurotransmitters. They are basically the main building blocks of your body.

Proteins consist of amino acids, which are smaller molecules that link together like beads on a string to form long protein chains, folding into complex shapes.

Although your body is capable of producing some amino acids, there are those known as essential amino acids that you need to obtain through your diet.

Protein is also about quality—and not only quantity.

Animal tissues are similar to your own tissues, allowing them to provide all essential amino acids in the right ratio. This makes animal products, including eggs, meat, fish, or dairy, a great source of quality protein. Consuming these foods every day will likely give you enough protein.

Although getting all the essential amino acids and protein your body needs can be more challenging if you don’t eat animal foods, there are several great protein sources for vegans and vegetarians as well. There are a wide variety of high protein meals for vegetarians. Supplementing with protein is also a great idea, especially for bodybuilders and athletes.

Benefits of protein

It helps prevent weight gain and aid weight loss

Protein can also help prevent weight gain and aid weight loss.

Consuming fewer calories than you burn helps you lose weight.

Protein consumption has been found to reduce your appetite and boost your metabolic rate, thereby reducing calorie intake and increasing the number of calories you burn. This is protein’s most important contribution to weight loss.

Compared to fat or carbs, protein is much better at keeping you feeling full.

One study in obese men found that consuming 25% of calories from protein increased feelings of satiety, thereby reducing obsessive thoughts about food and late-night snacking desires by 60% and 50%, respectively.

Another study found that a modest increase in protein resulted in a 50% reduction of the amount of fat people regained after weight loss.

Increasing your protein intake makes it easier for you to stick to any weight loss diet—be it a low-carb or high-carb diet.

Studies suggested that a protein intake that is optimal for weight loss is around 30% of calories, which amounts to 150 grams per day on a 2,000-calorie diet.

That amount can be enough to help boost your metabolic rate and reduce your calorie intake.

It can help build muscle and strength

Mostly made of protein, muscles are similar with most body tissues that are constantly being broken down and rebuilt.

You can gain muscle when your body produces more muscle protein than it breaks down. There has to be a net positive protein balance in your body.

An increased consumption of protein helps gain muscle and strength; thus, those who want to build muscles often couple their exercise with increased protein intake.

Although 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight is the common recommendation for gaining muscle, other scientists have estimated that protein intake has to be a minimum of 0.7 grams.

Many different studies trying to determine the optimal amount of protein for muscle gain have reached different conclusions.

Some studies indicate that protein intake slightly higher than 1 gram per pound is best, while others show that consuming more than 0.8 grams per pound offers no benefit at all.

Although conflicting study results make it hard to give exact figures, ~ 0.7–1 gram per pound of body weight seems to be a reasonable estimate.

Protein in pregnancy

During pregnancy, protein benefits both the baby and mother when it comes to tissue development and growth.

It has been suggested that during pregnancy, people consume 0.55–0.69 grams per pound of protein daily.

During breastfeeding, the RDA for protein is 0.59 grams per pound daily, with 25 additional grams.

The ideal way to obtain any nutrient is through dietary sources, such as eggs, lean meat, nuts and seeds, tofu, dairy products, beans, peas, and lentils.

Other good dietary sources to eat during pregnancy and lactation include fish and seafood that are high in omega-3 fatty acids and low in mercury, such as anchovies, sardines, and salmon.

King mackerel, shark, tilefish, swordfish, and other fish and seafood that may be high in mercury should be avoided.

Although getting all your protein from high protein food sources is ideal, some healthcare providers may also recommend supplements.

Can protein cause any negative health effects?

Unfairly blamed for a number of health problems, a high-protein diet is believed to cause osteoporosis and kidney damage—science does not support these claims though.

Although restricting protein intake may help people with preexisting kidney problems, protein has not been shown to cause kidney damage in healthy people.

In fact, a higher intake of protein may help fight diabetes and lower blood pressure—two of the main risk factors for kidney disease.

In addition, too much protein intake has been believed to cause osteoporosis, but research shows the other way around.

Overall, high protein intake has not been shown to cause any adverse health effects in healthy people.

Getting enough protein in your diet

Animal products, such as eggs, meat, fish, and dairy products, contain all the essential amino acids needed by your body, making them the best sources of protein.

In addition, some plants, such as nuts, quinoa, and legumes, are also fairly high in protein.

Most people need not keep track of their protein intake. If you are healthy, you can simply eat quality protein sources with most of your meals, coupled with some nutritious plant foods. This will help bring your intake to an optimal range.

You might misunderstand the “grams of protein.” This does not refer to the number of grams of protein-containing food like eggs or meat, but rather the number of grams of the macronutrient protein.

For example, a large egg weighs 46 grams, but there’s only 6 grams of protein in 1 egg.

What about the average person?

Average person with a healthy weight who does not exercise much and lift weights may aim for 0.36–0.6 grams per pound, which amounts to 46–75 grams daily for the average female and 56–91 grams for the average male.

Since there’s no evidence to show the benefits and harm of high protein intake, consuming more protein is better than consuming less. Preparing high protein meals is ideal for healthy average individuals.