Question + Comment

[hector_garza]

Question:

Read a summary of a study yesterday that said eating steak or salmon every day benefitted arterial health and blood pressure as much as quitting smoking.

Eating steak or salmon every day 'could be as good for your heart as stopping smoking' - Mirror Online

From the article:

"Those in the sample who ate the highest amounts of amino acids had the lowest blood pressure and least arterial stiffness."

Is there a known causative mechanism where amino acids lower blood pressure and improve arterial health? Or, is it not the presence of amino acids, but instead the absence of the food displaced by the amino acid consumption that's responsible for the improved hearth health?

If the people eating protein are more satiated and less inclined to eat that piece of cake then the exact mechanism behind the improved heart health (presence of protein, or, absence of other foods) may not be so clear.

Also, if it is the presence of the amino acids in protein that cause the improved heart health, would taking a BCAA supplement provide the same benefits? At what level of consumption do you think the benefit curve would flatten out and offer no additional benefits from additional BCAAs?


Comment:

Met a guy at my gym who is receiving online coaching from you, both for diet and lifting programming. He's been making pretty awesome progress, both leaning out and gaining strength. Based on what I've seen between his progress and from attending your lecture awhile back I would advice anyone who's on the fence to go ahead and sign up for your coaching.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

There have been quite a few observational studies implicating that increases in dietary protein are associated with improving hypertension and that higher dietary protein intake is inversely associated with hypertension. This article is pretty good at laying out some potential mechanisms and is relatively current.

I'm not sure where the curve flattens out or where the correlation gets weaker due to the influence of other factors, but if I had to hazard a guess it'd be at levels over 1g/lb LBM or so.