This protein-packed snack is popular, but it comes with serious health risks

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.

“The data is very, very clear – I mean, like decades of large-scale, reputable studies that show that the higher in meat your diet is, the higher your chances are of getting cancer, of getting diabetes, of all-cause mortality – meaning just basically dying younger," she said.

Ingesting ultra-processed foods − including packaged meats like hot dogs and bologna − has been associated with more than 30 health conditions, including Type 2 diabetes, heart diseases, mental health disorders and obesity. Too much red meat is associated with adverse health outcomes such as increased risk of colorectal cancer. 

Saturated fats found in red meat also put you at increased risk of obesity and cardiovascular disease, Dr. Daniel Dunham, chair of medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital, recently told USA TODAY.

"If you don't have any other protein sources... then it's probably better than nothing. But if you have other types of proteins, they're going to be superior from a health perspective," he said.

The focus on protein has been reinforced by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s recently updated U.S. dietary guidelines, with prioritizes protein intake and even puts red meat on top of the newly-flipped food pyramid.

Some experts worry the new protein messaging could cause confusion.

"The main criticism I'd have with this is we lump the processed proteins and the unprocessed proteins together. And that's probably too simplistic," Dunham said.

Instead, experts encourage people to vary their protein intake with plant-based sources like beans and legumes.

Plus, most Americans already get enough protein, explained Dr. Fang Fang Zhang, a cancer epidemiologist focused on nutrition.

"In average, we are not falling short of protein," she recently told USA TODAY. "The bigger gap is really the quality of the protein, the sources, particularly protein from seafoods and plant protein."