ArticleThe American journal of clinical nutrition2020
Protein intake is more stable than carbohydrate or fat intake across various US demographic groups and international populations.
Article in The American journal of clinical nutrition, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed.
- Macronutrient mixtures and interactions in health and disease.Nature reviews. Endocrinology · 2026Review
- Carbohydrate-to-fat ratio is positively associated with comprehensive frailty across protein-intake levels in older adults.European journal of nutrition · 2026Article
- A two-phase optimization approach in designing sustainable hospital menus by integrating nutrition, cost, and environmental factors.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Long-term high-protein diet intake accelerates adipocyte senescence through macrophage CD38-mediated NADMolecular metabolism · 2026Article
- Association between carbohydrate consumption and self-assessed severe headache or migraine among American adults.Journal of nutritional science · 2026Article
- Mindful Eating and Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors Among Women with and Without Regular Exercise Habits.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Aligning human and planetary health: towards tailored dietary advice for diverse citizen profiles.Transgenic research · 2025Article
- Lifestyle Medicine for Obesity in the Era of Highly Effective Anti-Obesity Treatment.Nutrients · 2025Review
- Sex-specific associations between diet quality and mortality in adults with diabetes: findings from NHANES 2001-2018.Frontiers in nutrition · 2025Article
- FGF21 as a mediator of adaptive changes in food intake and macronutrient preference in response to protein restriction.Neuropharmacology · 2024Review
- Development of Analog Rice Made from Cassava and Banana with the Addition of Katuk Leaf (Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Identification of a leucine-mediated threshold effect governing macrophage mTOR signalling and cardiovascular risk.Nature metabolism · 2024Article
- Nutritional, environmental and economic impacts of ultra-processed food consumption in Australia.Public health nutrition · 2023Article
- Associations between protein to non-protein ratio and intakes of other dietary components in a cohort aged 65-75 years: the Nutrition for Healthy Living Study.Public health nutrition · 2023Article
- Protein appetite as an integrator in the obesity system: the protein leverage hypothesis.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Review
- Inverse J-Shaped Relationship of Dietary Carbohydrate Intake with Serum Klotho in NHANES 2007-2016.Nutrients · 2023Article
- The Dietary Carbohydrate/Fat-Ratio and Cognitive Performance: Panel Analyses in Older Adults at Risk for Dementia.Current developments in nutrition · 2023Article
- Male reproductive traits are differentially affected by dietary macronutrient balance but unrelated to adiposity.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Perspective: Plant-Based Meat Alternatives Can Help Facilitate and Maintain a Lower Animal to Plant Protein Intake Ratio.Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) · 2023Article
- Macronutrient intake: Hormonal controls, pathological states, and methodological considerations.Appetite · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe optimal macronutrient composition of the diet is controversial and many adults attempt to regulate the intake of specific macronutrients for various health-related reasons.
objectiveThe objective was to compare stability and ranges of intakes of different macronutrients across diverse adult populations in the USA and globally.
methodsUS dietary intake data from NHANES 2009-2014 were used to determine macronutrient intake as a percentage of total energy intake. Variability in macronutrient intake was estimated by calculating the difference between 75th and 25th percentile (Q3-Q1) IQRs of macronutrient intake distributions. In addition, intake data from 13 other countries with per capita gross domestic product (GDP) over $10,000 US dollars (USD) were used to assess variability of intake internationally since there are large differences in types of foods consumed in different countries.
resultsProtein, carbohydrate, and fat intake (NHANES 2009-2014) was 15.7 ± 0.1, 48.1 ± 0.1, and 32.9 ± 0.1% kcal, respectively, in US adults. The IQR of protein intake distribution (3.73 ± 0.11% kcal) was 41% of carbohydrate intake distribution (9.18 ± 0.20% kcal) and 58% of fat intake distribution (6.40 ± 0.14% kcal). The IQRs of carbohydrate and fat intake distributions were significantly (P <0.01) influenced by age and race; however, the IQR of protein intake was not associated with demographic and lifestyle factors including sex, race, income, physical activity, and body weight. International mean protein intake was 16.3 ± 0.2% kcal, similar to US intake, and there was less variation in protein than carbohydrate or fat intake.
conclusionProtein intake of the US population and multiple international populations, regardless of demographic and lifestyle factors, was consistently ∼16% of total energy, suggesting biological control mechanism(s) tightly regulate protein intake and, consequently, influence intake of other macronutrients and food constituents. Substantial differences in intake of the other macronutrients observed in US and international populations had little influence on protein intake. This trial was registered at the ISRCTN registry as ISRCTN46157745 (https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN4615774).
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.