I'm 12 and I want to try protein powder - should I?
High-protein everything now fills the shelves, from yoghurts and breads to bars and powders, and some children as young as 12 are already using supplements after workouts, sometimes with their parents' knowledge. The BBC put the safety question to experts, whose starting point is that essential amino acids have to come from food, and that most diets already supply them. For a healthy-weight adult the NHS guideline is 0.75 grams of protein per kg of body weight a day, a target the report's sceptical health journalist suspects children typically reach through meals alone. One 13-year-old in the piece pushed back for a different reason, saying young people feel pressure to take supplements without thinking through the consequences.
For you: If a young teen at home is asking for protein powder, the question the experts start with is worth borrowing: does their everyday food already cover their protein needs?
What it shows: Reported by BBC News (health) and not verified by us: we could not trace this story to a published paper, so treat it as news rather than evidence we have checked.