ABSTRACT
Human diets are composed of protein, carbohydrate, and fats, the three proximate energyproviding components, as well as minerals, vitamins, and bioactive compounds contained within the proximate components. Of course, water is also essential for good health. Since the early 1900s, the percent of protein in the diet has remained essentially constant at 11% of the calories or about 100 g/day/person in the food supply.1 Intake surveys indicate about 74 g/day/person in the last quarter of the twentieth century. Since there are only three other proximate calorie-producing components of the diet, and if the protein is constant, if either fat or carbohydrate increases, then the other one a priori must decrease. Thus, if a “low-fat diet” is consumed, it could also be called a “high-carbohydrate diet” and vice versa. When diets are high in fat calories, that does not mean they are also high in protein as has been claimed in many scientic and almost all articles written for public consumption.
