Protein intake: do we need protein-enhanced foods and ultra-processed foods?

Protein intake sits at the centre of much modern fitness guidance. If your goal is to gain muscle, get fitter or manage your weight, you’ll have heard the same message from everyone from fitness influencers to clinicians: we should be eating more protein.

Protein genuinely is vital for preserving muscle mass and supporting overall health. However, the growing media and fitness focus on protein has also fuelled a boom in products promoted primarily for their protein content.

As a result, items such as chocolate bars, ice cream, pizza, coffee and even alcoholic drinks are now being positioned as protein foods.

Even so, our excitement about protein may have overshot the mark. Although protein matters for health, most people do not need protein-boosted products to be a routine part of their diet.

There’s also the risk that this kind of marketing creates a 'halo effect', where shoppers assume a high protein figure automatically means a product is nutritious overall. That can leave people believing protein-rich options are inherently healthy, even when many are not.

Protein intake recommendations: how much do we actually need?

Protein plays a key role in maintaining muscle mass and supporting immune function.

Dietary guidance advises aiming for about 0.75 g of protein per kilogram of body weight. Yet some evidence indicates this could be too low, with suggested intakes closer to 1.2 g-1.6 g per kg of body weight per day.

A substantial body of research also indicates that protein needs shift with health status. For example, people generally require extra protein while recovering from illness. Evidence also suggests older adults should target at least 1.2 g per kg of body weight to help counter age-related muscle loss.

Athletes, too, typically need more protein to support training demands and recovery. In addition, as weight-loss drugs become more widely used, guidance increasingly highlights protein as a way to reduce muscle loss during weight reduction.

More protein isn’t always better

But the fact that protein supports muscle maintenance does not mean that ever-higher intakes deliver ever-greater benefits. In reality, even when we eat a lot of protein, only a some of it appears to be used by the body.

Many people would probably benefit from slightly more protein than current recommendations suggest-though typically far less than some social media wellness influencers promote (with some even claiming we need up to 3 g of protein per kg of body weight).

Somewhat ironically, the amount implied by newer evidence (1.2 g -1.6 g per kg of body weight per day) is broadly in line with average protein intake in many Western countries already.

What is likely to help most people is becoming more protein aware in a practical way: focusing less on chasing ever-higher totals, and more on the quality of protein choices and how often they’re included across the day. Ideally, that means having smaller portions of protein-rich foods more regularly.

Evidence currently suggests that around 20 g-30 g of protein at each meal (roughly a handful of a protein source) can support muscle maintenance when paired with physical activity.

In an ideal scenario, that protein would mainly come from whole foods such as nuts, seeds, milk, eggs and legumes. Fortified protein products may still be useful as a quick, convenient snack-particularly for people who find it difficult to reach these amounts at meals. Even so, it’s still best to have them in moderation.

Ultra-processed products

Supermarket shelves are now packed with "protein-enhanced" options. While these products may provide extra protein, they can also come with added sugars or carbohydrates.

Protein milk is one example: it often contains twice as much protein as standard milk, achieved either by removing water or by adding dried milk.

Protein bars are another. Depending on the brand, the additional protein can sit alongside a high sugar content.

A further common feature of many protein-fortified items is that they are classed as ultra-processed foods-commercially manufactured products made using ingredients you would not usually have in a typical home kitchen.

Studies consistently link frequent consumption of ultra-processed foods with worse health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes. That said, debate continues about whether the harm is driven by the processing itself, the poor nutritional profile of these foods, or a mixture of both.

A separate concern is that although protein-enhanced products do increase protein, some can be low in fibre, vitamins and essential minerals. Insufficient fibre in modern diets is currently one of the largest contributors to ill health across populations.

All foods can fit into a balanced diet, but protein is only one piece of nutritional health. The way protein-fortified products are increasingly presented as health foods is worrying.

Protein-enhanced products can be occasional choices that help people meet protein targets, but they should not be assumed to be healthy in every case. If you’re aiming to hit a protein goal, prioritise a range of protein sources, place convenience foods within the wider context of your overall diet, and consider nutrients such as fibre to better support long-term health.

Aisling Pigott, Lecturer, Dietetics, Cardiff Metropolitan University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.