I think the stories about kidney or liver damage from high protein
diets either are apocryphal or are based on out-dated and challenged
research.  If so, this would coincide with what Dean said about
nausea and ketoacidosis and high protein diets.

I would like to see some of the references Dean mentioned regarding
cancer and heart disease and athletic performance.

As to peer-reviewed research, a lot of the research done in this
area is of short duration and uses poor sample design and
questionable statistics.  Research is always in a state of flux.
That is one reason I find evolutionary and anthropological evidence
to be a good second test to apply to the laboratory research.  When
there is agreement over these test modalities, you may have
something.  If, in addition, one can describe the mechanisms and
characterize how they operate in different subgroups of the
population (insulin resistance, and so on), then you do have
something.

I can add one more data point to the sample of high protein/low
carbohydrate eaters.  It works for me.  I eat enormous amounts of
food, probably 4000 plus calories, but the calories come only from
meat, vegetables, and fruit.  I am physically active, as I imagine
our ancestors were in the hunt, not in the frenetic daily routine
often prescribed to manage weight.  The intermittent intensity
maintains muscle mass so that I stay lean on this diet and carry the
lean body mass that might have been typical of a paleolithic
ancestor.

I would be very interested in adding a discussion of activity
patterns to this valuable discussion group's topics and interests.
Diet cannot be understood in the absence of and understanding of the
activity patterns of the organism.

Art De Vany