The presents report summarizes basic aspects of dietary proteins and reviews current recommendations on requirements in children, adolescents, adults, pregnant women, and in the elderly. It reviews health effects of dietary proteins in obesity and type 2 diabetes. Here, they are of particular importance since in these conditions, excessive amounts of carbohydrates and fats exert adverse effects.
Further contributions of the report deal with the role of dietary proteins in sport activities, in bone health, in severe illnesses associated with protein catabolism, and in renal and hepatic disease. Dietary proteins are a frequent cause of food allergies with sometimes deleterious consequences for health.
Although the scientific literature often does not provide clear-cut guidance for practical recommendations, i.e. the “ideal” protein intake during various conditions in humans, the report tries to extract from the literature an update of recommendations for various population groups and disease states. It should provide an important tool for all players interested in human nutrition in Switzerland, specifically nutritionists, health authorities, food industry, teachers, dieticians and physicians.
The present expert report on dietary proteins of the federal commission for nutrition (FCN) is a follow-up of previous reports of the FCN on macronutrients, i.e. on dietary fats (2006) and on carbohydrates (2007). It reviews the current scientific literature and recommendation by authorities on the subject. It aims to extract practical recommendations for the people in Switzerland.
