Walk into any health groceteria store and you’ll quickly see a trend peeking around you. Protein ice cream, protein pizza, and protein chips? It’s the same products you loved gorging yourself with, but it’s “healthier”, right?

At least that’s what the marketers want you to think as you look away while your pancake mix gets scanned for 5 dollars more than you’re used to.

We’ve had our history of food trends, the humble avocado toast, the acai bowl craze, and the noble kale which is healthy but bitter so let’s just make it a chip instead and call it even. This trend might outlast all of those because of 3 legs of the stool: medical, institutional, and cultural changes.

Historically cheesemakers in the US thought whey — the leftover fluid after coagulating milk into cheese — as a waste byproduct, they would dump it into the gutters or rivers suffocating the fish and other life for our cheese curd greed. Unfortunately, the Wisconsin river fish did not in fact lift.

Why did cheesemakers disrespect whey? Didn’t they know in 460 BC, Hippocrates, the father of medicine, used to call it “The serum” and prescribed it to greek patients to boost their immune systems? Or that in the 17th century Swiss farmers who fed their pigs whey noticed they grew faster? Dare I say got swole faster?

Dairy factories rediscovered the serum, but they can’t keep up with demand and you’re paying for it. 50% price increases since January - the cloudy milk-water we used to throw away in gutters, is now the most expensive thing on the shelf. Gutter gold.

Medical

I know you know about GLP-1s, pharmaceutical companies have been pouring millions into advertisements. I can’t watch my favorite cooking show on hulu without seeing 10 different ads about it. Thanks for ruining cozy food eye candy for me, big pharma, I already felt guilty eating takeout while watching a cooking show

Among adults surveyed who have not tried the drug, 22% say they would be interested in taking the drug. 7% said very interested in this naturally occurring peptide that will silence out the food noise.

The curiosity is simply growing and the while tradeoffs aren’t clear, one of the growing concerns for people on GLP-1s is muscle loss as part of their weight loss. Doctors recommend resistance training and higher protein intake to retain muscle while losing body fat. Believe it or not, it gets harder to stuff your mouth with chicken on these drugs, so an easier way to ingest it is whey mixed in with a shake.

This medical recommendation as more adults take the drug will solidify its position on the shelves. It’s hard to change the eating habits of people, so packaged food companies will shift the ingredients for you and charge you more, hey it’s medically backed.

Institution

Say what you will about the MAHA movement, one of the few things I agree with is the new food pyramid flipped the traditional pyramid upside down. This pyramid guide has been backed by USDA since 1992 and has been impacting what American families eat daily. Its new inverted funnel look prioritizes high quality foods like protein, healthy fats and vegetables.

This new emphasis on protein will be recommended and taught in public education classes and will be on the minds of children and young adults as they make decisions on their daily diet.

Growing up, I also remembered doctors handing out this pyramid diagram after my yearly physical exams - after a while you finally take note and read it.

When you go to class or pick up your children, you’ll notice it on the classroom walls. After a while, this becomes known as “common knowledge” and so does the increase in protein portions on American plates.

Cultural

Influencers, once limited to their internet circles, have now broken out into the general cultural fabric. One of those health and general science influencers is Andrew Huberman.

It’s a wild sensation when you go on a walk with coworkers and unprompted they bring up Huberman and what his new protocol is.

He’s the biggest right now, and there are plenty of others echoing the same health advice, Rhonda Patrick, Peter Attia, and dozens of others recommend about 1 gram per pound of body weight or 2.2 grams per kilogram especially for those doing resistance training for muscle growth.

The average US 20 year old male weighs about 200lbs which means he recommends 200 grams of protein for someone doing resistance training. That’s about 4 chicken breasts about 33 eggs, and about 6.5 cans of tuna.

It’s a simple recommendation, eat more healthy protein - when the 3rd chicken meal of the day doesn’t sound appetizing, the whey shake becomes the backup.

When this advice is broadly echoed online and hits the work walk talk, dinner table or neighbor banter, you know your next tub of gutter gold is coming for your wallet.

Closing

The millennial avocado had its moment. My darling kombucha SCOBY rotted in the closet, and the sourdough starter you nurtured during COVID is more sour than dough, down in the sewers, suffocating the Wisconsin fish.

So why do I think protein craze is here to stay? Because protein isn’t really a food, it’s an identity, a signal that you follow the latest Huberman protocol, that you follow the food pyramid like a good citizen, or that you want to keep your muscle and be fit.

What was once only purchased by gym bros and athletes is now embedded into our packaged goods through powdery goodness. Your next carnival funnel cake might just have some protein powder for a dollar more. Will it make you fitter? Maybe. Fit in? Most definitely.