Protein - Why it's important in your diet?

Protein is an essential nutrient which helps form the structural component of body tissues and is used within many biological processes, for example protein is used to make enzymes, antibodies to help us fight infection as well as DNA the building blocks to life. It’s also needed to make up muscle tissue which in turn helps to keep our bodies active, strong, and healthy.
Proteins are believed to increase performance in terms of athletics. Amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, are used for building muscle tissue and repairing damaged tissues. Protein is only used as anaerobic fuel when carbohydrates are low, or as aerobic fuel when lipid resources are also low.

Most protein is stored in the body as muscle, generally accounting for around 40-45% of our body’s total pool, so it makes sense that if you increase activity, perhaps to improve health and fitness or body composition, you also need to consider protein as an important food group in your diet.

Protein is found in dairy, meat, eggs, fish, beans and nuts, as well as in our protein shakes. A sensible approach to meeting your daily protein requirements is to include a combination of these foods within your diet every day. Check out our Protein Calculator to assess your goal based protein needs and whether you are currently achieving this through protein dominant foods alone