Soon, even your Starbucks latte can come with protein. Is the trend healthy, or just big business?

cereal grass, chips, icecream, popcorn, even out candy — if it feels like there's suddenly protein in everything, you may be onto something.

There's been a surge in protein-packed food offerings on store shelves in recent years. And starting Sept. 29, you can add another item to that list: your morning Starbucks.

Later this month, locations of the coffee chain in the U.S. And Canada will begin offering a line of lattes made with "protein-boosted" milk, as well as protein cold foam, which can be added to any regular beverage. The company says the new additions will offer 15 to 36 grams of protein.

The move comes a week after Tim Horton's released a protein-packed latte of its own, which uses a lactose-free, high-protein dairy beverage to deliver 17 to 20 grams of the macronutrient per drink. 

In pursuit of good health and big muscles, people have been trying to find more ways to consume as much protein as conveniently as possible, which has led to high-protein offerings of all kinds. Experts say there's good money to be made in capitalizing on the latest health trend — even if the information backing it isn't totally accurate.

Coffee chains look to cash in on protein’s popularity

According to retail analyst Bruce Winder, the protein market is already worth billions of dollars and growing by about seven per cent a year.

Winder says he expects the move will fetch Starbucks and Tim Hortons some extra revenue, given these kinds of added features tend to cost a little extra. While Starbucks hasn't said what its new products will cost, the new protein drink at Tim's is $4.49, compared to $3.69 for a regular latte. Customers can also add the dairy protein beverage to other beverages for an extra 80 cents.

The way these products are being marketed, according to Winder, is much like the low-carb or sugar-free products that were popular in the mid-2000s (think WeightWatchers chips or Skinny Cow ice cream). While protein products are in their growth phase right now, Winder says they will plateau or decline eventually, much like these other diet products of yore did.

"It's there if you want it," he said. "But it's not gonna be [the] main thrust from a marketing and product development perspective. It'll be more niche."

Still, David Pullara, a principal at DP Ventures, says he could see the high-protein product category sticking around for longer than other food trends, because protein is a core part of one's diet.

"It's a core macro. So it's not a trend, like a flavour trend that comes and goes," Pullara said. 

He points out that with protein reaching its peak, however, comes market saturation. And with other brands offering similar things, Pullara says the new menu items at Starbucks and Tim Hortons will live and die on both their quality and value.

"The drink has to taste great…. The total composition has to make sense and the price has to be reasonable. If Starbucks can nail those three things, it's gonna be a winner for sure." 

But when it comes to health, high-protein products might not be such a slam dunk.

As a dietitian and assistant professor at the University of Ottawa, Melissa Fernandez says the protein craze is one of her "pet peeves."

Diets that glorify protein — the only macronutrient that has yet to be vilified — have been around for a long time, Fernandez says, with guidance like the Atkins Diet popular in the early 2000s promoting bacon and eggs as key health foods. 

Gym-goers often say online that people should be eating one gram of protein per pound of body weight. In reality, Fernandez says the minimum amount of protein most people need is 0.8 grams per kilogram, which, at 0.36 grams per pound, is less than half that.

High-performance athletes — which doesn't include people who go to the gym a few times a week, she says — and people trying to lose weight might need closer to two grams of protein per kilogram (0.9 grams per pound), which is still not quite as much. It's a big range, allowing for misinterpretation, she says.

These added-protein products also have what Fernandez calls a "health halo" — because protein is associated with health, buyers think a product that contains it is automatically healthier. But that's not always the case, if extra sugar or other ingredients are being added to mask the taste, or if they're extra processed.

While eating extra protein probably won't hurt you, it can still come with health risks if you're not getting enough fruits or vegetables or neglecting other macros.

Because high-protein diets have been around for so long, Fernandez says she doesn't see the trend going anywhere — it'll just take a new form once the current craze dies down.

"Right now it's protein in everything, you know, in your latte ... In a few years it might be a different kind of high-protein twist to a food."

Journalist

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