Our Preoccupation With Protein Intake

I listened to The Daily podcast this week, “How America Got Obsessed With Protein,” which helped explain how this macronutrient frenzy has progressed to an unprecedented fever, but also had significant errors. While I had written about this topic in SUPER AGERS, it was time to review all the data available, for both efficacy and safety, of high protein intake. That’s what this edition of Ground Truths is about.

I will come back to this important Figure below later in the post, from an important study in both mice and people, demonstrating that high protein intake accelerated atherosclerosis and increases cardiovascular risk, and provided the underlying mechanism. In contrast, The Daily podcast stated: “Well, it’s unlikely that eating too much protein is actually going to harm you. Unless you have a specific kidney issue, we can eat a lot of protein. And it’s not going to be bad for you.” It turns out there’s no shortage of data to refute that assertion made by the New York Times (which produces The Daily).

Let’s get into this topic by answering 3 questions:

1. What is driving the protein obsession?

2. What are the data for high protein intake health benefits?

3. What are the safety concerns regarding high protein consumption?

1. Driving The Protein Obsession

The most recent published 2024 International Food Information Council annual survey of Americans found that 71% want to increase their protein intake, more than any other dietary constituent or vitamin. That number for protein was 52% in the 2022 survey. The number of Google searches for “high protein” peaked in 2025.

It’s no wonder. Social media is chock full of protein promoters. A search of TikTok for “200 grams of protein a day” gets dozens of instructional videos. A survey of non-professional athletes taking protein supplements found that 40% get their information from social media. The Daily asserted that there are two main influencers driving the high protein craze:

“So the protein is going to be a substance that helps you improve your health, and not only lose weight, not only gain muscle, but also being the best physical version of yourself. And the two biggest and most influential names here are Peter Attia and Andrew Huberman. And these two guys are really extraordinarily influential in the nutrition space right now, the wellness space……Protein is a big part of it for both of