Starting from the United States, the fashion of enriched foods has also arrived in Italy. A 50 billion dollars race pushed especially by the youngest, influenced in their food choices by Tiktoker and television series. But experts brake and advise not to abuse these additional products that can do damage to the body.
Proteins in pasta, snacks, yogurt, pop-corn: the fashion of 2025, exploded in this start of summer, is the “proteinification” of all possible foods. The shelves of our supermarkets are full of enriched foods and powders to be added to smoothies and drinks, as if suddenly the proteins that can naturally be taken – with foods that we always consume such as meat, fish, eggs, legumes – were not enough or we no longer liked. And in perfect style “gender equality”, the hyper-protic diet and the super-city race are no longer just the prerogative of men (who have always been attracted to their imaginary effects on masculinity and testosterone), but are also much loved by women.
It is estimated that the turnover linked to the protein snack market is about 50 billion dollars worldwidewith 60 percent of global consumers who have already increased or wishes to increase the consumption of proteins: it is in particular Millennial and Genz, born between 1981 and 2010.
Large food companies ride the wave enriching everything that can be added in proteins: Help in this mission from pop phenomena such as TV series, Tiktaker and influencers from millions of followers. Khloé Kardashian has just launched its line of ultra protein pop-corn to the tastes of Cheddar and caramel which-he claims-should help consumers reinforce their diet without guilt.
It would be said that for this purpose the classic plate of grandparents of the grandparents would be enough, but fashions with their hands cannot be stopped – they are like the wind, you can only wait for them to pass – and moreover Hollywood is also adapting to the trend: in the White Lotus series, with millions of spectators all over the world, the character played by Patrick Schwarzenegger (precisely the son of Arnold, the one who in the 1980s made the world known the real meaning of “muscles”, and in truth also of anabolic, but this is another story) Prepare hyper-professional smoothies with strange dust and bizarre ingredients that should help him in conquering a large amount of girls.
Too bad that, net of Hollywood, this fashion is not very useful and even harmless as it seems. “According to the most recent international guidelines, proteins should represent about 12 percent of the daily energy supply” says Jessica Falcone, nutritionist coordinator of the Operating Unit Food Disorders of the San Raffaele Turro hospital in Milan. «In practical terms, we speak of about 0.8 grams per kilo of body weight, even lower than the recommendations of a few years ago, which indicated a gram per kilo. These quantities can be reached with a balanced diet: even those who practice sports at amateur level do not need to increase the protein intake with added foods ».
Moreover, we must not forget that ice cream, snacks and protein biscuits (which often come to contain 25 or 30 grams of protein per portion) are however calorie and ultra-processed foods, subjected to long industrial processes and precisely for this reason far from being healthy and dietetic: to try to be virtuous and to add to our protein diet that we do not need, we risk doing other damage. Not only to fatten, but to weigh down liver, kidneys and metabolism.
“In fact, the dangers are precisely these” confirms Alberto Benetti, director of Interno-Alta Complexity of the Niguarda hospital in Milan. «On the metabolic level, hyper-protic diets and excess of additional foods can involve even serious consequences. In fact, proteins contain purines, that is, metabolized substances in uric acid: their excess sometimes leads – in predisposed subjects – to gout, very painful chronic pathology. In addition, a high protein load can be harmful to the kidneys, especially in people with an already reduced functionality of these organs: in this case, the diet should be rather hypoproteic, to slow down progressive renal damage “.
However, one might think that in a world where more and more people become vegetarian and vegan, the “proteinification” Food may be the rescue anchor for those who do not eat meat, eggs or dairy products: it is not so. “Those who follow these food regimes” continues Falcone “must only pay attention to the biological quality of vegetable proteins, which are sometimes lacking in some essential amino acids. A simple trick consists in filling cereals and legumes: the former compensate for the shortcomings of the latter and vice versa, thus guaranteeing a complete amino acid profile ».
Then there is the problem of the cost: snacks and enhanced foods cost more, in the face of no scientifically demonstrated benefit and some possible risk. Is it worth putting them anyway in the cart? If we look at the TV series, more than ever mirror of our contemporary reality, no: because then, to conquer more girls (and sympathy from viewers) in White Lotus is not the hyper-professional fixed with the smoothies, but its “normal” little brother: the shy one, with the book in hand, a few muscles and the physical dynamic to the Jannik Sinner. The wind of the protein-mania, perhaps, is already changing.
