Americans are highly pro - protein . Weeat more nitty-gritty — about 219 pound per soul each twelvemonth — than any other country . Fitness buffs down protein shakes , grab protein bars , and bake with protein - enriched flours and mixes .
Now , a unexampled study suggests our protein - infused urine is embark on to give theenvironmentreal job .
young research published in the journalFrontiers in Ecology and the Environmenttakes a secretive look at how the excrete byproducts of protein consumption are affecting wastewater . When we eat more protein than we call for physiologically , the spare protein is break down into urea , a nitrogen - plentiful chemical compound inurine . The nitrogen can observe its way into effluent systems and infiltrate river , lakes , and even the atmospheric state . Too much nitrogen in the surroundings can go to alga blooms and acid rain , among other problems .
researcher from the University of California - Davis and other foundation calculated how much nitrogen Americans ' overconsumption of protein was adding to the environment , then modeled what would encounter if Americans eat only the protein that was physiologically necessary . They found that nitrogen excretions into aquatic ecosystem would be reduced by 12 pct , and in both aquatic and atmospherical organisation by 4 percentage . By 2055 , if Americans continued consuming only needed protein , we would excrete27 percent less nitrogenthan we do today , even with a burgeoning population .
While some sewage treatment plant can eliminate atomic number 7 , the engineering is expensive and it ’s uncommitted in less than 1 percent of plant nationwide .
So if you ’re both health- and environmentally - conscious , what can you do ? You could try reducing your meat phthisis and adopting aplant - establish diet(which would also save you money on steak and supplement . ) And if building muscle mass at the gym is n’t a priority , you may want to reexamine how much protein you really need .
[ h / tScientific American ]
