"High protein" is one of the most overused phrases in food marketing right now.
It's on biscuits. It's on yoghurt. It's on things that, a few years ago, nobody would have described as a protein food. And most of the time, the claim is technically true — but practically meaningless.
What "high protein" actually means (legally)
In India, FSSAI guidelines state that a food can claim to be "high protein" if protein contributes at least 20% of its total energy.
That sounds reasonable until you do the maths on some of the products making this claim.
A product with 200 calories per serving and 10g of protein (40 calories from protein = 20% of total energy) qualifies as "high protein." But 10g of protein per serving is not a meaningful protein hit. It's what you'd get from a small handful of cashews or a single egg.
Meanwhile, products with genuinely high protein content — 25g or more per 100g from real food sources — often don't shout about it as loudly.
The number that actually matters: protein per 100g
Protein per serving is the number most brands lead with. It's also the most misleading, because serving sizes are set by the brand.
A brand can define a serving as 20g, report 8g of protein, and claim "40g protein per 100g." Or they can define a serving as 50g, report 12g, and lead with "12g protein per serving" — which sounds more impressive but is actually a lower density.
The only comparable number is protein per 100g.
Here's a rough guide to what's actually meaningful:
| Per 100g | What it means |
|---|---|
| Under 10g | Not a protein food. Don't buy it for protein. |
| 10–15g | Moderate. Useful as part of a varied diet, not a protein hit. |
| 15–20g | Solid. This is where most good whole-food snacks sit. |
| 20g+ | High. Meaningful contribution to daily protein goals. |
Cashews sit naturally around 15–18g per 100g depending on the variety and preparation. Our flavoured cashews test at 18g+ — which puts them in the genuinely useful range without any protein isolates or powders added.
Why this matters more than you think
The average Indian adult consumes significantly less protein than recommended. Most estimates put daily protein intake for non-athletes at 0.8–1g per kg of body weight — so a 70kg person needs around 56g per day minimum.
If you're active, building muscle, or simply trying to stay full for longer, that number goes up — often to 1.2–1.6g per kg.
The average Indian diet makes this hard to hit. We eat a lot of carbohydrates, moderate fat, and not nearly enough protein — particularly in the form of snacks, which are almost entirely carb-dominant.
Switching even one daily snack from a biscuit or chips to a genuinely high-protein option — not a "high protein" marketed option, but something with 15g+ per 100g — can move your daily intake meaningfully.
What to actually check before you buy
- Protein per 100g — aim for 15g minimum if protein is your reason for buying it
- Ingredient list — the protein should come from real food, not isolates bolted onto a biscuit base
- Added sugar — many "protein" snacks compensate for the taste of protein powder with a lot of added sugar. If sugar is in the top three ingredients, it's dessert
- Lab reports — especially for anything making strong claims. Published third-party tests are the only meaningful signal that a number is real
The honest answer is that most snacks claiming to be high-protein are just snacks with a marketing upgrade.
Real protein snacks — the kind worth buying for their protein content — have short ingredient lists, test well independently, and don't need to shout very hard. The number speaks for itself.