Side effects

The protein diet can lead to various side effects, especially if you drastically increase the amount of protein and do not eat a balanced diet. If more protein is consumed than the intestine can process, bacteria in the digestive tract decompose the food and release gases. The consequences can be flatulence and diarrhoea.

Also, due to the dietary requirements of the protein diet, the amount of dietary fibre supplied may be too low, resulting in constipation, hard stools and pain during bowel movements. Even though these complaints usually disappear again after the diet with a full diet, the diet should be stopped in order not to burden the intestine. However, serious side effects can also occur, especially if diseases are present which make a diet with increased protein content intolerable.

These include in particular kidney and liver diseases. With a very one-sided nutrition there is also the threat of deficiency symptoms, for example due to a lack of vitamins and trace elements. A protein diet should therefore never be too radical and carbohydrates, fruit and healthy fats must always be on the menu.

Those who fall back on protein sources that are too rich in fat also increase the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In the digestive tract, the supplied proteins are broken down into their building blocks (amino acids) and these are absorbed into the blood via the intestinal wall. The capacity of this digestive function is exhausted, which means that each person can only process a limited amount of proteins at once.

If this amount is exceeded, the food reaches deeper sections of the intestine and is decomposed by the bacteria that live there. This produces gases. In addition, more water is also transported.

Therefore, a protein diet can lead to flatulence and diarrhoea. The amount of protein that the gastrointestinal tract can use varies from person to person. If symptoms such as diarrhoea or flatulence occur, this is a sign that too much protein has been consumed.

You should either reduce the amount of protein in your diet or spread it over several meals. In addition, in the case of diarrhoea, care must always be taken to ensure a sufficient fluid intake. Under no circumstances should one accept the symptoms and continue with the diet unchanged.

Due to the high intake of protein at the expense of the carbohydrate portion, a lower intake of dietary fiber can also occur. This is particularly likely to occur if only protein-containing products and too few vegetables are consumed. As a result, digestive work becomes more difficult and constipation with abdominal pain, cramps and aggravated bowel movements with pain can occur.

In such a case, on the one hand, enough water should be drunk (about two liters a day) and on the other hand, the amount of dietary fiber should be increased by eating vegetables and whole grain products. An alternative is psyllium husks, which contain a lot of fiber but almost no calories. If the measures do not lead to an improvement, the diet should be discontinued.The short-term use of a laxative should only be considered if the above measures do not show any effect.