{"id":238723,"date":"2026-01-17T22:29:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T22:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/238723\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T22:29:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T22:29:10","slug":"this-food-is-one-of-the-fastest-growing-snacks-in-the-nation-it-also-comes-with-a-very-concerning-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/238723\/","title":{"rendered":"This Food Is One Of The Fastest-Growing Snacks In The Nation. It Also Comes With A Very Concerning Risk."},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you gotten enough protein today?\"Person<\/p>\n

Granger Wootz \/ Getty Images\/Tetra images RF<\/p>\n

Related: RFK Jr. Opened Up About Trump\u2019s “Unhinged” Eating Habits And Wow<\/a><\/p>\n

The craze has ushered in a slew of new protein-packed products \u2014 from bars and powders to popcorns and pancake mixes \u2014 and has sent many of us scrambling to the meat department at our grocery store to get our fix.\"Person<\/p>\n

Ana-O \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

In fact, one recent study found<\/a> \u201cU.S. meat consumption grew from 109 kg to 117 kg per capita between 2018 and 2023 and is projected to grow to 122 kg per capita in 2027.\u201dBut should we be thinking twice about where our protein comes from and what dangers might be lurking if we jump mouth-first into a diet full of meat?\"Person<\/p>\n

BROOK PIFER \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what we \u2014 Raj Punjabi-Johnson and Noah Michelson, the hosts of HuffPost\u2019s<\/a> Am I Doing It Wrong?<\/a> podcast<\/a> \u2014 asked Elizabeth Dunn<\/a>, a food journalist who\u2019s written widely about nutrition, when she recently dropped by our studio.\"Person<\/p>\n

Burke\/Triolo Productions \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

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Related: The White House Just Dropped A War Announcement Out Of Nowhere<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThere definitely is this kind of perception online that if you\u2019re going to live a high-protein life, that involves a lot of meat,\u201d Dunn told us. \u201cWhat you don\u2019t hear talked about a lot in those contexts is the downsides to eating a lot of meat. The data is very, very clear \u2014 I mean, like decades of large-scale, reputable studies<\/a> that show that the higher in meat your diet is, the higher your chances are of getting cancer, of getting diabetes, of all-cause mortality \u2014 meaning just basically dying younger. So there really are pretty big health consequences to eating a very meat-heavy diet, especially a very red meat-heavy or processed meat-heavy diet.\u201dThere\u2019s one popular protein-forward snack that especially concerns Dunn.\"Five<\/p>\n

Vav63 \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Related: Donald Trump\u2019s Bizarre Comments About Milk Are Going Viral And Honestly\u2026 What??<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the fastest growing snack categories right now is meat sticks,\u201d she said. \u201cObviously, the protein trend is driving that, [and though] they also are very delicious, what really surprises me, especially because we\u2019re in this very healthy, nutritious, conscious moment right now, is that people aren\u2019t aware of the fact that processed meats are class one carcinogens \u2014 Group 1 carcinogens<\/a>. So that\u2019s a World Health Organization classification, and it means that we know that they cause cancer in humans. So this is really something that I think more people should think about.\u201dDunn noted that the average American doesn\u2019t need to supplement their diet with extra protein because they\u2019re probably already getting the recommended daily allowance in their meals. However, if we are looking for more protein, she urged us to get it from whole foods, rather than processed ones.\"Woman<\/p>\n

Annamoskvina \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

She added that there\u2019s protein in most foods, which means even people who don\u2019t eat meat shouldn\u2019t need to work too hard to get their daily needs met.\u201cAs long as you\u2019re making a concerted effort as a vegetarian to eat a lot of different plants, like, you\u2019re gonna get as much protein as you need,\u201d she said.Michelson noted that \u201ca cup of [cooked] spinach … has five grams of protein in it, a cup of raw peas has eight grams of protein … wild rice has six grams of protein in a cup.\u201d\"Person<\/p>\n

Viktoriya Skorikova \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

Related: If You Can Identify All 15\/20 Of These Fruits And Vegetables By Shape Alone, Your Food Knowledge Is Truly Elite<\/a><\/p>\n

Whole grains are also a \u201chuge source of protein,\u201d Dunn said.\u201cI\u2019m not just talking about quinoa \u2014 oats have a lot of protein in them, things like seeds, like hemp seeds and chia seeds, have a lot of protein … It adds up a lot faster than you think.\u201d\"Bowl<\/p>\n

Marko Jan \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

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So if you\u2019ve been anxious about not getting enough protein, worry not! You probably are, but if you want an extra boost, reach for whole foods \u2014 and maybe skip processed meats as a regular part of your diet.We also chatted with Dunn about why we\u2019re wasting our time and money if we\u2019re getting too much protein, which nutrient we should probably be focusing on instead of protein, and much more.<\/p>\n

For more from Elizabeth Dunn,\u00a0visit her website<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0subscribe to her Substack.<\/a><\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Read it on BuzzFeed.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Have you gotten enough protein today? Granger Wootz \/ Getty Images\/Tetra images RF Related: RFK Jr. Opened Up…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238724,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[140713,3714,134,140714,140716,111,139,140715,556,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-238723","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-elizabeth-dunn","9":"tag-getty-images","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-meat-consumption","12":"tag-meat-department","13":"tag-new-zealand","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-noah-michelson","16":"tag-nutrition","17":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}