Hormonal
Dietary protein restriction, independent of energy intake, robustly increases circulating FGF21 levels in both rodents and humans, whereas energy restriction alone decreases or does not increase FGF21.
If you are consuming very low amounts of protein (e.g., <10% of calories), your body produces significantly more FGF21, a hormone that alters metabolism and growth. This response is driven by the lack of protein, not by how many calories you eat. Ensuring adequate protein intake prevents this specific hormonal stress response.
These data demonstrate that protein restriction powerfully increases hepatic and circulating FGF21, whereas the opposite effect is observed when energy but not protein is restricted.
Why this rating
Strong evidence across multiple models (rats, mice, humans) with consistent directional effects, though human data showed high variability.
Source
FGF21 is an endocrine signal of protein restriction
Thomas Laeger et al. · Journal of Clinical Investigation · 2014
DOI 10.1172/jci74915
More from this paper
- FGF21 is required for the metabolic and behavioral adaptations to protein restriction, including increased energy expenditure, increased food intake, and reduced body weight gain.Strong
- The induction of FGF21 during protein restriction is mediated by the GCN2/eIF2α signaling pathway and requires PPARα.Good
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