Pork: High Quality Protein for Everyone in the Family
Pork β just like all animal proteins - is a complete high-quality protein that contains all the essential amino acids your body needs to grow, maintain muscle and function properly.
Protein plays a role in healthy bones, cell repair, post-exercise workout recovery, weight loss and weight maintenance, disease prevention and may even help prevent age-related loss of muscle.
In addition, high quality protein helps support a strong immune system for children, teens and adults. And while protein is essential for proper growth and development during childhood and teen-age years, itβs just as critical during adulthood, but for more than just cell maintenance.
Weight Loss and Sarcopenia
High-quality protein benefits adults by helping with weight loss efforts and preventing sarcopenia, age-related loss of muscle mass.
Weight Loss. Much research has shown that protein may impact satiety β that feeling of fullness after eating β and possibly lead to reduced calorie intake throughout the day and promote weight loss.
Protein is also associated with improved body composition while losing weight, basically losing body fat while maintaining muscle. In fact, a 2007 study at Purdue University found that women who cut calories but included more protein (including six ounces of lean pork per day), kept more muscle mass while losing weight than women who consumed the same amount of calories but less protein. The study also found that consumer a higher protein diet (30% of calories) helped retain a sense of satiety, or fullness, after meals.
Source: Leidy H, Carnell N, Mattes R, Campbell W. Higher protein intake preserves lean mass and satiety with weight loss in pre-obese and obese women. Obesity Res. 2007;15:421-429.
Sarcopenia. Sarcopenia is the progressive loss of muscle mass with age. New scientific research is showing that adequate, or slightly increased, high quality protein can reduce the effects of this debilitating condition. Unfortunately, many adult men and women are consuming less protein than the current recommended levels. One way to eat more protein and help prevent sarcopenia is to include a moderate serving (2 to 3 ounces) of high quality protein, like pork, at every meal.
Source: Paddon-Jones D, Short K, Campbell W, Volpi E, Wolfe R. Role of dietary protein in the sarcopenia of aging. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2008. 87 (suppl): 1562S-6S.