Have We Reached Peak Protein?

THERE ARE A LOT OF CLAIMS ABOUT PROTEIN OUT THERE – IN THE SUPERMARKET, AT THE FAST-FOOD PLACE, ON THE BACK OF A GIGANTIC BOTTLE OF WHEY POWDER – BUT THE CLAIMS YOU’RE GOING TO READ IN THIS STORY ARE ACTUALLY TRUE.

- Oliver Thring And Joshua St. Clair

Despite what bright new food packaging might lead you to believe, humans have known about the power of protein since at least the early 19th century. That’s when a Swedish chemist named the molecules using a word from the Greek proteios, meaning “holding first place” and therefore most important. Today, if society resurrected that Swede and dumped him into a South African supermarket, he might feel smugly validated. In the eyes of consumers and marketers, this nutrient is indeed the most important – ubiquitous, beneficial, desirable, and, now, lucrative.

The global protein-supplements market will reach R310 billion by 2025, according to industry reports. You’d expect to find whey in your post-gym shakes and bars, but now protein is popping up everywhere. You can wake up and have a protein-rich bowl of cereal, grab a whey-infused protein water on your way out the door, pick up an extra-protein chicken wrap for lunch, and munch on barbeque-flavoured protein chips as a mid-afternoon desk snack. Nielsen, a worldwide data-analytics company, did a survey in the US; they found that 55% of American households now regard protein as an important consideration when they purchase food.

What’s more, Nielsen saw an 8% sales uptick for products claiming to be an “excellent” or “good” source of protein on the front of their packaging. And get this: between 45 and 64% of consumers did not identify beef, pork or chicken as being high in protein, even though all those foods are loaded with it.

So why the confusion? Why the current obsession with a nutrient? And most crucial, are all these protein-heavy foods helping or hurting your diet?

Why You Need It