Are we eating more protein?
Sixty-one percent of Americans said they upped their protein intake last year, according to a study by the food conglomerate Cargill. And they're just getting started: In a year-end survey by Chobani, 85% said they aimed to power down more of the macronutrient in 2025. They won't have to look hard to find it. Supermarket shelves are awash in items jacked with protein, long chains of amino acids that play an essential role in repairing cells, building and maintaining muscles, regulating metabolism, and other bodily processes. And it's no longer just protein-loaded bars and powders that are for sale. There are protein-packed frozen waffles, cereals, pastas, snack chips, and even candies, soda, and bottled water. One can start the day with a bowl of maple almond Wheaties Protein cereal (22 grams of protein per serving, nearly the amount in four eggs) and a cup of Javvy Protein Coffee (10 grams). Then lunch on Immi instant chicken ramen (23 grams), snack on Quest nacho cheese protein chips (18 grams per bag), and indulge with mint chip ice cream from Protein Pints (30 grams per carton). "It doesn't matter what it is, people want to put protein in it," said Anthony Flynn, CEO of YouBar, which produces high-protein items. Over the past two years, "it's just been an insane amount of demand."
How big a business is this?
The global market for protein supplements — powders, shakes, and bars — topped $28 billion last year and is on track to reach some $55 billion by 2032, according to Fortune Business Insights. That doesn't include high-protein food and beverages, the number of which quadrupled between 2013 and 2024, according to market research firm Mintel. Last year 97 new products with "protein" in the brand name hit the market, says the firm, more than double the number in 2023. Businesses that get a toehold among the protein-craving public report whirlwind growth. "It's surpassing our wildest expectations," said Paul Reiss, who in 2023 co-founded Protein Pints, which is on track to rake in more than $20 million this year.
What's driving demand?
Experts trace the roots of the trend to the early 2000s, when the low-carbohydrate, high-protein Atkins diet exploded, gaining an estimated 30 million followers at its peak. "That was the breakthrough," said sports nutritionist Liz Applegate. "The idea that we could treat obesity with a high-protein diet." Protein gained further luster with the paleo and keto diets, which took hard-line stances against many carb-rich foods and encouraged adherents to scarf more meat, nuts, and seeds. More recently, the mania has been fed by a surge in men and women taking up weightlifting and seeking foods that will boost muscle growth, and the rise of an army of social media influencers and podcasters— many linked to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Make America Healthy Again movement—claiming the country has a protein-deficiency crisis. Dr. Peter Attia, the popular podcaster and longevity guru, calls federal protein guidelines "a joke" and says active people should triple them, while TikTok is awash in fitness mavens extolling their "30 gram protein breakfasts" and other feats of "Proteinmaxxing." Another factor is the rise of weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic; many users turn to high-protein diets to avoid loss of muscle mass.
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Do we need all this protein?
Most nutritionists say we don't. For healthy adults, federal guidelines recommend eating 0.36 grams per pound of body weight a day. For a 150-pound person, that's about 54 grams, roughly the amount in an 8.5-ounce chicken breast. People eating healthy diets easily achieve that; in fact, most of us eat significantly more. The average U.S. man exceeds the recommendation by about 55%, the average woman by more than 35%, according to the USDA. "We get tons of it," said University of Minnesota nutritionist Joanne Slavin. "It is just not a nutrient of concern." And there's only so much protein our bodies can process; anything extra gets turned into fat or excreted through urine. "There's very little evidence that more is better," said nutritionist Marion Nestle. That doesn't deter people like Morgan Gates, a 28-year-old sales representative. His day starts with a half dozen eggs. Lunch is a smoothie made with Greek yogurt and protein powder. Dinner is a pound of red meat. Going big on protein, he said, "gave me the body I wanted."
Is too much protein harmful?
There's no medical consensus, but some doctors see reason for concern. Excessive protein intake can tax the liver and kidneys, and has been linked to cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Animal-based proteins also tend to be high in saturated fat, which can raise the risk of cardiovascular disease. And nutritionists and personal trainers want their clients to know that processed foods like ice cream, candy, and marshmallow-flavored snack bars don't become any healthier if a pile of protein is added to the recipe. "How about a chicken breast, people?" said Constance Contursi, a personal trainer outside Chicago. "How about an egg?" Meanwhile, as Americans try to consume ever more protein, they're ignoring the nutrient that is almost certainly lacking in their diets.
What is that?
Fiber. A 2021 study found that only 7% of Americans get enough of the stuff, which is found in nutrient-dense foods such as beans, nuts, fruits, and whole grains. Fiber lowers cholesterol, promotes gut health, helps regulate blood sugar, and cuts risk of heart disease and cancer. It'd be far better for Americans to obsess over fiber than protein, said Bettina Mittendorfer, a nutritionist at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, but it doesn't play nearly as well on social media. "Would you rather have muscle strength and vitality," she said, "or prunes and Metamucil?"
From garbage to gold
The protein boom has delighted the U.S. dairy industry, which is now selling record amounts of whey. A liquid by-product of cheese making, whey was for decades managed as a waste product, spread onto fields and dumped into waterways, where it caused fish die-offs and algae blooms. But dried whey has been embraced as a gold-standard protein source, and the U.S. now produces some 48 million pounds of the powder a month—about six times the monthly amount produced in 2003. The whey protein market is today estimated at between $5 billion and $10 billion, and it's expected to double over the next decade. That's cause for celebration for cheese makers like Ken Heiman of Nasonville Dairy in Wisconsin, who remembers feeding whey to pigs in the 1960s. The 100,000 gallons his business generates daily is now sent to companies that turn it into high-protein powder. "We ought to be thanking people who are buying whey protein at Aldi," he told The New York Times. "It definitely enhances the bottom line."
