The human body needs protein. Proteins carry out countless functions inside cells and they are vital for the growth, repair and maintenance of muscles, bones and skin. And with food companies rolling out high-protein versions of a huge range of foods, including milkshakes and granola bars — and even pancakes and popcorn — you might be tempted to think you need to add more to your diet.
But nutritionists say that if you are getting enough food, you are probably getting enough protein.
“Adding protein to foods is very beneficial — for the profits of that food,” said Federica Amati, nutrition lead at Imperial College London and head nutritionist at the health science company ZOE. “It is not based on health, it is not backed by science.”
The amount of protein you need depends on your age, weight and personal nutritional needs and it is especially important for children and older adults to make sure they eat protein-rich foods. Here’s what to know about how much protein you need and how to ensure you're getting it from the best sources.
Protein is a macronutrient, or a basic kind of food like fat or carbohydrates that your body needs to function. There are thousands of proteins, assembled from smaller molecules called amino acids — most of which can be made by the body.
“Because protein is so important, our body has adapted really well to making sure that it can reassemble and change the building blocks of these amino acids to make sure we have what we need, as long as we’re eating adequate amounts of food,” Amati said.
Still, the body can't make all the amino acids, so some must come from food.
The World Health Organization recommends that healthy adults get about 0.4 grams of protein per pound of body weight (0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight). That's roughly 60 grams for men and 50 grams for women per day, based on body weights of 165 pounds (75 kilograms) for men and 143 pounds (65 kilograms) for women.
In most rich countries, the average adult gets far more, Amati said. Protein deficiencies are mostly seen in malnourished people on subsistence diet in poorer countries, she said.
Bridget Benelam, a nutritionist with the British Nutrition Foundation, said it was important to get protein from different foods, like dairy, fish, beans, nuts, vegetables and meat. She said studies suggest vegetarians and vegans have lower protein intake than meat and fish eaters, but that their average protein levels are still OK.
Having some protein at every meal is also a likely a good idea. “It appears to be better for preserving muscle function if you have some protein throughout the day, rather than just having it all in one meal,” Benelam said.
Plant-based sources of protein include foods such as beans, lentils, peas, nuts, seeds, tofu, tempeh and meat substitutes. Fish, meat, poultry, eggs and dairy foods such as milk and yogurt are also good sources of protein. Amati said that proteins from animal-based sources may be easier for the body to break down compared to plant-based proteins, which tend to have more fiber.
“If you eat a piece of beef, you’re getting protein and things like zinc and iron, but you’re also getting more saturated fat,” she said. In comparison, Amati said eating protein-rich foods like chickpeas or beans also provides the body with fiber, something that's lacking in most of our diets.
“Unless you have a specific health issue that requires you to have more protein, most people in countries like the U.S. and the U.K. do not need more,” said Benelam of the British Nutrition Foundation.
Amati, of Imperial College London, said people should scrutinize the ingredient list of protein-enriched products to make sure they aren’t loaded with sugar and fat.
For people trying to build more muscle, she recommended a more direct solution: exercise.
“If you’re worried about your body composition and muscle strength, you have to lift (heavier) weights and give your body a challenge,” Amati said. “Eating a protein bar is not going to help.”
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
FILE - A Thai peanut, vegetable and tofu bowl is displayed for a photograph in Coronado, Calif., on April 29, 2017. (Melissa d'Arabian via AP, File)
JERUSALEM (AP) — Over two dozen families from one of the few remaining Palestinian Bedouin villages in the central West Bank have packed up and fled their homes in recent days, saying harassment by Jewish settlers living in unauthorized outposts nearby has grown unbearable.
The village, Ras Ein el-Auja, was originally home to some 700 people from more than 100 families that have lived there for decades.
Twenty-six families already left on Thursday, scattering across the territory in search of safer ground, say rights groups. Several other families were packing up and leaving on Sunday.
“We have been suffering greatly from the settlers. Every day, they come on foot, or on tractors, or on horseback with their sheep into our homes. They enter people’s homes daily,” said Nayef Zayed, a resident, as neighbors took down sheep pens and tin structures.
Israel's military and the local settler governing body in the area did not respond to requests for comment.
Other residents pledged to stay put for the time being. That makes them some of the last Palestinians left in the area, said Sarit Michaeli, international director at B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group helping the residents.
She said that mounting settler violence has already emptied neighboring Palestinian hamlets in the dusty corridor of land stretching from Ramallah in the West to Jericho, along the Jordanian border, in the east.
The area is part of the 60% of the West Bank that has remained under full Israeli control under interim peace accords signed in the 1990s. Since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted in October 2023, over 2,000 Palestinians — at least 44 entire communities — have been expelled by settler violence in the area, B'Tselem says.
The turning point for the village came in December, when settlers put up an outpost about 50 meters (yards) from Palestinian homes on the northwestern flank of the village, said Michaeli and Sam Stein, an activist who has been living in the village for a month.
Settlers strolled easily through the village at night. Sheep and laundry went missing. International activists had to begin escorting children to school to keep them safe.
“The settlers attack us day and night, they have displaced us, they harass us in every way” said Eyad Isaac, another resident. “They intimidate the children and women.”
Michaeli said she’s witnessed settlers walk around the village at night, going into homes to film women and children and tampering with the village’s electricity.
The residents said they call the police frequently to ask for help — but it seldom arrives. Settlement expansion has been promoted by successive Israeli governments over nearly six decades. But Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government, which has placed settler leaders in senior positions, has made it a top priority.
That growth has been accompanied by a spike in settler violence, much of it carried out by residents of unauthorized outposts. These outposts often begin with small farms or shepherding that are used to seize land, say Palestinians and anti-settlement activists. United Nations officials warn the trend is changing the map of the West Bank, entrenching Israeli presence in the area.
Some 500,000 Israelis have settled in the West Bank since Israel captured the territory, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. Their presence is viewed by most of the international community as illegal and a major obstacle to peace. The Palestinians seek all three areas for a future state.
For now, displaced families of the village have dispersed between other villages near the city of Jericho and near Hebron further south, said residents. Some sold their sheep and are trying to move into the cities.
Others are just dismantling their structures without knowing where to go.
"Where will we go? There’s nowhere. We’re scattered,” said Zayed, the resident, “People’s situation is bad. Very bad.”
An Israeli settler herds his flock near his outpost beside the Palestinian village of Ras Ein al-Auja in the West Bank, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
A Palestinian resident of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank burns trash, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Palestinian children play in the West Bank village of Ras Ein al-Auja, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Palestinian residents of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank pack up their belongings and prepare to leave their homes after deciding to flee mounting settler violence, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Palestinian residents of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank pack up their belongings and prepare to leave their homes after deciding to flee mounting settler violence, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
