How animal and plant-based proteins affect energy metabolism during the postprandial phase in overweight and obese men: a cross-over design study.

Plain-language summary

This study set out to compare how animal-based and plant-based proteins affect energy metabolism after eating in overweight and obese men. Forty-eight men with an average BMI of 29.15 ate two high-protein meals, one animal-based and one plant-based, on separate days, with energy metabolism measured before and after each meal. The results showed that animal protein led to a greater increase in resting energy expenditure (14.2%) compared to plant protein (9.55%), and also drove higher carbohydrate oxidation. The study concluded that animal-based protein boosts energy expenditure and carbohydrate burning more than plant-based protein.

Key findings

• A high-protein meal built from animal protein raised resting energy expenditure by 14.2 percent, against 9.55 percent for the plant-protein meal.
• Carbohydrate burning was higher after the animal-protein meal.
• Carbohydrate burning after the animal-protein meal rose gradually and peaked at 180 minutes, while after the plant-protein meal it stayed relatively flat.