Protein products: more protein is not automatically healthier
Fortified foods can raise intake considerably. What matters is personal need, the overall diet and the limits of long-term data – not a single advertising promise.
Protein-rich bars, drinks and yoghurts promise a simple extra portion of protein. Whether they are useful, superfluous or problematic cannot be decided by the highlighted number of grams. A Swiss government report shows that fortified products can raise daily intake considerably. It therefore proves neither that the whole population consumes too much protein nor that a single protein pudding makes anyone ill.
For consumers, three questions must be kept apart: how much protein does the body need, what is known about the safety of high amounts, and what may be stated on a pack? The answers rest on different scientific and legal foundations.
A reference value is not a maximum
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) names a reference value of 0.83 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day for healthy adults. At 70 kilograms that corresponds to around 58 grams. The value describes an intake intended to cover the needs of the large majority of healthy adults. It is not an individually diagnosed target and not a threshold at which poisoning begins.
Because of insufficient data, EFSA was unable to set a generally tolerable upper intake level for protein. That means neither that every higher amount would be dangerous nor that unlimited quantities are proven harmless. Safety over decades requires a different body of evidence than short-term training effects.
The Swiss signal report 'Too much protein in the diet' exists in a version dated November 2023. It calculates various hypothetical menus for a person weighing 70 kilograms. In the classic menu, the result without fortification is 1.2 grams per kilogram per day; with fortified products in the same quantity, 2.4 grams. That is a calculation scenario, not a survey of today's shopping habits.
What the Swiss warning leaves open
The report refers to few and partly contradictory long-term findings on very high intake. Its values described as safe for certain healthy, adapted individuals are not to be equated with a legal maximum. The consumption data from menuCH used in it also date from 2014 and 2015. They cannot fully capture today's protein trend.
These model calculations do not provide a current figure on how many people in Switzerland suffer health damage because of fortified products. Nor do they justify judging all protein-rich foods in the same way. Overall composition and the personal situation remain decisive.
For whom a higher intake can make sense
The BLV emphasises sufficient protein and a distribution across the day for older people. Nutrition and exercise work together to maintain muscle mass. A blanket call to eat as little protein as possible would therefore be just as imprecise as the promise that extra shakes solve every nutritional problem.
Training can also change requirements. The German Nutrition Society names 1.2 to 2.0 grams per kilogram per day for more than five hours of sport per week, depending on the load and the goal. At the same time it stresses that muscle building does not arise from more protein alone. This sports recommendation is not a general target for all buyers.
In chronic kidney disease, other guidance may apply. An existing illness is therefore a reason to agree on nutrition with the treating specialists instead of adopting a sports recommendation. Severe self-imposed restriction can also be problematic if the supply is no longer sufficient.
What the label actually promises
According to the Zurich food control authority, 'high protein' requires that at least one fifth of the total energy value comes from protein. In addition, a portion must contain a significant amount of protein. That is not 20 percent of the product's weight. The claim also does not automatically assess sugar, salt, energy content or price.
Nor does 'on sale' generally mean 'individually checked by the authorities'. According to the BLV, food supplements fundamentally require no authorisation; companies carry responsibility within self-monitoring, and the cantons carry out random checks. Special authorisation rules apply to novel foods or certain ingredients. A fortified yoghurt and a food supplement are therefore not the same product category simply because of their protein content.
Swiss dietary recommendations rely on varied sources such as pulses, tofu, eggs, dairy products, meat and fish. For shopping, this yields a sober yardstick: look first at the overall diet and the actual need, then at the product. A lot of protein can be appropriate. But a highlighted nutrient promise does not replace a balanced meal.
Sources
- BLV: Signal Report 'Too much protein in the diet', version November 2023
- EFSA: Scientific Opinion on Dietary Reference Values for protein
- BLV: Swiss dietary recommendations for adults
- BLV: Nutrition from the age of 65
- Canton of Zurich: Legal requirements for 'high protein'
- BLV: Food supplements, self-monitoring and authorisation
- BLV: Authorisation of novel foods
- DGE: Position paper on protein intake in sport
- UCLA Health: Protein in chronic kidney disease
- Lead image: Nenad Stojković / Wikimedia Commons
- Lead image licence: CC BY 2.0
- Article image: Bananenfalter / Wikimedia Commons
- Article image licence: CC0 1.0
