In protein-deficient India, McDonald's, Bollywood and cricket fuel wellness craze

Reuters ^ | August 25, 20259:12 PM CDT | Dhwani Pandya and Praveen Paramasivam

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Summary

• India witnessing huge demand for protein-loaded products
• Boom driven by high protein deficiency, not gym fad
• Consumer firms rush in, launch products with extensive marketing
• India has world's most vegetarians; poorly ranked on meat intake

MUMBAI/CHENNAI, Aug 26 (Reuters) - At McDonald's outlets in South India, a 30-cent burger topping has been selling out fast. It's not extra cheese or a fancy salsa dip, but a vegetarian protein slice developed with Indian government food scientists -- the brand's first such offering globally.

McDonald's has joined India's biggest dairy Amul, a slew of startups and a company backed by Bollywood superstar Ranveer Singh to unleash a marketing blitz with celebrity chefs and cricketers promoting protein as a daily nutrition need for young and old, not just a gym fad.

Ordering kiosks at the Golden Arches do not mention calories but lure consumers by flashing the high protein in burgers, tapping into a sudden craze in a nation with the world's highest number of vegetarians and low meat consumption.

"The protein addition makes this easier to eat without much guilt," said 53-year-old Baiju C.T., as he added the five-gram protein slice to his $3 Chicken Maharaja -- described as India's answer to McDonald's signature beef burger Big Mac.

The nutrition push is not only about $50 whey powder packs. Protein has been infused into cottage cheese - a vegetarian favourite - as well as ice creams, water, chips and 60-cent tiny bottles of blueberry milkshakes. Indian flatbreads are next.

U.S. and other markets have seen similar protein booms, but in India it is being driven by the country's distinct cereal-heavy dietary profile. Nearly 30% of India's 1.4 billion people are vegetarian and the government estimates 73% of the population is protein-deficient.

Religious sensitivities mean beef is banned in most states, and while chicken is...

[algore]

there is nothing better than deep fried locust in bacon grease
Yum Yum

[Dr. Sivana]

In protein-deficient India, McDonald's, Bollywood and cricket fuel wellness craze
Cricket fuel wellness craze? I think that stuff would burn out your insides.

[Bikkuri]

They should eat beef, they have more cows than they can count....

[PubliusMM]

OMG! Please, People!
Remember: Soylent Green is PEOPLE!

[bgill]

A cup of cottage cheese already has 25 gm protein but they want to infuse it with... whey protein. Brilliant idea to infuse it with itself, whatever. They’d do better cleaning up polluted rivers so fish, with 39 gm protein, can survive.

Barf, we contract with them to make our meds. Many must have “grown in India” stamped rice. No thanks.

[GenXPolymath]

Tell me you have never been to India w/o telling me you have never been to bloody India.

Cricketer for all you in traveled people is a professional player of the sport Cricket not the insect.

Indian’s are vegetarians they wouldn’t eat insect protein either as it’s well not vegetarian. This is a protein enhanced slice put on top of a chicken or veggie paddie to add protein to an already protein deficient group of people.

This is the continent where SCP is going to make the most impact. Single cell protein is made by yeast, or bacteria you can also do mycelium based proteins all of which some but not all vegetarians would eat.

Better yet grow said SCP using acetate you literally make from thin air and water plus any source of electrons you can get at. All while being an order of magnitude more efficient than any plant or animal could ever be its physics.

Either one of these is how you lift a billion humans out of protein deficiency.

Chickens, pigs are mono gastric and compete calorie for calorie with humans for food. What they eat we can eat directly and not invest the 2:1 or 4:1 feed to animal conversion ratio.

Only ruminants animals can eat things we cannot like cellulose and hemicellulose and turn that into animal mass. Sheep,goats, cattle, camels, bison, water buffalo,alpaca,llamas et al. Given the Indians beef and all bovine religious aversion those animals are out and given their population it would be impossible to raise enough feed for industrialized animal farms to feed 1.4 billion at Western protein intake given the arable land and water resources they have the math don’t work for it.

https://newatlas.com/science/artificial-photosynthesis-plants-grow-dark/

https://newatlas.com/environment/solein-protein-sustainable/

[GenXPolymath]

They have about 193 million cattle which is a lot but then they have 1.45 billion people to feed. You are better off using the cattle for milk vs eating them. They don’t have enough arable land and water resources to feed a herd the size needed to have Western protein intakes with 1.45 billion humans inside their borders they would need 4 India’s worth of land and water.

The simple fact is there is to many people on this rock. We would need 4 earth’s worth of land,water and resources for all 8 billion to live at EU standards of energy consumption and protein/Kcal intake. That number rises even higher if you try to have every one at USA levels of consumption.

It’s math it doesn’t have a agenda, it doesn’t care how you feel or what you believe in. It’s just cold hard numbers and they show clearly this planet is vastly over populated for the resources it can produce and the reserves it holds.

[Dr. Sivana]

Tell me you have never been to India w/o telling me you have never been to bloody India.

You responded to my post of someone refueling a Cricket lighter.

I am well aware that Indians play Cricket. I often read a headline, and see an ambiguity in the wording, and post the wrong way to take it as an attempt at humor. I have been doing it here for decades. It may be lame, but it is my sense of humor. Take it as a visual pun. (Most Cricket lighters aren't even meant to be refueled).

Unfortunately, I am NOT very well traveled, and that certainly includes India. I have had Indian co-workers and bosses for much of my career as I an in IT (including Sikh and Muslim). I have had discussions about the country with a very educated friend who spent years in Bombay and Goa.

Hindu Indians largely, but not entirely, are vegetarian. Many have no issues with chicken, which is why you often see Chicken Tandoori in Indian restaurants. Most certainly enjoy dairy (e.g. in lassi), a good protein source. Many also eat goat.

It turns out that many Indians who are strict vegetarians get a downturn in nutrition when they move to the UK. Studies suggest that they had been getting some protein through the accidental ingestion of insects (which India is full of).