How much is the protein premium costing you?

Look around the supermarket shelves, and you won’t have to search hard to find a huge array of foods boasting about their high protein content. Snack bars and breakfast cereals with added protein abound, and you’ll find it in pancake mixes, peanut butter, bread, instant coffee and even corn chips, all of them promoting their high protein credentials. 

Nearly all of the foods marketed as being “high in protein” come with a considerably higher price tag than the standard version we’ve been enjoying for years. 

It’s clear from the gleeful enthusiasm with which food manufacturers have jumped on the protein bandwagon that this food trend is big business. So are these “added protein” foods worth buying or just marketing hype?

On this page:

• Do you actually need more protein?
• Natural vs added protein
• Is too much protein harmful?
• How much are you really paying for added protein?
• Are high-protein products worth it?

Do you actually need more protein?

Protein is necessary for good health. It helps us grow well, sustain our bodies and repair muscles.

However, the vast majority of the Australian population meets or exceeds recommended protein intakes, and existing research recommends that protein should be sourced from whole foods rather than from processed foods containing added protein. Despite this, more and more of these high-protein processed foods are appearing in our supermarkets.  

Lauren Ball is the vice-president of Dietitians Australia. She is an Advanced Accredited Practising Dietitian (AdvAPD) and a Professor of Community Health and Wellbeing at the University of Queensland. She says most of us already get enough protein without needing specialised products. 

“While some segments of the population will need more protein generally, when we look at national nutrition data it shows that Australians mostly get enough protein,” she says.

Natural vs added protein

Bioavailability, the fraction of a nutrient in a food that is absorbed and utilised, is at the heart of why some added protein products might not be the best choice.

Ball suggests that the question we need to ask is whether the protein in our food is in a form our bodies find easy to absorb and digest. “When it’s ultra-processed, it’s not going to be absorbed in the same way,” she says. “Better sources of protein such as lean meats, eggs, yoghurt and other dairy products are all good sources of protein, regardless of the label on the front.”

“There are really cost-effective ways to eat a high-protein diet that don’t rely on processed foods,” she says.

Such is the power of the word protein in marketing that these days you might see a high-protein label used to simply point out that a product is naturally high in protein. “When that happens, it falls to the consumer to understand the ingredients and how the food has been made,” says Ball.

Is too much protein harmful?

While you’re unlikely to be consuming so much protein that it will do you physical harm, Ball points out that there are other considerations.

“Firstly, there’s the risk that it pushes up overall energy content,” she says. When we eat in excess, our bodies will try to store that excess, and unlike water-soluble vitamins, for instance, excess protein intake is stored. “That can have a counterproductive impact on your weight,” Ball explains.

The second issue is the financial cost. “These products are quite expensive,” she says, pointing out that there are lots of good sources of protein that don’t come with a label and the associated marketing costs.

Ball suggests that if more protein is needed in your diet, skim milk powder is an easy and relatively cheap way to get it. “That’s the source we talk about for those who need it,” she says. Skim milk powder can be incorporated into your diet by adding it to things like soups, stews, cereal and drinks.  

Finally, Ball says there’s a risk in dressing up processed food to make it look like a health food.

“Protein has become a proxy word for health,” Ball says. “If you have a processed food that’s making these claims, it’s not acknowledging the other stuff that’s in there that might be taking away from the pursuit of healthy eating.”

One study which looked at cereal labelling found that products with front-of-package protein labels were not nutritionally better than similar products without protein labels, and may contain more sugar, sodium and calories to improve taste. However, in Australia, higher protein content contributes to a product’s Health Star Rating (HSR), so food manufacturers benefit from adding protein to offset unfavourable nutrients and achieve relatively high HSRs.

How much are you really paying for added protein?

Apart from the questionable health benefits of these protein-rich processed foods, we wanted to know how much extra we’re being charged for these sorts of products. 

To find out, we conducted an audit of 175 supermarket products, comparing products labelled as high-protein to their regular versions. 

Our comparison found that, on average, you’ll pay around 50% more per 100 grams for products that promote protein on the label.

Some of the more egregious examples include Greek yoghurt, for which you’ll pay 86% more if you choose the high-protein version; cocoa puffs, which cost 100% more for the product promoting protein, instant coffee, which will cost you 113% more and, most astounding of all, nacho cheese tortilla style chips, which cost 591% more if you go for the high-protein version.

Some consumers may not mind paying more for a product that contains more protein, however our analysis shows that you’re often paying significantly more per 100g for not a great deal more protein.

For example, we compared two Greek yoghurt products from Coles’ own-brand; one standard Greek yoghurt that costs $0.42/100g and contains 4.8g protein per 100g; and one Greek yoghurt with added protein, costing $0.78/100g for 9.3g protein per 100g.

For the standard product, you’re getting 11.43g of protein for every dollar you spend, whereas for the “added protein” product, you’re getting 12.56g of protein per dollar.

So although the second product contains almost twice as much protein per 100g, it also costs 85.7% more. Once you account for the price, you’re getting only about 10% more protein per dollar.

Since a lack of protein isn’t a problem for most of us, paying so much for something you don’t really need simply doesn’t add up. So before you add this product to your basket, ask yourself: am I getting ripped or just ripped off?

Are high-protein products worth it?

For most people, there really isn’t much need to pay extra for protein-enriched products. You should be able to meet your daily protein needs through whole foods like meat, eggs, fish, dairy and legumes. 

However there may be some people who need to monitor the amount of protein they eat and may benefit from strategically adding protein-enriched products into their diet. 

If you do choose to buy these products, we recommend comparing the cost and grams of protein per 100g to the regular version to make sure you’re happy with what you’re paying for the extra protein.

CORRECTION 13 October 2026: The infographic above that compares the price difference between high-protein and regular versions of the same product contained an error in the original version we published. The Quest chips were listed as 591% more expensive than the Doritos, when the correct number was 886%. The error occurred because the price of the Doritos dropped from $5 to $3.50 while the article was being written and although we updated the price, we neglected to update the percentage calculation.

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Margaret Rafferty

Margaret Rafferty joined CHOICE in 2018 as a Content editor and since then has filled the roles of Commissioning editor, Managing editor and now Editorial consultant. Margaret has written on a wide variety of topics and enjoys making complex subjects easy to understand. With over 20 years of media experience, Margaret brings a strong storytelling background to CHOICE. She works closely with people across the organisation to help tell stories that make a positive difference to people and is passionate about uncovering bad practices and helping Australians to avoid falling victim to shonky products and services. LinkedIn

Margaret Rafferty joined CHOICE in 2018 as a Content editor and since then has filled the roles of Commissioning editor, Managing editor and now Editorial consultant. Margaret has written on a wide variety of topics and enjoys making complex subjects easy to understand. With over 20 years of media experience, Margaret brings a strong storytelling background to CHOICE. She works closely with people across the organisation to help tell stories that make a positive difference to people and is passionate about uncovering bad practices and helping Australians to avoid falling victim to shonky products and services. LinkedIn