Corporations gonna lie for profit (and exploit the zeitgeist. What’s with the “hurr durr protein” thing, lately, anyway?)
What’s with the “hurr durr protein” thing, lately, anyway?)
Health fad being hugely exacerbated by RFK Jr.'s HHS as well as corporations taking advantage and further perpetuating the fad by slapping “high-protein” onto foods that are genuinely fucking terrible for you. (Edit: I like to call this “proteinwashing”.)
The RDA for protein is 0.8–1.0 g per kilogram of body weight. (Notably, RFK just upped it to 1.2 to 1.6 g, so if you’re using that figure, you’re using RFK’s new, vastly overinflated figure.) If you’re on a Western pattern diet like most Americans are, you’re basically guaranteed to be getting enough protein unless you’re bulking.
In addition to a corporate cash grab and a component in a far-right culture war against vegetarians and vegans, it’s also a distraction from how woefully deficient a Western pattern diet is in things like fiber – which only roughly 5% of Americans get enough of in their diets.
TL;DR: Protein is what plants crave.
I 100% agree with everything you said, but I do believe it’s recommended that women of a certain age (perimenopause into menopause) should probably eat a little more protein than expected. We tend to lose a lot of muscle mass going into menopause and protein can be important to counter this. It’s why weight training, but not necessarily heavy lifting, for older women is also important.
That said, it’s being pushed in everything for dumb reasons (money), plant based protein is best (of course), and fiber is more important for everyone, at least in the US.
Go team psyllium husk!! Try it, you’ll poop better and be so much happier :)
I knew it wasn’t important for most of us Americans to get more protein, but I’ve been seeing “high protein” stuff being shoveled lately. It confused me. Thanks for the explanation.
I’m not sold on the effect MAHA is having on this. I see many many left/center-left/center sorts of folks on the protein craze just from normie socials like Instagram. My wife’s Instagram is shoving high protein products, meal prep recipes, etc. at her non-stop and she occupies a very left part of the normie internet. I’m sure MAHA’s influence is non-zero but I think protein is simply the new matcha.
Yes we did buy 500g of expensive ass matcha from Kyoto and no we have not used more than 10g yet, almost a year later. /sigh
Doctors recommend people on those weight loss drugs have more protein for reasons I haven’t bothered to look up. Probably also just the newest metric to try to tell people they should optimize for in their diet.
Ah… I’ve even heard teenagers talking about it, so I didn’t think that was the connection. But that tracks for stuff like restaurant menus pushing high protein stuff.
Starbucks (SBUX.O), opens new tab has been sued by consumers who said the coffee chain falsely advertised eight protein beverages as “sugar-free” because they contain lactose, a naturally occurring sugar in milk.
According to a proposed class action filed on Friday, reasonable consumers would not expect the beverages to contain 13 to 21 grams of sugar per 20- or 24-ounce “venti” serving.
[…]
A Starbucks spokesperson said in an email that the claims have no merit.
“Starbucks has consistently and clearly provided information about its protein beverages, sugar-free options, customization choices, and nutritional content across product announcements, menus, marketing materials, Starbucks.com and the Starbucks app, and we intend to vigorously defend ourselves,” the spokesperson said.
It’s literally a disaccharide at several times the 0.5g/12 oz limit for “sugar-free”. I’m genuinely shocked how brazen this lie is.
Some dummy just forgot the difference between sugar free and no added sugar.
Wouldn’t this cause problems for diabetics?
Looking at Starbuck’s website, a 12oz Sugar-Free Vanilla Protein Latte contains 11 grams of sugar. Compared to the 25 grams in their regular 12oz Vanilla Protein Latte.
