Protein: muscle, new, energy, hunter, meat
Fiber: poop, old, bowel movements, hippie, vegetables
Which one would you choose?
The consensus right now is that protein makes the headlines, not fiber. Every Expo West, Sweets and Snacks, celebrity and million-dollar startup touts that their only innovation is protein. Generally from a cow, though you can get it from a soy bean, a yellow pea, a cricket or thin air.
I used to work in the nutritional supplement industry. We made protein powders and bars, and would create a cult-like following on our supplements and products.
One of the fondest and traumatizing products I ever worked on was this 28-gram protein bar that had so much protein it would harden in 2 weeks. But marketing persisted in launching this product, and we did, and it flopped due to the bar turning into a brick.
That was 10 years ago. If I had found out about Epogee, it might have saved that product. Just kidding, we’d never put that in the bar, are you kidding me?
When we were making Sobo Foods, my cofounder also worked in the gym and supplement industry. We decided to be dumb and found a way to innovate, adding more protein to a dumpling wrapper, and created higher-protein dumplings. We put protein on the front-of-pack and we spent a good amount chatting about how to manipulate the serving size and marketing of our protein-packed dumplings. Did it work? Not sure we don’t talk anymore.
Protein has a long history of being related to health, muscle building, and young people. Bar-none, it is a premium version of a carbohydrate. Worth 4 calories per gram, it has a bunch of short carbon chains and nourishes the body. It is generally harder to extract, and concentrate than your carbohydrate source. We as an industry found a way (or should I say whey) to market the crap out of the benefits of protein. Whey has its own story of a bad dairy by-product that would poison rivers. A bunch of smart scientists researched it and found out it had really good protein quality, and it was off to the races. I believe now whey and casein protein are so popular that the price is spiking as milk consumption is shrinking (can’t make whey and casein without milk)
On a cent-per-gram basis, the price point for protein is higher not only as an ingredient end, but it also allows you to add more margin to your product. Instead of a cracker that uses only wheat flour, a cracker that uses whey protein might be able to give you a significantly higher margin than your cheap carby product.
Fiber on the other hand has a history of being associated with old people and poop. A lot of plant-based products that use jackfruit as their base bemoan the fact that their products don’t do well even though they have fiber. I think there is some truth to this: protein just has years and years of positive branding than fiber. Protein has had years and years of powerful branding that is associated with young, hot and muscular people while fiber has always been associated with vegetables, old people and having regular bowel movements. Protein is seen as strong, fiber is seen as weak.
Fiber Now: Prebiotics are Technically Fiber
One of the most interesting trends for fiber is technically prebiotics. This includes Inulin, chicory root fiber (that’s inulin), Jerusalem artichoke extract (also inulin) and a few others like corn fiber and all that. This has been interesting as Poppi and other brands that decided to cut sugar with fiber.
Just note this is considered soluble fiber which is different from insoluble fiber. The average consumer doesn’t really know or care about the difference. For the protein heads, this is the equivalent of knowing what PDCAAS is.
However, these aren’t functionally used as fiber and people generally don’t drink Poppi or Olipop for the fiber benefits (at least I don’t think they do). In fact, a recent lawsuit states that it would take 4 Poppis to get a decent amount of fiber in you. They are functionally used as sugar reduction as it helps achieve the same mouthfeel as sugar. The sugar reduction industry is interesting because every five years, we find an interesting molecule that is sweeter than sugar and go through this sweetness adoption lifecycle.
Pre-biotic fibers in general are now in mainstream and that means marketshare for these are most likely going to stop gorwing. A new sweetener is starting to show some promise and is following the same playbook in the sweetner adoption market.
It’s not a sugar or a fiber.
Can you guess what it is?
Fiber’s Future: Colon Cancer and Not Dying
When I was 20 I was afraid to die. When I was 30, I was less afraid of dying cause I did a lot of cool stuff. I assume when I turn 40, I will care less about dying. The boogeyman for most young people is dying sooner than we want to. Dying from colon cancer is especially daunting and one could argue, embarrassing. Colon cancer, a disease associated with old people, is now showing signs on people my age and I do think this is very scary.
We have no idea what causes colon cancer, and that scares us. Is it the water? Microplastics? Or maybe processed meat. Some have argued that eating fiber might be the way to train your gut and toughen it enough to prevent cancer. I will flatly say that we just don’t have enough research but if fiber does somehow get a strong correlation of preventing colon cancer, expect a huge wave of interesting fiber products.
Evergreen marketing topics that really work tap into a greedy desire that humans all strive for. Basically, how do I make more money, how do I have more sex and how do I live longer? Food is generally an industry that tries to focus on the latter.
Basically, if fiber received as much medical and research data as protein, someone will make money off of it by connecting fiber with longetivity.
These studies take a long time to prove, and I can guarantee you there are scientists figuring this out. In general, these types of scientific studies compound and eventually seep into the general public. Basically, some savvy entrepreneur will take a research paper and commercialize it, and it might work.
Protein Is A Safe Bet
One of the trends I predicted this year is that food innovation is going to keep it safe. The only innovation that’s actually cool (but chaotic) is AI, biotech and policy. Everything else is going to be pretty boring. Especially when it comes to new CPG products. The cost and risk are just so high for swapping ingredients that entrepreneurs are doing what’s safe. In general, when your product is suffering from low margins and a predatory distribution system, innovation and risk go eway down in the list of priorities when it comes to staying alive.
What’s the safest thing you can do to innovate in CPG?
Find a Mintel top seller, copy it, add protein, get a celebrity to endorse it, and bribe a retailer to sell it. Seriously. I hate it. I hate that some firm convinced Khloe Kardasian’s team to looking into popcorn and add protein into it. This is peak safe.
But should you take risky bets on fiber so you can be the David Bar of fiber? There are always opportunities to do something different. If you feel you have the story, a crystal clear demographic, and can express the health benefits of fiber in a fun and sexy way, you might be able to create an outlier.
Key Takeaways & Final Thoughts
- Shift the Narrative: Instead of “You need fiber for health,” say “Our product is your new obsession—bonus: it’s secretly full of fiber.”
- Design for Desire: Use product forms, textures, and flavors that feel indulgent, then quietly tuck the fiber inside.
- Speak “Lifestyle,” Not “Nutrition”: Tap into consumer aspirations (energy, glow, confidence) rather than talking about “bowel regularity.”
- Leverage Scarcity & Co-Branding: Limited editions and partnerships with lifestyle or beauty names create “buzz” and heighten perceived value.
- Educate in Bites: Short, punchy “Did You Know?” moments make fiber feel like an insider secret, not a slog.
By combining an indulgent product experience with aspirational branding and clever messaging, you can transform fiber from a “necessary evil” into something that consumers actively seek out—making it, quite literally, sexy.
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Yea, still needs work.