Is more protein good for you?

I've been trying to increase my protein intake recently in the hope of improving my knee surgery recovery. Now, perhaps I have more reasons to keep up with protein. A recent story poses the question - more protein equals lower risk?:

From the U.S. Department
of Agriculture

And a dose-response analysis showed that an increased intake of 20 grams of protein per day was associated with a 26% reduction in the risk of stroke (RR 0.74, 95% CI 0.65-0.84), they reported online in Neurology.

"This risk reduction would be translated into a reduction of 1,482,000 stroke deaths every year worldwide and is expected to produce overall health benefits by decreasing the level of disability," they wrote.

The authors acknowledged, however, that no large randomized trials have been conducted to directly examine the relationship between protein intake and stroke risk.

Of course, some protein sources tend to have other effects - we've all read how too much red meat might be bad for you, for example. Still, making sure you have enough of the right kind of protein might pay off in multiple ways.