Units Matter

One pound is not the same as one kilogram. While that may or may not seem like an interesting factoid, its influence on dietary choices is significant. While current dietary recommendations suggest consuming approximately 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body mass, many pundits are incorrectly suggesting that people consume 1 gram of protein per pound of body mass. This is not a trivial difference - for me, this is the difference between consuming 190 grams of protein per day and 70 grams of protein per day. The former generally necessitates a diet that's very low in fiber, while the latter is entirely do-able on the high-fiber diet that supports a healthy microbiota.

This error reminds me of an unfortunate mistake that created a $135-million puff of smoke. In 1999, as part of the emerging Small Spacecraft Technology initiative, NASA sent the Mars Climate Orbiter to research the make-up of the Martian climate. Designed to orbit the Red Planet and determine the location of water sources and document daily weather and climactic conditions, the orbiter overshot its target and was inadvertently lost into the gravitational pull of Mars. More Icarus than orbiter, the small craft burned up ingloriously upon entering the Martian atmosphere, rendering the project a $135-million write-off. The cause of this mistake? Units, or more precisely, mixing English units (pounds, inches, etc.) with Metric units (kilograms, meters, etc.) While we may reflect on this incident as a cringe-worthy result of poor communication, the inappropriate use of units continues to this day. In the case of dietary recommendations, a lot of well-meaning people are striving to consume far too much protein.

Newspaper cartoon depicting the incongruence in the units used by NASA and Lockheed Martin scientists that led to the Mars Climate Orbiter disaster. (Source: Slideplayer.com)

You may ask, why does it matter? Isn't protein good, and thus, isn't more protein even better? In short, no. Most of the foods that people reach for when they think of protein sources are largely devoid of fiber content. For example, animal foods are essentially devoid of dietary fiber. Thus, when someone focuses on eating an almost unattainable quantity of protein, those protein-laden foods crowd out the other foods that provide essential micro- and macro-nutrients. By shortchanging consumption of dietary fiber, gut health is compromised.

In prior blog postings, I wrote of the many benefits of consuming high levels of dietary fiber. In brief, high fiber foods energize a healthy and diverse intestinal ecosystem. This healthy ecosystem, in turn, churns out anti-inflammatory compounds, such as short-chain fatty acids, that support mental and physical health. With your health, please make sure that your orbiter soars rather than crashes. Pounds are not the same as kilograms, even though far too many people use them interchangeably. Caveat emptor.