The U.S. government today announced that it’s ending the “war on protein.”
If there’s a war on, protein seems to already be winning it. The nutrient has dominated grocery lists, store aisles, and social media feeds for the past year.
The protein obsession is big business, driving products like protein pancakes, protein popcorn, protein lattes, and more. Last fall, Starbucks debuted a $2 “protein foam” that you can add to any cold drink.
Now it’s the first word in the new dietary guidelines, straight from Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s “Make America Healthy Again” playbook, with an emphasis on meaty meals like steak and chicken.
But doctors and dietitians have been warning that protein is beginning to eclipse other crucial nutrients on Americans’ plates. And, far from helping us cut back on ultra-processed foods, the protein craze has been a boon for food manufacturing, as protein has been added to health-ify chips, candy, pastries, and cereal.
Here’s what to know about the latest recommendations, how to figure out the right amount of protein for you, and the best ways to get it.
What’s the big deal about protein?
There’s no question that protein is an essential nutrient, helping to support healthy muscles and bones, regulate metabolism, and manage appetite.
It’s also true that it can be challenging for some people to get enough protein.
For decades, women were urged to diet on protein-poor fad foods like cabbage soup and plain grapefruits, mistakenly thinking a hearty meal or heavy weight would make us bulky. Now, in part thanks to the rise of strength training, our appetites have come back with a vengeance, and protein is a major part of the menu.
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The recent boom of GLP-1 drugs for weight loss has also brought protein to the forefront, as Americans have pushed to hold on to muscle mass while losing fat.
Protein is also a crucial nutrient for longevity. As we get older, our muscle mass tends to naturally decline, which, if we’re not careful, can lead to frailty and an increased risk of injury and illness. Eating enough protein as we age helps maintain muscle for more resilience and strength at age 60 and beyond.
Previous dietary guidelines focused on the bare minimum of protein you’d need to avoid malnutrition, which is around 0.36 grams per pound of body weight (about 54 grams per day for a 150-pound person).
However, avoiding starvation is rarely the only goal of eating. Nutrition and exercise science suggest the optimal amount of protein for building muscle is about twice that amount, about 0.7 grams per pound daily (105 grams for a 150-pound person). In a day, that translates to about 30 to 35 grams per meal.
Is protein overrated?
Today, some top TikTokers log themselves eating more than 100 grams of protein at a single meal, and 300 or more grams in a day. Great, if you’re the Rock.
For the rest of us, there’s no reason to spend that extra time, money, and energy on all that protein, said Dr. Federica Amati, medical scientist and head nutritionist at the nutrition app ZOE.
“Definitely, I think it’s overrated,” she previously told Business Insider. “The interest in protein isn’t going anywhere because it’s been ingrained, especially in the US culture.”
Protein has been a mainstay of American nutrition for well over four decades: from the Atkins era in the 70s, peaking in the early aughts, to current keto, low-carb, and carnivore diets. Along the way, food fads alternatively demonized dietary fats and carbs. For any health-conscious person, what else was left to eat but more and more protein?
The problem, according to Amati and others, is that protein is hogging the spotlight from other key nutrients that play a major role in our health.
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“If you just focus on telling people you need to eat one gram of protein for a kilogram of body weight, then you don’t know what else is going on the plate,” Amati said.
Fiber, for instance, plays a crucial role in gut health, metabolism, and longevity. And you’re far more likely to be missing out on fiber than protein, Amati said. Incidentally, the latest dietary guidelines put key sources of fiber, like beans and whole grains, near the bottom of the pyramid.
Even for athletes, who need extra protein to recover from the strain of exercise, can get too much protein, cardiologist Dr. Dmitry Yaranov previously told Business Insider. Bodybuilders, for instance, look like the pinnacle of health, but “end up with weak hearts and blocked arteries,” he said.
How to get the right amount of protein for your goals
The latest dietary guidelines recommend between 0.6 and 0.9 grams of protein per pound of body weight daily, between 90 and 135 grams for a 150-pound person.
However, Amati said you don’t need to track your grams of protein at all. If you simply must count your protein on a daily basis, she recommends calculating a percentage instead of the number of grams.
If you’re eating around 2000 calories a day, 100 grams of protein would translate to about 20% of your diet, leaving the other 80% of your diet for more crucial nutrients.
“What the percentage helps us do is focus on the importance of a varied diet,” she said.
Protein sources also matter.
Meat makes up a large part of Kennedy’s new vision of healthy eating in America (including our right to fries soaked in cattle fat), part of the comeback movement for dairy, butter, and other animal-based foods.
But red and processed meats (including trendy jerky snacks and deli meats) have consistently been linked to a higher risk of heart disease and some cancers.
Amati said your best bet is focusing on variety in your diet. If you’re eating a range of foods — including plant-based protein sources like beans, nuts, and seeds — you’ll get all the essential amino acids you need, along with plenty of fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
