Claim Verification: "The body can only absorb 20-30 g of protein per meal; the rest is wasted." — Disproved

Automated fact-verification of the claim: "The body can only absorb 20-30 g of protein per meal; the rest is wasted." Verdict: DISPROVED Key Findings Three independent peer-reviewed sources (B1, B2, B3) directly contradict the claim — all verified live on PubMed Central. The body does not have a hard 20-30 g per-meal protein absorption ceiling. Gut absorption of dietary protein is essentially complete (>90%) regardless of meal size. A landmark 2023 RCT (B2) fed subjects 100 g of protein in a single meal and found the anabolic response continued for 12+ hours — with no evidence of waste. Protein above any MPS-optimizing threshold is not "wasted" — it is used for energy, gluconeogenesis, or other protein synthesis, not excreted unused. Files proof.py — Re-runnable Python verification script proof.md — Structured proof report proof_audit.md — Full verification audit trail proof_narrative.md — Plain-language summary proof.json — Machine-readable structured data Generated by Proof Engine v1.3.1.