Protein. The Data That Reframes Everything
We're told to eat more protein. Many of us think we already are. But 80 years of data and research tells a different story. So let's dig in, I'm about to raise the steaks.
Protein is having a moment. We're told to eat more of it everywhere we look, it's on every label, in every shake and now in yogurts and even fortified in other protein sources. And with all that noise, most of us have assumed we're now eating more protein than ever before. It deserves the attention, to be fair, as I've talked about before (instagram post), protein isn't just for muscles. It builds your hormones, your immune antibodies, your enzymes, the neurotransmitters behind your mood, even the haemoglobin carrying oxygen around your body right now. It really is the building blocks of life.
You know me, my mind works in mysterious ways. I was curious and and I sent myself into digging around in 80 years of data. I asked myself "If protein is so important, and metabolic disease has exploded, has our protein intake actually changed?". The research surprised me and it changes how I think you should think about the whole "eat more protein" conversation.
The biology: Why care about protein?
Your body is in a constant state of demolition and rebuild. Muscle, skin, gut lining, immune cells, enzymes and hormones are broken down and remade every single day. Protein, more precisely the twenty two amino acids it's made of, is the raw material for all of it. Nine of those amino acids are "essential," meaning your body cannot make them; they must come from food.
Unlike fat, your body has no meaningful store of spare protein to call upon. So a steady
daily supply matters (interesting blog on timings of Protein - read here). Fall short over time and the body starts making quiet trade-offs: muscle is broken down, recovery slows, immunity dips, hair and nails suffer. This becomes especially important as we age, when the body gets less efficient at using the protein we eat. We know protein is non-negotiable, which makes what happened over the last century all the more interesting.
Protein consumption has barely moved in the last 80 years.
Britain has been recording what households eat since 1940, when the National
Food Survey began during wartime rationing. From then right up to today, average UK protein intake has been remarkably stable, in the region of roughly 70–82g per person per day, drifting down a little through the latter half of the century, with a modest uplift in the last decade as the "protein craze" took hold. Today the average sits around 67g for women and 85g for men.
To be frank, your grandmother, eating under rationing, was probably getting a similar amount of protein to you. Through the post-war boom, through the arrival of supermarkets and ready-made meals, protein, in absolute terms, has held steady. So if we're not eating less protein than our parents and grandparents did, why do Western societies come out so badly when it comes to our health? Why do we seem to be getting sicker? I looked at the data and again, and I had to get myself a coffee.
When you plot protein alongside the other macronutrients and overlay the rise of
metabolic disease, a very different picture emerges. Protein (blue): flat across the whole period. If anything, on a down curve. Fat (black): climbed steadily through the post-war decades, as cooking oils, spreads, cheese, and fattier processed foods became everyday staples. Carbohydrate (yellow): the interesting bit. In the media, protein was cast as the hero and carbohydrates as the baddie, so I expected to see carb intake falling? It didn't. It grew gradually, right across the period. That surprised me, and it didn't sit right, so I dug deeper. And that's when the real story showed up: the amount of carbohydrate crept up slowly, but the type of carbohydrate being consumed had changed. People moved away from wholegrain, fibre-rich starches (bread from around 1.6kg per person a week in the 1940s to approx. 500g today) and towards refined flour, free sugars, and the carbohydrates baked into ultra-processed food. What we were actually eating changed completely.
Metabolic disease (red): here's the line that I was most interested in. Adult obesity in England rose from around 6–9% in 1980 to nearly 30% today. Type 2 diabetes (which my mother has but has thankfully reversed with conscious attention to her diet and lifestyle) more than doubled in prevalence in just three decades. The red line barely moves through the post-war decades then, from around 1980, it climbs steeply.
But if the message is to eat more protein, shouldn't we be getting healthier?
Hidden inside that question is an assumption worth checking. It assumes we ARE actually eating more protein. And when I looked into the data, it turns out that's not necessarily true.
In the last decade or so, yes, protein consumption has picked up. UK survey data shows intake rose by around 20% between roughly 2008 and 2019, as the "high-protein everything" trend bombarded the shelves, the shakes, the bars, the labels advertising boldly about their protein content. So if the reference point is fifteen years ago, then yes, it can feel like protein is everywhere and we're eating more of it than ever.
But zoom out to the full picture and that recent bump sits on top of decades of flatness, even some slight decreases. Compared to the 1940s, 50s and 60s, we are not awash in extra protein. The recent uptake is real, but it's a small after a very long, flat period. Both things are true at once, and data demonstrates both.
One more thing (like a Columbo episode), these figures are total protein, plant and animal combined. This isn't a "meat" number. Today, UK adults get roughly 59% of their protein from animal foods, about 24% from cereals and grains, and the rest from vegetables and other non-animal sources. So when we say protein has stayed broadly stable, I mean all sources, animal and plant powered.
So here's where I've come out of my rabbit hole to ask a more useful question.
We keep asking "are we eating enough protein?" or "are we eating too much?", arguing about the number of grams. But maybe the better question to ask is:
What else is filling your plate alongside that protein and where is the protein actually coming from?
Because here's the thing. A good chunk of our protein now comes from cereals and grains. When those are the refined, ultra-processed kind, like white bread, sugary "high-protein" cereal or protein bars, they become a double-edged sword: nudging up your protein number on one side, while spiking your blood sugar on the other. You gain a little protein but may be paying for it in glucose.
And this is what really gets my goat. Everything is being fortified now; protein pancakes, protein chocolate, protein water. For some people this is a tick to "hitting my protein numbers for the day", but I feel it's removing the effort of designing a plate of real food: proper protein, plenty of vegetables, and genuine whole-grains. Day by day it subtly removes our ability to truly connect with our bodies to design a meal that truly nourishes us.
Protein isn't just a number to hit. Real, whole-food protein arrives packaged with fibre, vitamins, minerals and healthy fats, and without the additives and processing that come with the fortified stuff. Your body doesn't just want the protein, it wants the whole parcel it usually travels in.
And here's the amazing part that I talked about in my Instagram series on protein - hitting the 1.2 – 1.6g per kg of body weight that helps you thrive, in performance and everyday life, is genuinely easy to get from real food. A couple of eggs, some Greek yoghurt, a chicken breast and plenty of amazing plant based sources. You don't need the fortified version of everything. The point I am trying to make is that it's never really been about more protein. It's about real protein and everything you choose to put around it.
You just need real food, built with a little consciousness and intention.
Check out my recipes page for genuinely high protein, whole food sources that taste amazing! But I would say that wouldn't I?!
Sources:
National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS)
British Nutrition Foundation
Simpson SJ & Raubenheimer D — the protein leverage hypothesis; Royal Society & PLOS ONE
NHS Digital / ONS
UK type 2 diabetes prevalence data — 2000–2021 trends
DEFRA / National Food Survey
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