Indians Need More Protein In-take, Say Experts

Hyderabad: How dangerous are protein shakes and creatine, really, in a country where most people still struggle to eat enough protein in the first place? Current research and doctors’ accounts point to a different problem about the bigger health risk for most Indians is low protein, weak muscles and early disability, not a scoop of whey or five grams of creatine for a healthy adult.

“Whole food should be the primary source for protein and it should be 1 gm per kg of your body weight. With supplements, you rarely know exactly what goes into them,” said Dr Kiran Medala, co-convenor of the media committee of the Indian Medical Association, Telangana. However, he added, “Protein shakes are not always validated as health products. FSSAI approves them as food, not as clinically tested nutrition.”

Surveys show Indians get only about 9-11 per cent of their calories from protein, roughly 50-60 grams a day for many adults, which just about scrapes past the ICMR minimum of 0.83 g per kilo of body weight. Rural households that rely on rice or wheat for 60-75 per cent of calories often fall below even that.

Nutrition scientists in the 2020 ICMR guidelines noted that cereal-heavy diets may need closer to 1 gm per kilo to compensate for poorer protein quality. Traditional sources like dal, curd, eggs, fish and meat can cover that target, but availability, cost and food habits keep a large share of the population underserved.

Yoga trainer Arpan Kushwaha, who has an MSc in Yoga Therapy and teaches in Hyderabad, sees the gap daily among his students. “To maintain our daily needs we should consume at least 1-2 grams of protein per kilo,” he said. “People who are regularly into fitness need 1.5-2.5 grams at least to maintain existing muscle mass and for repair and growth.”

He calls protein “not only for muscles” but also for “nails, hair and overall major tissues” that rely on amino acids to recover and regenerate.

Creatine, which has become the villain of many gym rumours, is a molecule the body already makes from amino acids. It is found in meat and fish and sits inside muscle cells, where it helps recycle ATP, the chemical fuel for short, intense efforts like sprints or heavy lifts.

Decades of trials have tested creatine monohydrate at doses of about 3-5 grams a day in healthy adults. Those studies show better strength gains, extra repetitions in the gym and modest increases in lean mass when people train, without evidence of kidney or liver damage in healthy users.

Several high-authority studies have also shown that creatine benefits the brain, not just muscles. A major review in Experimental Gerontology (2018) pulled findings together and noted consistent gains in short-term memory and reasoning.

People who are new to fitness often arrive scared, Arpan said. “People who are new to health usually get afraid of consuming dietary supplements like protein and creatine,” he said. “It is completely safe for everyone to consume 3-5 grams of creatine. It helps to improve brain and cognitive functions.”

He points his students to the subtle changes like slightly better energy, more stable mood, the ability to push through one more round of sun salutations or squats. Often creatine and protein shakes are also confused with steroids, which have been proven to reduce lifespan, cause heart issues and other major problems. Steroids are lab-made hormones designed to act like testosterone and are often used for faster muscle growth.

UK-based surgeon and educator Dr Karan Rajan has repeatedly told his followers that healthy kidneys are not harmed by creatine. Anybody with underlying diseases should exercise caution.

However, the focus should be on proper protein intake along with exercise, since muscles are important. Researchers plot muscle strength against age, and the curve rises through youth, stays steady for a while, then dips as people grow older.

A dotted horizontal line on that chart marks the “disability threshold”, the point below which simple tasks like standing up, walking a short distance or climbing stairs become difficult. People who build stronger muscles in their 20s to 40s start from a higher point on the curve, and resistance training slows the decline later in life. The idea is to stay above that threshold for as long as possible, so ageing does not turn into early dependency.