Americans are Obsessed with Protein and it’s Driving Nutrition Experts Nuts
April 21, 2025 | 1 min to read
Morgan Gates, a 28-year-old sales representative, emphasizes the importance of protein in his diet, consuming six eggs for breakfast and a pound of red meat for dinner. His two dogs also eat a similar protein-rich diet. The U.S. food industry, valued at $367 billion, is increasingly incorporating protein into unconventional products like coffee, candies, and even water, raising questions about the nutritional value of such offerings.
Food companies pack the nutrient into candy, coffee and even water; ‘How about a chicken breast, people?’
Morgan Gates starts off his day eating six eggs. Later he will down a smoothie made with Greek yogurt, protein powder and berries. For dinner, it’s a pound of red meat.
The 28-year-old sales representative is big on protein. “I found that if I prioritized protein and half-assed the rest of everything else, it gave me the body I wanted,” he said.
Gates’s two dogs follow a similar diet. The $367 billion U.S. food industry is on board, too, pushing protein beyond cereals and snack bars and into new realms like coffee, sweets and water.
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