Eating Too Much Protein Makes Pee a Problem Pollutant in the U.S.

Scientific American ^

[FarCenter]

In the U.S., people eat more protein than they need to. And though it might not be bad for human health, this excess does pose a problem for the country’s waterways. The nation’s wastewater is laden with the leftovers from protein digestion: nitrogen compounds that can feed toxic algal blooms and pollute the air and drinking water. This source of nitrogen pollution even rivals that from fertilizers washed off of fields growing food crops, new research suggests.

When we overconsume protein—whether it comes from lentils, supplements or steak—our body breaks the excess down into urea, a nitrogen-containing compound that exits the body via urine and ultimately ends up in sewage. Maya Almaraz, a biogeochemist at the University of California, Davis, and her colleagues wanted to see how much of this nitrogen is being flushed into the U.S. sewage system because of a protein-heavy diet. The researchers combined population data and previous work on how much excess protein the average American eats and found that the majority of nitrogen pollution present in wastewater—some 67 to 100 percent—is a by-product of what people consume. “We think a lot about sewage nitrogen. We know that’s an issue,” Almaraz says. “But I didn’t know how much of that is actually affected by the choices we’re making way upstream—when we go the grocery store, when we cook a meal and what we end up putting in our bodies.”

...

Their new study, published in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, broke down protein requirements by age (adults 50 to 70 years old need the most) for the current U.S. population and projected future populations out to 2055. By midcentury, the country’s population is expected to be larger overall and to have a greater percentage of older people. The researchers calculated the amount of nitrogen that would enter the environment if people ate today’s average American diet and if they instead reduced their protein intake to only what is nutritionally needed. This shift in diet alone could reduce the amount of nitrogen reaching aquatic ecosystems by 12 percent today and by nearly 30 percent in the future, according to the study’s results. Such a change could also help reduce damaging nitrogen pollution while wastewater infrastructure catches up.

[cuz1961]

When we overconsume protein—whether it comes from lentils, supplements or steak OR BUGS.....

//

Ooops,
shot themselves in the foot , didn’t they !.

With all the fertalizer shortages
we might need all the pee we can get.

[GMThrust]

Isn’t urea a main ingredient for Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF)? of which there is a supposed shortage of? Shortage solved.

[V V Camp Enari 67-68]

What’s next?😒

[rockabyebaby]

Soooo, freshly cut grass with a side of hay for dinner? Tulips and daisies for dessert?? SMH at this newest idiocy.

[Blue Collar Christian]

Eating protein is probably racist too. Or white privilege or something I’m sure.

[Blue Collar Christian]

That’s AWESOME!

[Gritty]

I have an idea. If we would reduce the world population to under 500 million, this problem will be solved!

Oh, wait. Somebody is ahead of the game and already figured that out!

[Mr Rogers]

Yep! More “Eat plants, not animals! Too much protein!” But I feel and look a lot better on a near-carnivore diet!

Hint: All of mine goes into a septic system that breaks “stuff” down and then WATER enters the ground of southern Arizona! WOW! What advanced technology! I can eat a bacon cheeseburger, and both the solid and liquid results will turn into GROUNDWATER!

[kagnew]

I am so tired of these IDIOTS saying whatever comes into their mind, or I should say what is left of it.

[bigred44]

Obviously from someone who doesn’t know much about sewage treatment. I’m an environmental engineer; we’ve been treating for ammonia since the 1960s. We’ve been treating for nitrates and phosphorus since the 1970s. EPA does not allow treatment that would pollute lakes, or rivers or groundwater. Chill.

[dfwgator]

The issue isn’t pollution, the issue is controlling food supplies.

[TomGuy]

It isn’t enough that they want to control cow farts. Now they want to control PEE.

They are insane. Literally insane. Mentally ill. Demented.

They have been wailing for the last 50 years or more that we only have 10 years remaining.

They are nutso.

They need to be locked up to protect them from themselves.

Straight-jackets all around.

[mad_as_he$$]

In some cases they are Soylent Green!

[Vaduz]

****Nitrogen compounds***** that can feed toxic algal blooms and pollute the air and drinking water.

Saaay doesn’t that fit right in with climate control issue.

There up to something Moe.

[markman46]

Published a study with zero true get your hands dirty research, has this trash been peer reviewed yet. This is just so much bs

[Albion Wilde]

Lefties identify a problem and seek government funds to campaign for and pass laws to destroy what they label as the source, without concern for the long-term consequences.

Conservatives, on hearing of a problem, research a wide range of causes and possible solutions and develop ones that are marketable, best and most practical to manufacture, and start hiring people, ramping up to scale, advertising it and making money.

[Paal Gulli]

Eating too much protein was a key factor in the Homo line evolving discrete from the other Homininae. Too much protein was elemental to developing bipedalism (which was essential developing manual dexterity) and the ability to think abstractly.

[catnipman]

"Eating Too Much Protein Makes Pee a Problem Pollutant in the U.S."

more garbage alarmist non-scientific propaganda from SA ... wastewater ammonia might be a problem if it was dumped into downstream water, but ammonia is one of the easiest and cheapest components to remove, and it is done during tertiary treatment.

Tertiary treatment at the plant is a nitrifying process performed in trickling filters. A portion of the effluent from the secondary clarifiers flows (trickles) over a media which contains organisms that remove ammonia. Ammonia is toxic to aquatic life and must be mostly removed before treated wastewater is discharged to the river.

[Gene Eric]

SA is a political rag

[GingisK]

Just how, then, are we to mark out our territory?