photo credit: Ava Mejia
For centuries, diet trends and fads have had a gripping chokehold on the American population. Whether it’s the low fat diets from the 1990s, or the keto craze of the early 2010s, it seems that each generation has had a defining trend that dictates how many choose to eat.
As for this current era in time, the recent fixation of the American diet has been on protein consumption.
First popularized by body-builders in the 1980s, scientific studies shared with athletes the benefits protein provided for their high levels of exercise and was positively portrayed to the public as a means to build muscle and tone the body. This sentiment appealed to both athletes and average people, increasing the demand for protein.
Strength and Conditioning Coach Jason McKendrick has helped better his athletes by educating them about nutrition, including protein as an important food group that he promotes.
“Protein plays a role in rebuilding the muscle. When you are working out, you are creating damage to muscle fibers, and protein will step in to help rebuild that damage,” McKendrick said.
The glorification of protein continued to grow and negative sentiments began to build towards carbohydrates and fats in the following decades. Additionally, some nutritionists began to claim that protein was an appetite suppressant, which appealed to people wanting to lose weight. The outcome of these developments was the idea that protein was the end-all be-all of healthy eating, a belief that many people today have adopted.
Due to people’s newfound love of protein, food companies have started to make ‘protein-packed’ versions of their products. Cereal, oatmeal, granola and even protein water have been advertised to appeal to consumers.
“The recent surge in protein products is both trend and science backed,” McKendrick said. “But when we think of trends and selling products, if you can list on there that there is a high amount of protein in a product, the chances are, you will sell more because people are becoming aware of the need for protein and will want to buy it.”
While there is nothing inherently wrong with creating a product that hosts more protein, the issue arises with the way these products are marketed.
A decade ago, the cereal brand Cheerios released a protein version of their product to the public, marketed as having 14 grams of protein. However, this 14 grams could only be reached when a three-fourths cup of skim milk was added, leaving the cereal itself with only eight grams of protein per serving, a measly three grams more than traditional cheerios.
Sophomore Payton Shepherd is a soccer and basketball player at the high school and has taken it upon herself to learn about the benefits of nutrition for her personal performance.
“I try to eat a gram of protein per pound of body weight each day and I eat different types of protein powders, bars and meat to hit this goal,” Shepherd said. “But all the new types of protein products are kind of absurd, and a lot of them are definitely marketing tactics to get people to buy a product. If you don’t work out a lot you aren’t working your muscles enough to need as much protein as some are led to believe.”
Another issue that has arisen from this influx in protein products is a potential neglect of natural protein sources.
“A misconception with protein is that people drink a protein shake or other processed protein sources and think that it’s a great source of protein,” McKendrick said. “But I always like to say that great sources of protein start with basic foods. An actual piece of chicken or an actual piece of fish is always going to be a better source of protein for nutrient value.”
At the end of the day, protein is an important macronutrient for anyone to consume, regardless of activity level, age or the source. However, the boundless number of protein products on the market right now leads to questions about if these products are truly beneficial for one’s diet, or the result of billion-dollar corporations trying to market a product towards a society of people that have glamorized the consumption of protein.
“Protein is super important and helpful but has definitely become a trend more than anything else recently,” Shepherd said.
