Between marketing, virility and pseudoscience: why high-protein eating is increasingly attractive

While protein does promote muscle anabolism, athletes' needs are largely achievable with a healthy diet. TONY KELLY/TRUNK ARCHIVE/PHOTOSENSO

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Léo (not his real name) is 21 years old and on a tight budget. Yet, in the last two years, he has spent more than 2,000 euros on protein drinks. He has no regrets: "I feel like I pressed a button and gained ten kilos of muscle mass! " The math student has grown accustomed to their "strange" texture and appreciates their dark packaging, which he considers masculine. "The blacker the packaging, the more protein it contains." he noticed. He drinks three a day, and varies the flavors: coconut, blueberry, cookie... A fascination born from compulsive viewing of the videos of Hamza, a British masculinist influencer.

The former boxer urges his 2.3 million followers not to eat anything before 2 p.m.... except "whey" powder, a derivative of whey. Léo assures him: "Eating your protein is the golden rule of 'bro-science.'" The term refers to the pseudoscientific advice that men exchange at the gym and which is cheerfully repeated by Hamza in his nutrition advice videos.

Like Leo, France has…