EMU Today

YPSILANTI — Eastern Michigan University School of Health Sciences professor John Carbone, Ph.D., is the lead author of a newly published article examining the broader effects of dietary protein on health across the lifespan. The article, titled “Exploring Opportunities to Better Characterize the Effects of Dietary Protein on Health across the Lifespan,” appears in the latest issue of the peer-reviewed journal Advances in Nutrition.

Carbone and a team of experts highlight growing evidence that dietary protein plays a key role in chronic disease prevention and age-related decline, extending beyond its widely recognized impact on muscle health.

“There has been an impressive variety of past research studies exploring the effects of dietary protein on muscle health,” said Carbone. “With this paper, we make a case for building off of these past accomplishments and encourage investigations of protein's role in modulating important outcomes that affect health across the lifespan. We begin by emphasizing cardiometabolic health, frailty prevention, bone health, and weight management, but believe this is just the beginning of expanding our understanding of how protein intake can be optimized to benefit the quality of life for all."

The research supported by the Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences explains that tremendous gains have been made in understanding dietary protein and muscle over the last three decades but that future studies on optimizing overall health across the lifespan would boost progress. While past studies have centered mainly on the minimum protein required to maintain muscle, Carbone and his co-authors argue for a shift toward identifying optimal protein consumption levels and types to support overall health throughout life.

Experts emphasize the need for further research on how dietary protein and its components affect blood pressure and plasma lipid levels, particularly the overall food matrix, for future dietary interventions. Additionally, aging leads to declines in muscle mass, strength, and physical function, known as sarcopenia, raising the critical question of whether these declines are inevitable or can be mitigated through diet and physical activity.

According to the article, as the field shifts emphasis to elucidating the role of dietary protein in supporting and sustaining human health throughout the lifespan, past research accomplishments provide a foundation for innovative thinking and an approach for the continued creation of an evidence base to best support future public health policy guidance.

Carbone and his colleagues stress that their findings are just the beginning.  “The goal here is to spur new research interests,” said Carbone. “Certainly, those could influence future nutrition-related interventions to mitigate frailty, osteoporosis, cardiometabolic dysfunction, and more, but our emphasis is on the research that will provide the foundation for evidence-based practice.” 

For more information about the article, view the website. 

The Institute for the Advancement of Food and Nutrition Sciences (IAFNS) is committed to leading positive change across the food and beverage ecosystem. This paper was supported by IAFNS Protein Committee. IAFNS is a 501(c)(3) science-focused nonprofit uniquely positioned to mobilize government, industry and academia to drive, fund and lead actionable research. iafns.org

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