The protein craze has Americans reaching for snacks stacked with the macronutrient, but many don't know the health risks that may come with some of them.
On HuffPost’s “Am I Doing It Wrong?” podcast Thursday, food journalist Elizabeth Dunn said one popular protein snack especially concerns her: meat sticks, which she called "one of the fastest growing snack categories right now."
“What really surprises me, especially because we’re in this very healthy, nutritious, conscious moment right now, is that people aren’t aware of the fact that processed meats are class one carcinogens – Group 1 carcinogens," she said. "That’s a World Health Organization classification, and it means that we know that they cause cancer in humans. So this is really something that I think more people should think about.”
A popular brand of meat sticks, Chomps, saw a reported 206% increase in its sales growth in 2024; overall sales for the meat snacks category hit $3.3 billion the same year. But meat snacks, including sticks, have long been available – think of Slim Jims, which started sales in the 1920s and now has a whole line of different flavors and sizes.
Dunn added there are "pretty big health consequences" to eating a very meat-heavy diet, especially one high in red and processed meats.
