Congratulations, you’ve discovered the nature of advertising.

A while back during the gluten-free craze my laundry detergent proudly had “gluten-free” on the packaging.

EDIT: I learned it’s possible for plant-based detergents to have contact with gluten, so for those with zero tolerance it can be a concern.

As a vegan, it's annoying. This obsession makes everyone concerned "where I get my protein."

But no one seems to track their fiber, sodium, iron, riboflavin, etc. and would be miffed if I constantly asked people about it.

It turns out the answer is realy very long, but it's a hell of a ride. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K35FtbuyTh4

TLDW:
It's a right-wing grift. The Leftist Cooks argue that carnivore and “protein-maxxing” diets are not about health; they’re tied to masculinity, control, grift, and far-right politics. They use figures like Jordan Peterson and the Liver King to show how restrictive meat-heavy high protein diets can become symbols of power, identity, and pseudo-scientific authority.

The broader argument is food is never just food. Dietary choices can carry cultural meaning, political signaling, and ideological pressure, and that high protein culture is part of a larger ecosystem that can normalize authoritarian, anti-science, and anti-egalitarian thinking.

The video is excellent though. It's basically a miniseries on the various causes and effects of this and it's incredibly well put together, even if it is 6 hours long. 😱

i assumed it was the popularity of gym culture moving into every day life

GLP-1, Ozempic or weightloss drugs.

heres a youtube video about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4y3r5vyac8

havent watched it. this discussion just popped up in another forum a few hours ago.

probably something about the lower calories intake while still getting enough proteins or smth like that.

Macho culture -> bulking-> protein

Lmfao at this whole thread of nonsense answers.

It's not a weird obsession.

If you want to be muscular, then you need to eat a lot of protein.

If you want to be muscular and have a low body fat percentage, then you need to eat a lot of protein, and eat a lot of protein / calorie you eat.

If you're old and want to slow down how quickly your muscles waste away to maintain your physical health, you need to eat a lot of protein.

And protein is generally one of the more expensive parts of food, so companies constantly try and cut back and replace it with carbs and sugar instead... All leading to people seeking out food with high protein content

Influencer slop. That's literally it.

Marketing & the obsession of a healthy lifestyle promoted by influencers.

If you want to build muscles you need proteins. => You need proteins to build muscle.

But also if you want to lose weight, you have to reduce carbs and eat more proteins. => Your body needs more energy to break down the proteines and convert it to energy than for carbs and fats=> You feel full longer & "burn" more calories when digesting.

Unfortunately, people don't realize that fibers are more op than proteins. And just eating proteins how some influencers are promoting is kinda BS for your longterm digestive system. => TLDR eat beans over just meat. Also, look forward to the high fiber fad that is about to be started.

It's the prevalence of drugs like Ozempic. They cause people to eat a negative calorie diet so it's very important that they keep their protein intake at or above their requirements. If they don't, they will lose muscle at a dangerous rate.

Pretty sure these drugs are just creating huge heart health problem we'll see in the future.

A lot of Americans have been convinced lack of protein is why they keep gaining weight and aren't muscular. Testosterone is in a similar position. These can be concerns for people who are low in them, or for people struggling at high levels of fitness. But it's largely just influence from diet influencers repeating gym bro advice.

A lot of people have gone on GLP-1's recently. You're advised to eat a lot of protein when you go on those.

Because you can slap on a '30g protein' label on junk food and charge double for it

I thought protein was last year and fiber was this year

It's got what plants crave.

The US secretary of health, RFK Jr., pushes an uptake in protein as part of his "MAHA" - "Make America Healthy Again" - messaging. See example tote bags for an event here.

It's the reason you can buy protein poptarts.

This thread rightly points out all the excesses of capital-fueled social trends.

Less mentioned is that a higher protein breakfast ~20-30g vs traditional carb-heavy breakfast is actually helpful for more stable morning energy (less sugar crash), cognitive clarity, and reduced snack cravings especially later in the day. Search any of your reputable health sources and you'll likely find something to that effect. I don't believe it's particularly disputed at this point.

It's the fad of the day (decade).

If you look closely, you might start seeing "high in fiber!" creeping in. You know how the last ten years there were articles about how Americans don't eat enough fiber? Well, now fiber is the new selling point...

Ozempic. People on it can't handle sugars and carbs as well.

Interesting question and answers here. The GLP1 stuff makes sense.

They don't tell you about the bioavailability of the proteins though. Waffles or plants among others don't get utilized by the body as well as protein from meat or whey.

There have been a bunch of great answers already, but I'm not seeing one important factor: soy farmers. Soy is one of the cheapest sources of protein, and there's a lot of it grown, so the soy lobby is always trying to push new uses for it.

I buy PROTEIN-packed twinkies to grow humongous MUSCLES so my mom knows that I have SEX with many ladies and I want everyone to rest assured that I am a big HETEROSEXUAL man in my Thunderfalconcougarbird

It's not entirely pseudoscience. I imagine a lot of people don't normally get the recommended 1.2g per kg per day https://examine.com/guides/protein-intake/

Saw an ad for a protein soda. I am vomit.