Protein powder: What's really in it and why it's getting more expensive

It's the sort of story that many friends keen on starting a business have dreamt of at least once in their lives: two friends who knew each other at secondary school lose touch for a while, but their paths cross again whilst at university. Their shared hobby – going to the gym – brings them together. They share the latest tips and tricks with each other, trying out a whole range of exercises and supplements, including protein powder.

Shortly afterwards, in 2018, their shared passion gave rise to their very own protein powder: honest+, a product designed to stand out for its transparency and which was later featured in RTL's 'Success Story'. That's how it all began for Ricardo Prosperi and Tim Thomé – long before 'rich in protein' became the 'low-calorie' trend of the post-Covid-19 era and reports began appearing more frequently in German-language media suggesting that protein-rich products such as skyr or – in its vegan alternative – tofu were occasionally out of stock in supermarkets. This is a situation the Luxembourg market has not yet experienced on this scale, and yet even here it is impossible to overlook the fact that virtually every sector is trying to offer as many products labelled as high-protein as possible, whether in supermarkets, drug stores or the catering industry.

Prosperi's and Thomé's brand is now no longer known as 'honest+' but as 'naway', short for 'natural way'. "It turned out that the name was already taken, and everyone told us: 'Just leave it be, it'll only cause trouble' – better to leave it alone, as Prosperi puts it. We meet the marketing expert at a gym near the German-Luxembourg border.

What's on the label isn't always (just) what's inside

"Over the years, however, we've come up against a quality limit, " recalls Prosperi, referring to the range of protein powders available in supermarkets and gyms at the time. Depending on the stage of processing, the manufacturing process yields different products with varying quality characteristics and prices. Concentrate is the least filtered: it contains more fat, more carbohydrates, more lactose, and the protein content is usually between 70 and 80 per cent. Isolate, on the other hand, is more heavily filtered and the protein content is over 90 per cent. Hydrolysate is pre-digested – the proteins have already been broken down into smaller components.