Changing Protein Requirements
There has been a history of enthusiasm for protein in the nutrition world. A century ago, the protein recommendations were more than twice what we know them to be today. This enthusiasm peaked in the 1950s with the United Nations identifying protein deficiency as a serious, widespread, global problem.
According to them, there was a worldwide protein gap that needed to be filled. This was certainly convenient for the U.S. dairy industry, who could then “dump” their post-war surplus of dried milk “in developing countries than to have to just bury it in the United States as was contemplated by the Department of Agriculture at one point.” But all of this led to the phenomena I cover in my video The Great Protein Fiasco.
It started in the 1930s with a disease of malnutrition called kwashiorkor, which was assumed to be caused by protein deficiency. The disease was famously discovered by Dr.