By Noah Devlin

Many food and health trends come and go, but the massive surge of protein-based products in supermarkets and other establishments seems to be more than a brief stint of popularity, it appears that it’s here to stay.

According to an article released by specialist retail publication The Grocer, an estimated 57% of UK shoppers follow a diet that is higher in protein to some extent. And according to the International Food & Drink Event, 15% of UK shoppers explicitly claim to be increasing their protein intake.

Overall, sales of protein-based products have grown by 9.6% over the past six months. Individual items are seeing a rise in popularity as well, such as protein powders which saw supermarket sales value jump 16%, protein bars and balls grew by 6.1% in value sales and plant-based and vegan protein options saw a 12% increase in demand at major retailers such as Tesco.

Some people are shifting to protein-based items due to a mix of fitness trends, health goals and aggressive food marketing.

According to the British Nutrition Foundation, in the UK adults should be aiming for 0.75g of protein for every kilogram of bodyweight. That works at about 56g per day for a 75kg man, and 45g per day for a 60kg woman.

Shoppers are increasingly looking beyond traditional sports-nutrition products and towards everyday foods such as eggs, chicken, fish, yoghurt, cottage cheese, beans and lentils.

Sainsbury’s has launched a dedicated high-protein range, Aldi has expanded its protein-focused products, Lidl maintains a dedicated high-protein range, Tesco stocks high-protein products across multiple grocery categories and Waitrose has now introduced dedicated wellbeing bays covering protein and other health-focused products.

With searches of “high-protein meals” and “high protein cereal” up by 1,200% and 153% respectively year on year, are people consuming too much protein?

According to the British Nutrition Foundation, average adults in the UK already consume more than enough protein, with most individuals comfortably exceeding the government’s official Reference Nutrient Intake (RNI).

This could have detrimental impact on people. Some effects of taking in too much protein include kidney and urinary issues, digestive problems, weight gain and metabolic effects, along with cardiovascular and cancer risks.

Perhaps the public must be more informed about how much protein they should be taking in, regardless, with its continual growth, there’s no whey this protein train is stopping any time soon.

Has the Rise in Protein Gone Whey Too Far?