For teenage boys and girls “you can get all the protein that you need from food alone”, says registered dietitian Nichola Ludlam-Raine.<\/p>\n
It is important that teenage girls, especially, get enough iron and calcium, so Ludlam-Raine says not to become overly focused on protein at the expense of other nutrients.<\/p>\n
Protein shakes, powders or bars can be useful for some, including high-level athletes and those who have certain allergies, but they should not replace a healthy diet.<\/p>\n
There can also be some unwanted side effects from using protein powders such as bloating, gas, cramps, and diarrhoea.<\/p>\n
Those with pre-existing health conditions should not use it unless they have been told they can by their doctor.<\/p>\n
Ludlam-Raine points out that the protein powder market is not as tightly regulated as medicines.<\/p>\n
“Of course, you can get reputable companies who do third-party testing and make sure that what you see on the label is what is in the inside, but that’s not always the case,” she says.<\/p>\n
“And ultimately you can’t just have a shake and your biceps grow.”<\/p>\n
Some protein powders contain high amounts of added sugar, artificial ingredients, and hidden stimulants.<\/p>\n
Dr Ramnik Mathur is a consultant paediatrician from Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust.<\/p>\n
He explains that we need micronutrients like zinc, calcium and magnesium, which are found in whole foods.<\/p>\n
So, if meals are replaced with protein shakes, those nutrients are lost.<\/p>\n
Experts suggest spreading out protein across the day and aiming for 20-25g per meal. If you’re keen to up your intake, try some of these recipes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For teenage boys and girls “you can get all the protein that you need from food alone”, says…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":630920,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[134,111,139,556,69],"class_list":["post-630919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-health","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nutrition","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630919"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630919\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/630920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}