You make a really good point.

Yes, in simplest terms, protein consumption encourages cell growth and there can be malfunctions in the productions of cells.

In the study, those who ate high vegetarian protein diet had no significant increase of cancer over those who ate moderate or low protein diets.

So, it might not be protein itself but rather the type of protein we are consuming, which begs the question of why? I think more research needs to be done to answer that.

We have different nutritional needs at different ages, so it stands to reason that there very well may be ideal foods for different ages, too (again, another good point). We might not be able to find all the answers but it is good to be informed, to know the risks and benefits of what you are eating.

I say this all at the risk of grossly over simplifying it. So the study seems to indicate that as we get older we get increasingly susceptible to certain kinds of cancer and doing stuff that encourages cell growth could worsen the odds of something going wrong.

I’m not sure I have a counter for the argument. I eat a lot of protein myself and I was aware of this idea before but my attitude has been that the health benefits outweigh the risks. Perhaps it may turn out there are different ideal foods for different ages? Or perhaps it may be that there are not clear answers and like so much else in life diet will turn out to be a choice thats a compromise where balance benefit against risk.

I am kind of hoping we can rescue high protein somehow. I just had ribs and chicken wings (and not much else) for dinner 😉