The alarming rise in overweight and obesity in developing countries has generated a plethora of dietary strategies for man- aging body weight. Moderate- or high-protein diets have gained in popularity and have been widely promoted for losing weight, preserving lean body mass, and maintaining weight loss [1]. Ad- vocates of these diets often recommend protein intakes at or above 1.2 g protein/kg body weight/day (g prot/kg BW/d) or >25E% (percentage of energy) consumed. These amounts are substantially higher than usual recommendations for healthy adults which are set at 0.8 g prot/kg BW/d [2e4] or recent recommendations for healthy older subjects set at 1.0e1.2 g protein/kg BW/day [5].
Several randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have investigated the short-term effects of high-protein (HPD) versus low-protein (LPD) diets and reported that HPD have advantages in terms of adiposity and blood lipid profile [6e8]. Similarly, in a pooled analysis of 15 RCTs lasting between 28 days and 12 months, HPD showed favorable effects on obesity and cardiovascular risk markers [9]. In addition, a meta-analysis of weight-loss studies conducted in adults consuming either a HPD (>15E%) or a LPD (