Protein bars, shakes, bites and balls: protein supplements really do come in a myriad of shapes and consistencies now, don’t they? But the one thing all the miracles of modern manufacturing haven’t helped protein supps shake off is their polarising reputation.
For some people, protein-enriched products glow agreeably beneath their ‘health halo’. For others, protein supplements are nothing more than lab-made junk food dreamt up by marketing companies to scam you out of a few quid (and your health). This stance has actually gained a fair bit of traction in recent years with the rise of the anti ultra-processed food movement, alongside what I can only describe as a fear-based campaign to bash people into never eating anything they didn’t see grow with their own two eyes.
As ever – and I apologise in advance for not being able to give you a controversial, life-changing answer here – the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
Are Protein Supplements Actually Healthy?
When it comes to macronutrients, there’s a whole host of evidence to suggest that protein should have pride of place in your diet. Multiple studies have shown that eating above the daily recommended allowance of protein (around 55g for men) can have massive positive effects on your body composition and health, even if you don’t consciously make any other changes.
Should that additional protein come from minimally processed, whole food sources? In an ideal world, yes. But we don’t live in an ideal world, we live in this one, so if eating a protein bar or downing a shake is the difference between consistently hitting your protein goals and not, I say, go for it. It doesn’t hurt to regularly ask, ‘Are there better choices available to me right now?’ Or to occasionally investigate the line between convenience and laziness. But for me, this is a classic case of 'not letting great become the enemy of good.'
Now, if the subtext of the question is, are protein supplements bad for me? I’m going to say, for the most part, no. Some are filled with more unnecessary sugars, additives and other ingredients that move you further away from whole food perfection, but we have pretty strict supplement regulating bodies in the UK, so – allergies and intolerances allowing – you’re unlikely to find anything harmful in a protein shake or bar.
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With that being said, if you do overdo it on certain ingredients that are commonly found in protein bars, you can expect negative effects. Often, the sugar alcohols that are used to sweeten bars while keeping the calorie content low can have a laxative effect if over-consumed. But the same can be said about a lot of food sources; as ever, it’s the dose that makes the poison.
How to Spot a High-Protein Product
Another thing to be on guard against is companies using the health halo associated with claims such as ‘high protein,’ ‘added protein,’ or ‘protein rich’ to sell you products that don’t actually contain a sizeable amount of protein. It’s not uncommon to see products promoted under the guise of ‘protein filled’ that actually contain less protein than a couple of Babybels – a more ‘whole food’ option that you could have picked up for less than a quid.
The rule of thumb I tend to suggest is that for a product (such as bars, bites or anything else promoted as ‘protein rich’) to truly fit that bill in a meaningful way, it must contain at least 10g of protein per 100 calories. With shakes, I’d up that to 20g per 100 calories. I’ve found this to be an excellent way of picking snacks, unless you’re looking for something more substantial containing additional carbs and fats.
With almost 18 years in the health and fitness space as a personal trainer, nutritionist, breath coach and writer, Andrew has spent nearly half of his life exploring how to help people improve their bodies and minds.
As our fitness editor he prides himself on keeping Men’s Health at the forefront of reliable, relatable and credible fitness information, whether that’s through writing and testing thousands of workouts each year, taking deep dives into the science behind muscle building and fat loss or exploring the psychology of performance and recovery.
Whilst constantly updating his knowledge base with seminars and courses, Andrew is a lover of the practical as much as the theory and regularly puts his training to the test tackling everything from Crossfit and strongman competitions, to ultra marathons, to multiple 24 hour workout stints and (extremely unofficial) world record attempts.
You can find Andrew on Instagram at @theandrew.tracey, or simply hold up a sign for ‘free pizza’ and wait for him to appear.
