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    "parsed_content": "Have We Reached Peak PROTEIN? How supermarkets became protein-maxxed. By Margot Sanger-Katz and Larry Buchanan Sept. 28, 2026 Share full articleIn our age of protein, there are now protein candies and cookies: There\u2019s protein coffee and protein water: And protein chips and crackers: New food start-ups have proliferated: While legacy brands have revamped their most famous offerings: We are living in an era of protein hype. The macronutrient has become a focus of trendy weight-loss advice. It\u2019s an obsession of weight lifters and longevity biohackers. Doctors have been advising higher protein consumption for patients taking GLP-1 weight loss drugs. And the government\u2019s new dietary guidelines, released last year, boosted the levels of recommended protein by more than 50 percent. The guidelines tell Americans to \u201cprioritize protein foods at every meal.\u201dThe food industry, naturally, has caught on to this nutritional trend. Yogurt and cheese are now being positioned as high-protein foods, which they always have been. Prepackaged salami snacks are called \u201cprotein packs.\u201dBut protein is also finding its way into foods that haven\u2019t traditionally contained much of it. You can find protein tortilla chips, granolas, baby food, pudding \u2014 even ranch dressing.Over one week, reporters and editors at The Upshot were asked to snap photos of protein marketing in foods they came across in their daily lives. The folder of images grew rapidly. The protein foods are in bodegas, gas stations, grocery stores, warehouse clubs, coffee shops and chain restaurants. Show me a random protein product The trend has puzzled many nutritionists, including experts involved in developing the new protein-enhanced nutritional guidelines.\u201cA snack food is an indulgent food, and people need to understand it that way,\u201d said Donald Layman, an emeritus professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who helped inform the protein chapter for the guidelines. He said protein-packed chips and cupcakes are \u201ca bad choice.\u201d A doughnut with 10 grams of protein is still a doughnut.The guidelines advise Americans to eat less processed food and to focus on foods that are naturally high in protein, including dairy, meat, nuts and beans. Protein added to processed snack foods is not the same thing, he said.\u201cI refer to it as fairy dust,\u201d Professor Layman said. \u201cFairy dusting over products that don\u2019t need to have protein in them is useless.\u201dSKIP ADVERTISEMENT (I neglected to ask him about his views on several protein-infused vodkas, including one that claims it is \u201ccrafted for the wellness-minded and fitness-forward.\u201d)Protein bars, powders and shakes have been around for a while; they long ago broke out from bodybuilding to the mainstream. They now occupy an expanding share of real estate in grocery stores and gas station convenience stores \u2014 in many cases, entire aisles.But there are now also protein versions of everything else, with a range of claims. Sources of protein and good sources of protein. High PROTEIN, PROTEIN-packed, and sometimes just \u201cPRO.\u201d It is almost always in all caps, and often in the product\u2019s name.And there are snack categories that appear to exist primarily in the protein universe, like sticks and balls. Even white-label supermarket brands now offer protein foods.\u201cIf you're not evolving and the consumer is, you\u2019re dead in the water,\u201d said Bonnie Herzog, an equity analyst at Goldman Sachs, who tracks the food and beverage industry. Ms. Herzog, a vegan, said her social media feed was filled with advice to eat more protein and tips on how to do it.NIQ, which collects detailed data on retail food sales, counts 37,232 products in stores carrying front-of-package protein claims.It has measured around $90 billion in consumer spending on these products over the last year, including more than $2 billion on protein pizzas and $35 million on protein toaster pastries. (Yes, Protein Pop-Tarts exist.) Americans are spending more on food that advertises protein Annual U.S. retail sales of products with a protein claim on the package. The last point covers the 52 weeks ending Sept. 5, 2026. Source: NIQ \u201cYou\u2019ve got the claims sneaking into categories that don\u2019t make a lot of sense,\u201d said Chris Costagli, a vice president at NIQ, who monitors the food and beverage industries. \u201cAll of a sudden, you\u2019ve got people that are buying the product just because they see the word.\u201dWhey, the milk-based protein that is the key ingredient in most protein powders, bars and even ice creams, was once considered a waste product of cheese production. It is now in such demand that prices have doubled in the last five years, according to Ever.Ag, an agricultural risk management firm that closely tracks prices in the dairy industry.\u201cThere were a lot of questions over the last few months of are we at the jump-the-shark moment with some of these new products,\u201d said Kathleen Wolfley, the company\u2019s vice president for insights.SKIP ADVERTISEMENT But, she said, \u201cwe continue to see further innovation in this marketplace.\u201d She also noted that the protein bonanza had been great news for struggling cheesemakers.Nearly 90 percent of Americans already get enough protein, according to a recent analysis from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. (If you\u2019re curious how much you should be getting, here\u2019s a calculator.) But consumers still seem hungry for more.Sales of protein-packed breakfast cereals and granola have increased by 15 percent over the last year, according to NIQ. They are often paired with ultrafiltered high-protein milks. (It is those filtered milks that are used to make the protein foams at your local coffee shop.) Protein promotion is driving sales Change in U.S. retail sales over the past year. Cereal and granola Milk The data covers the 52 weeks ending Aug. 29, 2026. Source: NIQ Tortilla chips with protein are also selling at a steady clip, driving PepsiCo\u2019s new launch of Protein Doritos, located on a supermarket endcap near you: Do protein Doritos taste good? Matt Rosenman, a graphic designer who makes social media content examining food marketing and health, said he had tried nearly all the protein snacks, including tortilla chips that were close to inedible. His verdict on protein Doritos was more positive: \u201cSlightly worse version of Doritos, but they are pretty close.\u201dIn videos, Mr. Rosenman shows some of the common tricks food companies use to make junk foods look like responsible choices. Neutral colors and pictures of farms and mountains signify healthy products. Unregulated words like \u201cplant-based\u201d and \u201cnatural\u201d help give foods a virtuous halo. But as the protein arms race has intensified, these subtle techniques have faded. Font size has come to dominate protein claims. With ubiquitous giant bubbles, companies emphasize protein content, sometimes even when products don\u2019t offer much of it. The Food and Drug Administration, which regulates health claims on foods, has relatively lax rules about how brands use the word \u201cprotein\u201d on the front of their packages. While there are rules about claiming a product has \u201chigh protein\u201d or is a \u201cgood source,\u201d vaguer claims in product names and giant bubbles are almost always unregulated.\u201cIt works, and it works for me,\u201d Mr. Rosenman said. \u201cI saw the giant word \u2018protein\u2019 and it stopped me in my tracks.\u201dDoritos itself is a useful case study. The brightly packaged chips have been around since the 1970s, with reformulations for nearly every major diet trend. The original Doritos emphasized that they were tasty with dips. But nutrition claims started showing up in the 1970s, with the information they contained \u201cno preservatives!\u201d \nLate 1970s\n1966\n1966\nLate 1970s\n Since then, there have been versions marketed as cholesterol free, less oil, \nMid-1980s\n1987\nMid-1980s\n1987\n Low calorie, low carbohydrate, \n1997\n2004\n1997\n2004\n \u201cLight\u201d and \u201cnaked of dyes.\u201d \n2005\nOut now\n1997\n2004\n Of course, you can protein-max by cooking your own food. There are endless TikToks and Instagram Reels about how to consume more than 150 grams of protein a day, often by sneaking chicken breasts and cottage cheese into just about every meal. (Cottage cheese fatigue has become such an issue that there is now a subcategory of videos on how to make high-protein meals without it.)But junk food is more fun.Dariush Mozaffarian, a cardiologist who directs the Food Is Medicine Institute at Tufts University, compared protein chips and protein brownies to SnackWell\u2019s Cookies of yore \u2014 products that are no healthier than the highly processed foods they replaced, but sheathed in a patina of virtue.SKIP ADVERTISEMENT \u201cIt\u2019s a bizarre trend, and not supported by the science,\u201d he said.As Doritos teaches, nutritional fads come and go. Peak protein may not last forever. (Several industry experts casually mentioned that fiber may be the next big thing.) Around 70 years ago, food scientists at what was then the Kellogg Company teamed with researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health to develop a new cereal, called Special K. Its main selling point? PROTEIN! Alamy \nAdditional production by Rachel Buigas-Lopez.",
    "published_at": "2026-09-28T09:05:15+00:00",
    "author_name": "Margot Sanger-Katz, Larry Buchanan",
    "site_name": "The New York Times",
    "section": "The Upshot",
    "publisher": "The New York Times Company",
    "ai_headline": "Have We Reached Peak PROTEIN? How supermarkets became protein-maxxed.",
    "ai_simplified_title": "NYT Reports on Protein Hype in Supermarkets, Food Industry Responds",
    "ai_excerpt": "The article explores the widespread protein hype in the food industry, with protein being added to an increasing variety of foods, from chips to coffee. It questions the nutritional value of these processed protein-enhanced products and highlights consumer spending on them.",
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