{"id":825969,"date":"2026-07-27T01:09:40","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T01:09:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/825969\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T01:09:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T01:09:40","slug":"a-big-marketing-campaign-is-the-protein-trend-good-for-consumers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/825969\/","title":{"rendered":"‘A big marketing campaign’: Is the protein trend good for consumers?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Foods flagging their protein content have been a big growth area in New Zealand supermarkets with brands going all-in on the consumer trend. <\/p>\n

The nutrient-enhanced goods promote multiple claimed health benefits. But some experts question whether they are necessary, or even good for us.<\/p>\n

Founder of Rise Growth Lab Rebecca Brook said while the protein craze kicked off in the gym community, it is no longer solely muscle-growth driven. Many food and drink brands now market their products widely.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was gym athlete muscle-maintenance or muscle-building, then it evolved more into healthy aging, and it might be satiety – feeling fuller for longer, muscle maintenance, hormone balancing,” she explained.<\/p>\n

“Certain types of protein are for skin health or gut health, there’s even products now talking about its benefit on the brain.”<\/p>\n

Midlife muscle mass<\/p>\n

Nutritionist Claire Turnbull said protein-based foods<\/a> are particularly helpful for people going through menopause and appetite fluctuations later in life.<\/p>\n

“There’s a lot of conversations around perimenopause and menopause and part of that midlife is making sure that you maintain your muscle mass.<\/p>\n

“As you get older, you might have a smaller appetite, but actually you need quite a lot of protein as you’re aging. Some of these protein-boosted products may be helpful for people with smaller appetites.”<\/p>\n

\"Experts<\/p>\n

Experts encourage the consumption of natural protein-rich products over processed ones. (Source: istock.com)<\/p>\n

However, the influence of protein-filled goods is sometimes exaggerated, and some brands have taken advantage of the international trend to capitalise on marketing strategies.<\/p>\n

Brook said some food companies make slight changes to their products in order to earn that “high-protein” label.<\/p>\n

“What we see is the multinational brands coming in and really reformulating existing products that are trusted to include protein to really scale that trend,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"Protein<\/p>\n

Protein labels have become a common sight on supermarket food packaging. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Turnbull believes the increase in protein-specific products is due to sales propaganda convincing people their processed foods are healthier.<\/p>\n

‘Marketing campaign’<\/p>\n

“It is really a big marketing campaign that’s happened around this interest in protein,” she said.<\/p>\n

“But you can absolutely get enough protein<\/a> through just eating the normal protein-rich foods that we’ve known for years and years and years – through your meat products, fish, eggs, your chickpeas, all the other lentils and pulses, nuts and seeds.”<\/p>\n

One pitfall of the health craze is some people are beginning to prioritise buying protein snacks and goods that aren’t natural, looking for labelled convenience.<\/p>\n

The best way to reach nutrient goals remains with all-natural products, with Turnbull saying we need to remember that processed foods – protein-rich or not – aren’t completely healthy.<\/p>\n

“The key focus is just going back to the basics and going to the whole food, simple sources of protein.”<\/p>\n

The high-protrein trend – Watch on TVNZ+<\/a><\/p>\n

The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including Stuart Nash quits amid sexism storm, and Prince George turns 13. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Foods flagging their protein content have been a big growth area in New Zealand supermarkets with brands going…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":825970,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[38747,64,63,142476,23940,137,532],"class_list":["post-825969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-1news-recommends","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-consumer-affairs","tag-food-drink","tag-health","tag-nutrition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=825969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/825969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/825970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=825969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=825969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=825969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}