“India is protein deficient.”
The war cry of the nutrition industry. The next time someone even mentions the word "protein", a new ₹100 protein snack is probably being born in an overpriced FMCG lab somewhere.
Bars, puffs, cookies, chips, cereal, smoothies, infused water (yes, even that now)... we’re not solving protein deficiency, we’re flavouring it.
But here’s the inconvenient truth:
Most of these products are priced for the top 1%. They’re solving for protein deficiency the same way a ₹2000 yoga class solves for obesity.
The recommended protein intake is around 1 gram per kg of body weight.
For a family of four, that works out to around 160–200 grams per day. That’s 6,000 grams per month.
At the current cost of most commercial protein products (~₹500–₹600 per kg of protein), we’re talking an added ₹10,000/month—
For a middle-class family with a ₹50,000 household income.
Do you see the math problem here?
📉 Protein awareness is up. But affordability? Not even close.
You can read my full breakdown here.
Instead of building protein solutions for people who already have personal trainers, what if we just aimed for a 10% increase in daily protein intake—across the board?
That’s it. 10%. Not double. Not maxed out. Just a little better than today.
And no, it doesn't require a subscription box.
✅ Add 1 egg per day (~6g protein)
🟰 ₹6–7
✅ For vegetarians – swap with 50g paneer (~9g protein)
🟰 ₹10–12
✅ Increase dal:rice ratio on your plate
Dals: ~25g protein/100g
Rice/Wheat: ~8–10g protein/100g
→ Just doubling the dal adds ~5g protein
✅ Handful of roasted chana or peanuts
🟰 ~6–8g protein
🟰 ₹5–7
Affordable. Scalable. Realistic.
This isn’t a campaign. It’s just common sense.
Instead of selling fear with “India is protein deficient”, maybe we focus on protein literacy. Help people understand where protein is hiding in their current diets.
We don’t need another air-puffed ₹99 snack.
We need better data, nudges, and food context.
At Bon Happetee, we believe nutrition is about access and awareness, not algorithms and ads.
So the next time someone tells you to eat a protein bar shaped like a cube of cement, ask them this:
"Does it come with EMI?"
