Why we obsess about protein

We can only understand the intensity of our protein obsession as a part of a broader set of dietary battles.

• A 1950s study, based on Mediterranean populations, showed that a healthy diet consists of lots of carbohydrates with limited quantities of saturated fat.
• But the modern supermarket interpreted the low-fat diet as high-sugar and high-refined-carbohydrates, which led to our current epidemic of diet-related ill-health.
• Protein is the one safe thing the population feel they can still put their faith in.

The tendency to think about what we consume in terms of nutrients, rather than real whole ingredients, means making the same old mistakes about nutrition in a new way.