5 Plant Protein Ingredients for Food and Drink

Protein just keeps moving from strength to strength. Saddled with none of the controversy that surrounds sugar or the unsettled science still bedeviling some fats, protein is, for all intents and purposes, the nutrient that can do no wrong.

Its health benefits are well-nigh indisputable. “Proteins are important building blocks for the body,” says Rikka Cornelia, product manager, BI Nutraceuticals (Long Beach, CA). “They’re necessary for proper growth and function. They play a vital role in building and maintaining muscles, organs, and other tissues, and in digestion, metabolism, and cell function.”

Add to that emerging knowledge of protein’s influence on weight management and satiety and it’s easy to see why it’s grabbed the spotlight. “It’s even easy to see and feel the results,” adds Alan Rillorta, director of protein and branded ingredient sales, AIDP, Inc. (City of Industry, CA). “Who doesn’t like to feel and look good, right?”

So perhaps that explains why, notes Lesley Nicholson, marketing manager, ADM/WILD Flavors & Specialty Ingredients (Decatur, IL), “everyone from exercise enthusiasts to seniors have all begun to realize the benefits of protein.”

Millennials have become new “locomotives of demand,” adds Udi Alroy, vice president, marketing and business development, Hinoman (Tel Aviv, Israel). So, too, are flexitarians, who represent approximately 25% of the U.S. population, per Alroy’s accounting. As they explore new plant-based protein sources, he says, they’re “creating a whole new market for new products and are moving the industry away from animal-based proteins.”

To sustain all of this momentum-which had already propelled the domestic protein market to a value of $16 billion by late 2015, according to Nielsen Scantrack-protein developers need to innovate, and many of them are.

“Industry is keeping protein fresh by offering new and convenient delivery formats,” says Jeff Brucker, vice president of marketing, Genesis Today (Austin, TX). Using technologies like de-flavoring and hydrolysis, they’re improving protein ingredients’ sensory profiles, functional properties, and nutritionals-so much so that “having a protein shake is now decadent, satisfying, and enjoyable,” he says. “We’re long past the days of protein powders that lacked flavor.”

No wonder, then, that industry insiders are almost universally bullish on protein’s potential. “This is not a passing fad,” Cornelia says. “Consumer awareness and demand for protein are only going to increase.” Though meeting that demand could raise challenges, she says, “it’ll more likely be a great opportunity for brands and ingredient suppliers to think outside the box and innovate when it comes to developing new protein sources.” Here are a few options to keep an eye on right now.

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