Can Protein Shakes Cause Belly Fat?

When you notice a few extra pounds settling around your waistline, it’s tempting to look for something to blame. But belly fat is a complex topic, and pointing fingers at the protein shakes in your diet isn’t likely to solve the issue. Since a single food like a shake is almost never the cause of stomach flab, it’s more helpful to understand what shakes are adding to your diet and how they or other factors may be contributing to your midsection gain.

Extra Calories, Extra Fat

Are protein shakes a new addition to your diet? If so, those added calories may be part of what’s causing the weight gain. Especially if you begin drinking shakes but leave the rest of your diet the same, you’re taking in more calories than you used to, and you’ll put on a few pounds if you don’t increase your physical activity level. If those extra calories are the culprit, they’re not limited to protein shakes -- you’d experience similar gain if you added a daily rice bowl or T-bone steak to your diet.

Shakes as Replacements

You may not think that protein-rich shakes can make you gain fat, especially if you’re drinking a shake made with low-fat or fat-free ingredients. However, it’s the calories that make the difference and not the nutritional composition. If your goal is to avoid belly fat and keep your weight down, use shakes as occasional meal replacements rather than meal supplements. According to a study published in 2007 in the journal “Metabolism,” subjects who drank high-protein meal replacement shakes made of either soy or casein lost more than 13 percent of their body weight after 16 weeks.

The Skinny on Protein

If you work out regularly and want to begin using protein shakes as meal replacements, don’t let a fear of weight gain stop you. Registered dietitian Deborah Kurzrock writes for the Sutter Heath program MyLifeStages that eating or drinking foods high in lean protein can increase satiety and help you cut your total calorie consumption. However, Kurzrock stresses that the only reliable ways to keep belly fat at bay are to eat healthfully and alternate regular cardio workouts with strength-training sessions.

Causes of Belly Fat

If protein shakes don’t cause belly fat, what does? A variety of factors are at play. Kurzrock writes that age, hormone levels and genetics are the main determinants. According to researchers at the Mayo Clinic, estrogen levels in women influence how fat is distributed throughout the body, which is a primary reason why so many women experience widening midsections after menopause. Dr. Natasha Turner, founder of Clear Medicine Wellness, also writes on DoctorOz.com that high stress levels can be a cause of belly fat. If you’re concerned about your body weight, speak with your doctor.

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High Protein Diets & Insulin

The American Heart Association does not recommend high-protein diets. High-protein diets, such as Atkins, Protein Power and Stillman diets, highly restrict essential nutrients your body needs by being focused on protein intake. High dietary protein has harmful effects on glucose metabolism by promoting insulin resistance. Insulin resistance impairs the body's ability to respond and use the insulin it produces. This inability leads to blood glucose abnormalities.

Insulin

Insulin is a hormone that is responsible for lowering blood glucose. When glucose levels rise in the blood, insulin stimulates the uptake of the excess glucose by liver and muscle cells. The cells use the stored glucose as an energy supply. Dietary changes in the carbohydrate to protein ratio produce changes in glucose regulation, as shown by Donald K. Layman and colleagues published in "Human Nutrition and Metabolism" 2003. Therefore, high-protein diets influence insulin levels within the body.

Types of Dietary Proteins

Three types of dietary proteins exist in human diets--meat protein, dairy protein and vegetable protein. Not all types of proteins affect insulin in the same manner. Studies on increased dietary milk or increased dietary animal protein have shown increased incidence of insulin resistance in children. Other types of proteins, such as soy or lean fish, lower the insulin response. Improved cholesterol is an added benefit of lean fish protein. Variations in protein sources, rather than amounts of proteins, represents a safer dietary option.

Required Protein

The recommended daily allowance, or RDA, for protein in the United States is 0.8 g of protein per kilogram of body weight in adults. Is it recommended that children intake only 9 to 20 g per day, while adults need 34 to 46 g per day. Recommended RDA for pregnant and lactating women is increased to 71 g per day. According to body weight, children need more protein per kilogram because they are building new body tissues. A typical American diet provides more than the RDA.

High Protein and Diabetes

Diabetes occurs when too much glucose is present in the blood and not enough insulin is made to remove it or the body is unable to use the insulin that is made. Prolonged high-protein diets increase amino acids present in the blood, which affect glucose equilibrium. Long-term high-protein diets in healthy individuals induce high glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and unsuppressed glucose output by the liver. In diabetics, too much protein decreases insulin sensitivity and causes increased insulin produced by the liver as well. Both examples indicate problematic responses to high-protein diets.

Considerations

Many high-protein diets include high amounts of saturated fats from animal protein. Such fats elevate low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, or LDL, which is the "bad" cholesterol. High LDL cholesterol levels are associated with increased risk of heart disease. Also, high dietary animal proteins cause increased urinary output, which removes essential minerals, such as calcium, from the body. The body loses an average of 1.75 mg of calcium for every 1 g of ingested animal protein, and calcium deposits retained in the kidneys produce painful kidney stones.

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