Can protein be stored as fat?

I received a few emails asking if protein could be converted to fat and stored in fat cells.

Protein can be converted to fat although this is very rarely done in the body. Excess protein is often used up as energy. However, I believe excess protein can cause gains in fat, although through an indirect manner. Let me explain.

Protein contains 4 calories per gram, in other words it contains energy and according to the first law in physics “energy cannot be created or destroyed; it can only be converted to another form”. This statement is fact and explains why it is energy in/ out ( energy balance ) that determines our weight.

If a person was to eat almost all his food as protein AND still ate more energy than his body required then some of the energy from the protein must be converted to fat. Yes most of the energy would be converted to sugar in the liver but if glycogen stores became full excess carbs (from protein energy) would be converted to fat for storage!

Learn more about combining protein sources from foods

One reason why low carb may help lose weight

It's been known for years that eating a meal high in protein (as in the case for low carb diets ) causes us to feel fuller quicker and thus eat less food/calories. After sorting through some research and found something interesting about how protein may help reduce the appetite.

Because humans have no way of storing excess protein then maybe the brain detects the level of amino acids (building blocks of protein) in the blood and switches off hunger signals when an upper range has been reached. Maybe this is a safety mechanism as high concentrations of amino acids within the blood could affect the osmolarity and blood pressure.

If some high quality protein is included a meal it may help control hunger and lead to ingestion of fewer calories.

Obese people may contain fat-building enzymes with muscles

Just read an article in the paper today (UK paper) that claims new research has found that obese people may have more fat-building enzymes present within muscles. This basically means that their muscles are "programmed" to collect fat. This phenomenon could explain difficulties in losing and keeping off weight. The paper printed a quote from one of the researchers - Dr Deborah Muoio - she states "The good news is it' s possible to change your energy balance through exercise"

You can read more about the research by clicking on the next link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4329854.stm

But what about Fat cell numbers, do they reduce when we lose weight?
Find out here:
Fat cell reduction and losing weight

Eating out

Frequent visits to many restaurants has enabled me to create a small list of, what I feel are, the healthiest choices some menus. Some dishes may seem like a low calorie choice but may turn out to be full of extra energy, it all depends on how that dish was prepared. For example, a baked potato with tuna and salad may seem like the perfect dish for low energy content but if tuna in oil, oils for the salad and butter in the baked potato was used in the preparation then this would become a high calorie food.

From Italian restaurants some healthy choices are:
Pasta with vegetable or seafood sauces
Gnocchi
Risotto
Grissini
Try to stay away from creamy or buttery sauce dishes

For Chinese restaurants some good choices are:
Prawn or vegetable chop suey
Boiled rice
Noddles
Try to stay away from spare ribs and duck dishes

For more facts on fast food and other dishes