Do Vegans Get Enough Protein?

It’s an inevitable question when someone finds out you’re not eating animal products. They ask, “Where do you get your protein?” 

How much protein does a person need?

The Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences, recommends 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. That means that the “average” woman needs about 46 grams of protein per day and the average man, about 56. 

Dangers of too much protein

In the U.S., the problem for the vast majority of people is not a shortage, but an excess of protein. Too much protein can lead to a number of serious health problems. For example, excessive protein produces extra nitrogen, which places a strain on the kidneys, which must filter all that extra nitrogen out of the system. Excess protein has also been linked with osteoporosis, kidney disease, calcium stones in the urinary tract, and some cancers.

Even most vegans get more than enough protein

Most people get more than the recommended amount of protein every day, meat-eaters especially. In a study involving a data set of over 70,000 people, a research team from Loma Linda University found that all groups, from meat-eaters to vegans, got more than the recommended daily amount of protein. As the graphic below shows, the average meat-eater in the study consumed about 75 grams of protein a day (versus the needed 46-56 grams), and the vegans at the other end consumed about 71 grams a day.

“Complete” proteins

Some say meat is the only source of complete protein. But lots of studies have shown that as long as you eat a variety of plant protein sources, your body does the work of completing the proteins. You don’t have to carefully combine plant foods in the same meal (“complementary proteins”) to get your full protein value. This half-century-old claim has been debunked by scientists. See this video by Dr. Michael Greger for more on this myth.