What is protein washing and are you falling for it?

Words by Sarah Mitchell for Body+Soul

Protein is constantly talked about by everyone from gym bros, podcasters, to wellness fanatics and celebrities.

While a high-protein diet used to rely mainly on servings of bland chicken and rice, it feels like we have more brightly packaged, sweetly flavoured options high in the macronutrient available to us than ever before.

No matter which aisle of the grocery store you walk down, you’re likely to see countless products loudly stating their protein content as a marketing point.

From yoghurts and bread loaves to bars and popcorn, you don’t even need to inspect the nutrition facts on the box anymore – many products printing their protein content in larger, more eye-catching text than the brand or product name.

Selling the world on the high-protein diet

Fitness and health podcasters say protein is the key tool to improve muscle function and maintain strength as you grow old for the health-conscious and aging, while women are encouraged to up their intake during menopause to reap its benefits.

No matter what demographic you fit into, it’s likely there’s a line of marketing for why you should eat more protein.

There’s money to be made via the protein washing of regular pantry staples. With the popularity of strength training coinciding with the returned glorification of thinness, some people are turning to protein snacks to inch them closer to their aesthetic goals.

And food manufacturers are cashing in, promoting even the most seemingly unhealthy food as ‘high protein’ to entice the protein-conscious consumers.

Food-and-beverage expert, Andrea Hernández, told Grub Street this trend of repackaging unhealthier foods as nutritious feels like “just a rebrand of Y2K Atkins”.

She suggested that advertising’s current focus on selling ‘high-protein’ foods is just the latest buzzword, after the eras of ‘low carb’, ‘low fat’ and ‘high fibre’.

‘The protein aisle is basically the Wild West right now’

Director of the Institute of Sports Sciences and Medicine at Florida State University, Michael Ormsbee, told Men’s Health, “there’s no universally accepted definition” of ‘high protein’.

While there are of course some limitations to what products you can sticking a ‘high protein’ sticker on, Nutritionist Brooke Kelly tells Body+Soul “the protein aisle is basically the Wild West right now — brands have gotten so good at slapping “high protein” on everything that you start feeling virtuous just by looking at it.”

When faced with a regular or protein-heavy option of the same product, you’re of course likely to reach for the latter if you’re trying to meet your macros for the day.

But while higher in the nutrient than the classic version of the food item, ‘high protein’ doesn’t always mean the product will get you noticeably closer to hitting your daily recommended intake.

As one Body+Soul writer found, some products appear to be charging consumers a ‘protein tax’, upping the cost of near identical products with slightly higher protein levels (some as little as a gram or two).

This isn’t a particularly new phenomenon either. There was a lawsuit over alleged misleading marketing of Cheerios in 2018, after claims that its protein variant only contained marginally more protein than the classic product.

Other brands’ serving sizes seem to be geared more toward promising the highest possible serve of the nutrient, instead of the serve the average consumer is more likely to eat.

And when it comes to the health side of the high-protein market, Kelly says a lot of the products sold as protein-rich are essentially “candy with a protein sticker.”

“Just because something says protein doesn’t mean it’s doing your body any favors. Some of these “protein bars” are sugar bombs in disguise, packed with fillers and ingredients that sound like they were invented in a chemistry lab”, she notes.

“And plant-based meat alternatives? Love the concept, but sometimes they’re so processed they might as well come with a warning label.”

Her advice? “We should read the label and ask: Is this protein from real, simple food, or just junk with a protein boost? Because quality always beats quantity. Don’t let marketing fool you.”

This article first appeared in bodyandsoul.com.au as What is protein washing and are you falling for it?