If you\u2019ve been inside a grocery store lately, you may have noticed something curious. Cereal, once the purview of children\u2019s breakfasts, is now \u201cpacked with protein!\u201d The small refrigerators at the checkout line, designed to entice shoppers with last-second impulse purchases, now stock drinks such as Muscle Milk (containing 40 grams of protein!). Even the snack aisle, that holy grail of chips and treats, has not been spared\u2014new brands of so-called \u201cprotein chips\u201d boast 18 grams of protein in every nacho-, ranch-, and chili-lime-flavored serving. Under the bright fluorescent lights of grocery stores across the country, protein has become the lingua franca.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s always something,\u201d says Joan Salge Blake<\/a>, with the resigned tone of a nutrition expert well-versed in the ever-changing food fads of the day. \u201cFirst it was calories: everyone was counting calories. Then it was low-carb, then no added sugar in the diet. There\u2019s always a trend that gets people talking.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n But, says Salge Blake, a clinical professor of nutrition at Boston University\u2019s Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences, this one may just stick around.\u00a0<\/p>\n An essential macronutrient, protein is a key building block of so many parts of the body: it\u2019s found in muscle, bone, skin, hair, and virtually every other body part or tissue. Proteins \u201care critical to most of the work done by cells and are required for the structure, function and regulation of the body\u2019s tissues and organs,\u201d according to the National Institutes of Health<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Protein has always been good for us and an important part of a balanced diet. But the recent emphasis<\/a> on it\u2014from social media influencers to food marketing tactics, seems to have coincided with the introduction of specific weight-loss medications such as Wegovy, Salge Blake notes.\u00a0<\/p>\n