Research
Macro partitioning
Higher animal protein intakes (1.2-2.2 g/kg body weight) do not harm bone health and may be beneficial, provided calcium intake is adequate.
You can safely consume high amounts of protein (1.2-2.2 g/kg body weight) to support muscle and bone health. Ensure you are eating enough calcium (dairy, leafy greens, fortified foods) to offset any urinary calcium loss. This combination supports bone strength without the feared bone loss associated with the 'acid-ash' theory.
GoodRefutesHIGH confidence
On the balance of the available evidence it would seem unlikely that higher animal protein intakes, in the amounts recommended to athletes, are harmful to bone health, particularly with adequate calcium intake.
Why this rating
Supported by meta-analyses and mechanistic studies showing increased calcium absorption and IGF-1 production with high protein.
Source
Nutrition and Athlete Bone Health
Craig Sale et al. · Sports Medicine · 2019
DOI 10.1007/s40279-019-01161-2
narrative_reviewCited 139×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Maintaining an energy availability of 45 kcal/kg lean body mass per day is ideal for optimizing bone health, though achieving levels above 30 kcal/kg lean body mass per day is a more realistic target to minimize negative effects.Good
- Endurance athletes should consider pre-exercise calcium feeding to mitigate dermal calcium losses during long training sessions or events.Moderate
Related findings · Macro partitioning
- Total daily protein intake of 1.6 g/kg/day is sufficient for maximizing resistance training-induced muscle gains, with an upper confidence interval of 2.2 g/kg/day.Strong
- Resistance exercise training combined with sufficient dietary protein intake acts synergistically to maximize skeletal muscle hypertrophy, with protein intake saturating around 1.6 g/kg/day for general populations and potentially requiring 2.0-2.2 g/kg/day for resistance-trained individuals.Strong
- Trans fats should be completely eliminated from the diet, as they increase LDL cholesterol, decrease HDL cholesterol, and are directly associated with increased coronary risk.Strong
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →