Welcome to Glossy’s Wellness Week. In daily feature stories, Glossy will break down the trends transforming the way consumers are thinking about, and spending on, wellness. And on Thursday at noon ET, we’ll host the Glossy’s Wellness Leaders Forum, a virtual event diving deep into wellness’s new era. Join us.
When Alex Taylor and Victoria Thain Gioia launched Perelel in 2020, they started with a lineup of prenatal vitamins built around micronutrients like calcium and omega-3 fatty acids. The brand soon expanded to products catering to fertility support supplements and antioxidant powders. But Taylor and Thain Gioia say there was one nutrient consumers kept asking about: protein.
“We have gotten asked a ton in the last four and a half years, especially by pregnant woman, whose protein needs are higher. She was asking us a lot, ‘What protein powder would you recommend?’” said co-founder and co-CEO Thain Gioia.
Perelel launched its Triple Support Protein in February, promising 20 grams of plant-based protein per serving along with fiber and creatine. It joins female-targeted wellness brands like Ritual and Ballerina Farm that have also launched protein powders in recent years. Lemme, the supplements brand founded by Kourtney Kardashian Barker, collaborated with fitness studio Barry’s Bootcamp on a limited-edition protein shake in February.
Those products seek to meet Americans’ insatiable desire for protein. According to data from the Hartman Group consultancy, 64% of Americans would like to increase their protein intake. Spurred by shifting wellness trends like the rise of GLP-1s and a growing awareness around perimenopause, protein is no longer just for weight-lifting gym bros — it’s also a star player in snacks, desserts and boutique wellness brands.
“Protein is now occupying a central role, because it doesn’t only support fitness goals, like muscle growth and recovery. It is showing a lot of correlation to immunity, satiety and healthy aging,” said David Hamlette, health and wellness analyst at market research group Mintel.
The rise in protein comes at a time when dietary trends have shifted away from a focus on restricting certain nutrients, like low-fat and low-carbohydrate diets of the early 2000s, and toward a more holistic approach to wellness.
“The narrative has really shifted more toward balance and functionality, prioritizing foods and dietary choices that help to support a healthy lifestyle rather than just simply avoiding certain nutrients,” said Hamlette.
Consumers are no longer seeking high protein only at dinner — it’s also in demand for snacks, breakfast cereal and ice cream. Bulking up on protein can mean a big payout: Coca-Cola acquired a full stake in ultra-filtered, high-protein milk brand Fairlife in 2020, back when its sales were projected to be roughly $320 million a year. In 2022, Fairlife surpassed $1 billion in sales. Salad chain Sweetgreen introduced protein plates in 2023 and steak the following year, which the company called a major driver of same-store sales in 2024. According to SharkNinja, whose Ninja Creami ice cream maker has become a viral TikTok sensation thanks to its protein-friendly recipes, the announcement of the soft-serve machine Swirl by Ninja Creami inspired a pre-launch waitlist of more than 96,500 consumers. Social media users have showcased high-protein recipes made using the $350 soft-serve machine since its February launch.
But not all experts believe the proliferation of protein treats and products is beneficial.
“No one is deficient in protein. We do not have to worry about protein, and yet people make such a big deal about it,” said Dr. Lisa Young, RDN, adjunct professor of nutrition at New York University.
According to Harvard Health Publishing, the average American consumes around 16% of their daily calories from protein, while the recommended amount is 10%. The typical adult needs 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, Dr. Young said. There is such a thing as too much protein, she added; though some consumers seek out protein to meet weight loss goals, excess protein can mean excess calories, as the body can convert excess protein into fat.
While certain groups, like those undergoing menopause, using GLP-1s or increasing their activity levels, may need to increase their protein intake to support muscle mass, to roughly 1 to 1.2 grams per kilogram of body weight, Dr. Young said it is fairly easy to reach most protein goals through a typical diet.
“We need protein, but it’s really, really easy to get protein from food,” she said. “A little bit of protein really goes a long way. If you have four ounces of chicken, you’re getting almost 30 grams of protein. People think they have to eat a whole cow.”
Extreme claims are not uncommon in the wellness sphere. Perelel’s founders say they are careful not to oversell the benefits of health and wellness supplements, a market where consumers have often been primed to look for a miracle product.
“The supplements industry and vitamins can be a little bit of snake oil sales, like, ‘This is going to cure everything.’ But supplements are just that — supplements to a healthy diet,” said Thain Gioia. “If someone writes [to us] and they’re like, ‘Oh, I thought I was supposed to get X amount of this ingredient per day.’ We’re like, ‘Well, yeah, but you don’t want to get that much from your supplement. It needs to be coming with your diet.’”
Perelel’s founders said they designed their protein powder to meet the needs of pregnant women, who are encouraged to increase their protein intake during the second and third trimesters. They’re not alone in catering to a primarily female demographic rather than protein’s traditional male audience.
Weight training and building muscle have grown in popularity among women for both aesthetic and health reasons. Miley Cyrus’s sculpted figure at the 2024 Grammys sparked a trend for slim but visibly toned “Pilates arms.” Menopausal and perimenopausal women, a demographic that has received growing interest from wellness brands in recent months, are also encouraged to increase their protein intake as they lose muscle mass.
“[Targeting] women is going to be a really good way for brands to come into this protein space, because women are really at the nexus of these trends,” said Hamlette. “For brands trying to get into the space, it’ll be wise for them to follow that suit, focusing on products around hormonal balance, around muscle health, around stress management and around healthy aging.”
But few factors are changing how we eat and manufacture foods quite like the popularization of GLP-1s like Ozempic. Reduced appetites can make it a challenge for GLP-1 users to meet their nutritional needs, and they may also turn away from traditional, calorie-dense junk foods. “The rise in GLP-1s really has the food industry worried, because people are eating less, which means they’re buying less,” said Dr. Young.
The GLP-1 market is currently worth $10 billion and is estimated to reach $100 billion by 2030, according to research from Goldman Sachs. With that growing market, food manufacturers are experimenting with new products to satiate GLP-1 appetites, namely snack foods like brownies and mozzarella sticks supercharged with protein.
But that doesn’t mean protein will remain the most desirable nutrient forever.
“[Consumers] are going back and forth about what it means to be healthy,” said Hamlette. “And they’re still trying to figure that out.”
