Protein has never gone out of style. While fat was demonized as the nutrient causing weight gain in the 1990s, followed by carbs in the 2000s, protein sat by the sidelines as the official people pleaser of the macro-nutrient world.
"You need essential amino acids in the diet in order to sustain life," says Stefan Pasiakos, director of the Center for Human Performance Optimization at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center. Protein is needed for building and repairing muscle and tissues and helps support your immune system.
Protein stepped into the spotlight in recent years as keto and other high-protein diets took off. Health and fitness influencers started to push everyone to eat more muscle-building foods in every meal (deep-fried cottage cheese Doritos anyone?) The nutrient is so ubiquitous online that one influencer asks whether protein can leave him alone for five minutes.
And it has now taken over the snack food aisles, with "high-protein" or "protein-packed" labels on the front of products as diverse as sweet rolls, chips and pretzels. There's even a high-protein version of a Snickers bar.
Leaning into protein claims on packaging
Of course, these claims don't always mean the food is good for you or even a good source of protein.
"You'll see chips labeled high protein," says Pasiakos, who is a former director of the National Institutes of Health's Office of Dietary Supplements. "In reality, they're probably not, but people are now trying to jump all over it."
The global protein-snacks market alone is projected to grow from $50 billion in 2024 to $101 billion by 2032, according to Fortune Business Insights.
Snack-makers often market protein front and center on their packaging without mentioning the food's sugar content, says Pasiakos.
For instance, a candy with 1 gram of protein may have a high-protein marketing claim on the front of the package and to the maker, "it may not even be a false claim because they're thinking, 'If you looked at another candy, it's not going to have a gram of protein in it,'" he says.
Among many examples, Smash Foods' cashew butter and blueberry jam Snack Bites, sold at Whole Foods, advertises 5g of protein, yet it has 16g of sugar, more than triple its protein amount. 365 Chewy Protein Bites aren't much better, with various flavors having about 20g of sugar to 10g of protein.
The Food and Drug Administration regulates marketing claims on packaged foods, restricting manufacturers from making big, overarching health claims without proof. For instance, companies can't claim their food prevents heart attacks or cures cancer, Pasiakos says. They also can't use the word "healthy" or derivatives of the word without meeting the FDA healthy standards of providing a specific amount of a nutrient within a food group.
So saying something is "high protein" can be a way of working around the regulations while signaling to consumers that a food might be good for them.
How to judge? Try a little math
So how do you determine whether a snack making protein claims is worth eating? Pasiakos offers this simple calculation to get a sense of what share of the food's total calories is derived from protein.
Take the number of grams of protein in the product and multiply it by 4 — that's the number of calories per gram of protein. Now you know the calories from protein in the food. Then take the protein calories and divide by the total calories in the food. That gives you the share of calories in the food that comes from protein.
For instance, let's say a protein bar has 20 grams of protein and 200 calories. You'd multiply 20 × 4 to get 80. Then you'd divide 80 by 200 and get 40%. "Anything that was high in protein would have 30% or more of protein by calorie count," says Pasiakos.
Another option would be to check the percentage of the daily value (listed as DV) of protein listed on the Nutrition Facts label on the package. Anything 20% or above can be seen as high protein, according to the FDA.
But even if a snack is high in protein, is it automatically healthy? Not necessarily.
"Protein's important, but it's not the only nutrient we should be looking at," says Clare Parme Miller, a New York-based registered dietician for Lifeways Nutrition. It's equally important to get enough of other nutrients like fiber and to avoid foods high in added sugars or highly processed ingredients.
"Look for snacks with added sugars of less than 10 grams that are less processed than most protein bars," she suggests.
And, you may not need your snacks to be high protein, she notes.
The federal government suggests adults get at least 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight (or 0.36 per pound), which is 51 grams for a 140-pound woman who isn't pregnant or breastfeeding. Some nutrition and fitness experts recommend more, especially for those seeking to build muscle and for older people.
So when it comes to snack time, says Parme Miller, "especially if you're getting 20 to 30 grams of protein at mealtime, snacks only need to provide 10 to 15 grams."
(The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a handy nutrient calculator that takes into consideration your age and activity level.)
Whole foods snacks can pack in protein too
It's not hard to meet protein minimums with whole foods, says Parme Miller, instead of reaching for packaged snacks with protein claims.
"Greek yogurt or small cups of cottage cheese will fulfill your protein requirement and also provide calcium," says Parme Miller. Add berries for a boost in fiber and antioxidants.
Nuts without other added ingredients and roasted chickpeas, in single-serving sizes, provide less protein than Greek yogurt but can be paired with other items to get to 10 grams. For instance, you could add whole grain crackers to boost protein a bit and get another food group in. An ounce of cheese plus a few whole grain crackers also gives you protein and whole grains, which are high in fiber and contain calcium and several B vitamins.
Other whole grain plus protein snacks include smearing a nut butter on whole grain crackers or doing the same with hummus, says Parme Miller. Adding broccoli or another vegetable for dipping slightly ups the protein value and adds fiber and calcium.
"Whatever you do, don't eat gobs and gobs of protein, even if it says high protein on the label," says Parme Miller. "Protein foods, especially ones that also contain fats, are not calorie free."
Reyna Gobel, MPH, MBA, is a health writer, author and nutrition educator who created the 30-Day Precision Nutrition Challenge.
Copyright 2025 NPR