Looking for a new family favorite? This light and lemony, chock-full of flavor, color, vitamins, and minerals dish is for you. It’s so good that even Katie Couric loves it and loves talking about it. Added bonus: It’s perfectly balanced with carbs, protein, healthy fats, and veggies.
At many coffee shops, you can now order flavored lattes packed with extra protein. If coffee isn’t your thing, you can buy sparkling protein blue raspberry lemonade, or protein strawberry limeade.
Only drink water? Don’t worry; protein water is a thing, too.
And protein popcorn. Protein Pop-Tarts. Protein macaroni and cheese.
It’s a protein palooza. And federal officials are on board.
Health leaders recently introduced dietary guidelines that increased Americans’ daily protein intake. RealFood.gov, a new federal website that debuted in January, declares the country is “ending the war on protein.”
If you’re confused about these new guidelines, don’t wave the white flag just yet.
We asked dietitians, credentialed health care professionals with nutrition expertise, to help answer some of the biggest questions about protein.
What does protein do?
Dietary protein is a macronutrient made of chains of amino acids, which are the building blocks of every cell. When you eat foods with protein, your digestive system breaks that protein down into amino acids, some of which your body needs and cannot make on its own. Those amino acids create and repair cells that make up tissue such as muscle and bone.
“Protein is like the brick and mortar of your home — no matter where you go in the house, it’s there,” said Sue-Ellen Anderson-Haynes, a registered dietitian nutritionist and a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
What foods have protein?
Meat, beans, nuts, milk and eggs are common sources of protein.
In the U.S., most people get their protein from animal products, Anderson-Haynes said, but whole grains including quinoa and buckwheat and other foods including tofu, lentils and peas are all good sources of plant-based protein.
While vegetables and fruits don’t often contain much protein, some have higher quantities, including corn, broccoli, asparagus, brussels sprouts and artichokes.
Roasted Brussels sprouts with Matzo Walnut crumbs served with chicken in Concord, N.H. on Feb. 23, 2015. (AP)
How much protein should you eat?
It’s personal, and depends on each person’s body and health factors.
New federal health guidelines advise eating food with protein at every meal, amounting to 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram of body weight each day. That’s nearlydouble the daily protein the government previously recommended.
Dietitians, meanwhile, told us they recommend 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight each day. That’s about 7 grams of protein for every 20 pounds of body weight.
Whether that means you need 40 grams of daily protein, 70 grams or another amount, you probably have the same question …
What does that actually look like?
It depends on the food. The Center for Science in the Public Interest broke this question down further, giving examples like:
3 ounces of chicken breast — 26 grams of protein.
3 ounces of tilapia — 22 grams of protein.
3 ounces of cooked shrimp — 20 grams of protein.
4-ounce Impossible burger patty — 19 grams of protein.
3 ounces of firm tofu — 8 grams of protein.
1/2 cup of cooked black beans — 8 grams of protein.
1 cup of cooked quinoa — 8 grams of protein.
One large egg — 6 grams of protein.
1/2 cup of cooked green peas — 4 grams of protein.
Protein needs might increase with injury, surgery or if you’re pregnant, breastfeeding, aging, protein deficient or doing certain athletic activities.
“Protein needs are totally individualized,” Anderson-Haynes said, “from infancy to elderly.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during an announcement, at Health and Human Services Headquarters, Jan. 8, 2026, in Washington. (AP)
How much protein is too much?
There isn’t a hard-and-fast rule about the exact maximum amount of protein you can eat in a day.
But overemphasizing one nutrient might come at the expense of other foods such as fiber, fruits, vegetables and healthy fats.
If you experience gas and bloating, constipation or worsening kidney function, it might be a sign you’re consuming too much protein, said Theresa Gentile, a registered dietitian and spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Dietitians said the risks of consuming excessive protein could include kidney damage, dehydration and elevated sodium and elevated saturated fat levels, which increase the risk of heart disease.
Ultimately, it’s important to remember that protein is one part of a balanced diet.
“Protein is the fuel for muscles, metabolism and satiety, but focus on a variety of nutrient-dense sources and balance with other nutrients,” Gentile said.
There’s no shortage of ways to boost your protein intake these days—from blending cottage cheese into recipes or opting for a protein pasta. And now, clear protein powders seem to be everywhere. They promise all the benefits of protein, without the heaviness of a traditional shake.
Standing 17 feet tall in a glimmer of white marble at the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence is the statue of David, his musculature carefully chiseled by the hand of Michelangelo, a portrait of the biblical hero who, despite all odds, defeated Goliath.
The unlikely eponym follows more than 500 years later, gleaming from the shelves of most major supermarkets, gyms, and convenience stores across America today. It is, of course, the David Bar, easily identified by its shiny gold packaging and bold block letters. Its cofounder, Peter Rahal, started the company alongside Zach Ranen after selling his first, RxBar, to Kellogg’s for $600 million in 2017. Since David’s debut, it’s grown into a $725 million business. Its main investors include podcaster and neuroscientist Andrew Huberman and longevity guru Peter Attia (who now serves as the company’s chief science officer); their combined Instagram followings of 9.4 million helped catapult the status protein bar to mainstream popularity.
In the fall, David moved into a new office to accommodate their rapid expansion. Rahal emerges from his desk, tall, with a shadowy scruff, tousled brown locks, and piercing blue eyes. He’s dressed in his daily work uniform: a gray monogrammed “David” hoodie, black track pants, and sneakers. Unlike most CEOs of multimillion-dollar companies, there’s no swanky corner office, just a standard desk amongst a row of colleagues. “I want my team to be able to see what I’m doing at all times,” he says. Beside his computer sits a crumpled David bar wrapper—he eats at least one every single day. Taped to his monitor is a photo of his wife, the 29-year-old French model Charlotte Coquelin, their son, and their two dogs, all frequent visitors of the office.
Justin Campbell.
Raised in a Chicago suburb by two Lebanese immigrants, Rahal was shaped by a doting mother and an entrepreneurial father, guided by “the classic immigrant mindset” of “if you’re not working, what are you doing?” That, in combination with his dyslexia-fueled struggles in school, meant he rarely felt he measured up to his peers. “At 10 years old, I looked in the mirror and realized I was fat,” he recalls, prompting a fixation with nutrition, which, by the time he was in his early 20s, became a daily devotion to CrossFit.
After finishing college at Wittenberg University in Ohio and working and studying in Belgium and Beirut, he returned to the States with new entrepreneurial ambitions, hoping to eventually join his father’s juice company. “But first I wanted to sharpen my teeth,” he says, so he went to work at a transportation brokerage startup. “The company’s unstated mission was to make the founder as much money as possible,” regardless of anyone else, he says. Unhappy in his corporate life, Rahal worked on various unsuccessful entrepreneurial ventures after hours—including the concept for an upscale Dunkin’ Donuts called Cream and Sugar—until one day, he says, he came across an Inc article on how to start a nutrition bar business with just $10,000.
Because of CrossFit, Rahal knew consumers wanted simple, whole ingredients in line with the Paleo diet, which he calls “the religion” of the time. He started to put together recipes in his parents’ basement, enlisting his mother to help with sticking on the labels (she was later “fired” for putting them on incorrectly).
A few months later, Rahal began carrying cases of the bars to local CrossFit gyms in Chicago, convincing managers to stock a limited supply. Soon, they were flying off the shelves. In 2015, he invested that money in a rebrand that would become the iconic, brightly colored packaging the brand is known for today. In October 2017, he sold the company to Kellogg’s for $600 million.
There are so many benefits to eating a high-protein diet. Getting enough of this macronutrient is crucial for building muscle, losing fat, improving metabolic health, and regulating appetite1—so you actually feel full and satisfied with your meal.
“We see that there’s an emphasis on whole and minimally processed foods, and that really is a welcome shift away from decades of more nutrient-focused messaging,” said Patti Truant Anderson, policy director at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future.
She said the focus of the new food pyramid moves away from added preservatives and toward fruits and veggies.
“We see that fruits and vegetables are prominently in the new food pyramid, which aligns with evidence-based dietary patterns, which we know help people live longer,” she said.
But there are parts of the new pyramid she thinks people should pay attention to. This includes the added emphasis on protein and meat.
“I think that there are some aspects that may be misleading to consumers when you look just at the new food pyramid, compared to the actual guidelines,” Truant Anderson said.
She said the big focus on meat and dairy products might be confusing to some.
“How do you increase your protein content without increasing your saturated fat content too much? And it is possible, but you have to be really careful about that, and focus more on the plant-based and seafood sources of protein,” Truant Anderson said.
Dr. Ashanti Woods, an attending pediatrician at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, said you should be paying attention to what the inversion of the pyramid means for you and your family.
“We’re looking down the road and, ultimately, have a goal of keeping our children healthy,” he said.
He said he liked that the new pyramid encouraged a diversity of foods.
“We want families to consider a plate that has a little bit of everything on it. We want children to explore. We want families to take their children with them shopping to the grocery store so that children can pick out certain foods and give it a try,” he said.
Woods said one of the biggest changes when it comes to the food pyramid is the goal for daily protein intake. Currently, the recommendation is 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight.
“It’s now been increased to 1.2 to 1.6 grams of protein a day, essentially doubling it. While we don’t think children should be eating, consuming, a lot of anything, protein included, we do think that there are some benefits to children eating lean protein,” he said.
And Woods said the healthiest habits come not only from watching what you eat but, “anywhere from three to five days of good exercise in the work week, and good exercise to us is anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes of activity that involves sweating.”
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Plasma Supports Human Health and Pet Health
Plasma is the liquid component of blood. So when you donate blood, you’re giving plasma, a life-saving gift used around the world every day to help people survive and thrive. And just like plasma supports human health, so too can it play a meaningful role in pet health and nutrition. Plasma sourced from pigs and cattle is collected and dried, preserving the amino acids, nutrients, bioactive compounds, and highly digestible proteins. It’s a tasty, functional ingredient that can be added to pet foods, treats, and supplements to support vitality, well-being, and everyday health.
Adding Plasma to a Dog’s or Cat’s Diet Is Good for the Whole Body
Plasma about 70% to 80% protein, so you can see right away one of the main benefits for dogs and cats. Four-legged family members rely on protein-rich diets to build and repair tissues, produce enzymes and hormones, and support overall growth, function, and energy. Beyond that, plasma also contains a myriad of other beneficial compounds, including:
Amino acids
Electrolytes
Minerals
Antibodies
Immunoglobulins
Bioactive peptides
Growth factors
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Easy Ways to Add Plasma to Your Dog’s or Cat’s Diet
Plasma is a powerful, natural, sustainable ingredient that supports canine and feline health at every life stage. It delivers essential nutrients, helps manage stress and inflammation, supports immunity, and promotes overall vitality, keeping dogs and cats active, resilient, and thriving. When you add food, treats, and supplements with plasma to their diet, you’re supporting whole-body health for them and helping the planet too.
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Animal Wellness is North America’s top natural health and lifestyle magazine for dogs and cats, with a readership of over one million every year. AW features articles by some of the most renowned experts in the pet industry, with topics ranging from diet and health related issues, to articles on training, fitness and emotional well being.
If eating breakfast at home is a no-go, figuring out a few options for when you’re out and about might be helpful. Shapiro points out that coffee shops like Starbucks often offer healthy choices, such as whole-wheat breakfast wraps, egg bites, and protein boxes. Plus, you can usually find hard-boiled eggs, fresh fruit, or yogurt at corner stores or delis if you’re in a pinch.
How do barukas, also known as baru almonds, compare with other nuts?
There is a new nut on the market called baru almonds, branded as “barukas” or baru nuts. Technically, it isn’t a nut but a seed native to the Brazilian Savannah, known as the Cerrado, which is now among the most threatened ecosystems on the planet. Over the last 30 years, much of the Cerrado’s ecosystem has been destroyed by extensive cattle ranching and feed crop production to fatten said cattle. If it were profitable not to cut down the native trees and instead sell baru nuts, for example, that could be good for the ecosystem’s health. But what about our health?
“Although baru nuts are popular and widely consumed, few studies report on their biological properties.” They do have a lot of polyphenol phytonutrients, presumably accounting for their high antioxidant activity. (About 90% of their phytonutrients are present in the peel.) Are they nutritious? Yes, but do they have any special health benefits—beyond treating chubby mice?
Researchers found that individuals fed baru nuts showed lower cholesterol, supposedly indicating the nuts “have great potential for dietary use” in preventing and controlling cholesterol problems. But the individuals were rats, not humans, and the baru nuts were compared to lard. Pretty much everything lowers cholesterol compared to lard. Nevertheless, there haven’t been any reports about the effect of baru nut consumption on human health, until this: A randomized, controlled study of humans found that eating less than an ounce a day for six weeks led to a 9% drop in LDL cholesterol. Twenty grams would be about 15 nuts or a palmful.
Like many other nut studies, even though the research subjects were told to add nuts to their regular diets, there was no weight gain, presumably because nuts are so filling that we inadvertently cut down on other foods throughout the day. How good is a 9.4% drop in LDL? It’s the kind of drop we can get from regular almonds, though macadamias and pistachios may work even better, but those were at much higher doses. It appears that 20 grams of baru nuts work as well as 73 grams of almonds. So, on a per-serving basis or a per-calorie basis, baru nuts really did seem to be special.
There are lower-dose nut studies that show similar or even better results. In this one, for instance, people were given 25 grams of almonds for just four weeks and got about a 6% drop in their LDL cholesterol. In another study, after consuming just 10 grams of almonds a day, or just seven individual almonds a day, study participants got more like a 30% drop in LDL during the same time frame as the baru nuts. Three times better LDL at half the dose with regular almonds, as you can see below and at 2:47 in my video Are Baruka Nuts the Healthiest Nut?.
The biggest reason we are more confident in regular almonds than baru almonds is that studies have been done over and over in more than a dozen randomized controlled trials, whereas in the only other cholesterol trial of baru nuts, researchers found no significant benefit for LDL cholesterol, even at the same 20-gram dose given for even longer—a period of eight weeks.
That’s disappointing, but it isn’t the primary reason I would suggest choosing other nuts instead of baru nuts. I would do so because we can’t get raw baru nuts. They contain certain compounds that must be inactivated by heat before we can eat them. The reason raw nuts are preferable is because of advanced glycation end-products (AGEs), so-called glycotoxins, which are known to contribute to increased oxidative stress and inflammation.
Glycotoxins are naturally present in uncooked animal-derived foods, and dry-heat cooking like grilling can make things worse. The three highest recorded levels have been in bacon, broiled hot dogs, and roasted barbecued chicken skin—nothing even comes close to that, not even Chicken McNuggets, as you can see below and at 3:50 in my video.
However, any foods high in fat and protein can create AGEs at high enough temperatures. So, although plant foods tend to “contain relatively few AGEs, even after cooking,” there are some high-fat, high-protein plant foods. But, again, AGEs aren’t a problem at all with most plant foods. See the AGE content in boiled tofu (in a soup, for instance), broiled tofu, a raw apple, a baked apple, a veggie burger—I was surprised that veggie burgers are so low in AGEs, even when baked or fried—and nuts and seeds, which are up in tofu territory, especially when roasted, which is why I would recommend raw nuts and seeds and nut and seed butters whenever you have a choice. See below and at 4:33 in my video.
Doctor’s Note
In my Daily Dozen checklist, I recommend eating a quarter cup of nuts or seeds or two tablespoons of nut or seed butter each day. Why? See related posts below.
For those unfamiliar with advanced glycation end-products (AGEs), check out the first two videos I did on them way back when: Glycotoxins and Avoiding Glycotoxins in Food.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said he’d like airlines to start serving something other than pretzels and buttery cookies.
“I would love some better snacks,” Duffy told the conservative news site Blaze Media on Tuesday. “I would love a little healthier snack on the airplane.”
Most airlines no longer serve free meals, but they do still hand out snack food and juice, soda and coffee to passengers. American Airlines, the biggest airline operating out of Philadelphia International Airport, gives people a choice between small bags of pretzels and packages of Biscoff cookies — or both.
Pretzels may be convenient, but they are generally low in nutrients, high in sodium and are made with refined carbs that leave people unsated and ready to snack again soon.
Biscoff cookies are high in added sugars and saturated fat – although they do not contain trans fats and have lower calorie and saturated fat contents compared with Oreos and Chips Ahoy! cookies.
Duffy made his complaint as a passing comment, not as part of an official policy change, according to the New York Times. But his remarks spark the question: How can people eat healthier when flying?
Here are some tips:
Go nuts
Many airlines no longer serve peanuts or peanut products due to allergies, but some carriers still offer other types of nuts. While salted varieties present sodium concerns for people with high blood pressure and other medical issues, nuts are high in protein. If available and allergies are not a concern, choose the nuts.
Drink up
Due to low humidity levels in airline cabins, people are at risk of getting dehydrated during flights, so drinking lots of water before, during and after flying is key, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Hydrating well can also help mitigate jet lag and fatigue. The general rule of thumb is 8 ounces of water for every hour of flight, according to AARP.
Stay away from alcoholic and caffeinated drinks because they can disrupt sleep, which may already be hard to come by on flights. Also, caffeine is a stimulant, so anxious travelers should avoid it, Condé Nast Traveler advises.
Carbonated drinks may also cause burping and flatulence, unpleasant for the consumer and fellow travelers, AARP warns.
BYO
The best and least expensive bet for eating healthy in the airport and on the plane is to bring your own food.
Registered dietitian Andy De Santis recently told the Healthy that he packs chicken sandwiches on whole-grain bread — a fiber-protein combo — when he flies.
Other high-protein foods, such as greek yogurt, flaxseed crackers and seeds, are also handy and healthy.
Health editor Ally Head recently shared her home-packed travel snack selections with Marie Claire: a Tupperware container full of carrot, celery and other vegetable sticks, olives, cheese cubes, a spinach side salad and whole-grain carbs, such as pumpernickel bread.
In terms of appearance, almonds are light brown and oval-shaped, with a smooth outer shell. They have a rich, nutty flavor that lends itself well to a wide range of recipes, adding an extra crunch to salads or bringing a tender texture to baked goods. They also make a healthy snack as is and can be enjoyed roasted, raw, or salted.
Leucine is best known as a muscle-building amino acid. But new preclinical research1 suggests that it may have a deeper role in how our cells make energy. Beyond supporting protein synthesis, leucine appears to directly influence how mitochondria maintain and produce energy.*
New diets come and go often, but every now and then, some stick around. The latest: protein. Everyone seems to be looking for more ways to add it to their diet.From coffee shops to grocery stores, you couldn’t miss the promotion of protein even if you tried. But how much do you need? Doctors and nutritionists say it’s less than what social media might lead consumers to believe. Prioritizing protein isn’t new, but the number of people doing so is.”Things tend to go to an extreme at first,” said Kim Flannery, director of nutrition at the Wisconsin Athletic Club. “And I think that’s kind of where we are right now.”It’s everywhere, from social media influencers and now in coffee shops.For the first time, Starbucks added protein to its menu of drinks, even allowing customers to add it to their cold foam on top of their coffee.The trend has continued at the grocery store, too.Emilie Williamson with Metro Market said she’s seen a substantial increase in protein-filled snacks. “A big goal of ours is to meet shoppers where they’re at,” Williamson said.Walking down the aisle of your local grocery store, you will quickly find protein in many everyday snacks, like muffins, cereal, pretzels, chips, and even protein pastries.Dr. Lisa Morselli, assistant professor in the division of endocrinology at Froedtert Hospital in Wisconsin, said this is where she gets worried about the quality of the product.”These are all foods that are pretty processed,” Morselli said. “The protein snack marketing probably gives people license to snack without really paying attention to what they put in their mouth.”Morselli believes the trend has been influenced by social media.Morselli said those on GLP-1 weight loss medications need more protein in their diet for muscle gain.Separately, those looking to lose weight can find success in protein, too, according to Dr. Morselli.”Protein is involved in the control of hunger,” Morselli said.Morselli explains that protein-rich foods can make you feel full longer.Protein can also be great for balancing blood sugar levels. But for muscle gain or weight loss, protein isn’t a magic pill, either.”It’s not that if you take a higher protein, or if you have a higher protein intake, it will magically protect your muscles; you still need to exercise them,” Morselli said.Flannery said when talking to nutrition clients, she hopes to emphasize that protein is just one piece of the pie. “People tend to focus so much on the protein that they tend to lose the balance,” Flannery said.Flannery worries the trend of sharing personal protein goals could be going too far.”One number does not by any means apply to everyone,” Flannery said.Flannery said personal protein goals are different for everyone, with age, sex and activity levels all taken into consideration.According to the recommended dietary allowance, when calculating protein goals, the person should take .36 grams of protein per pound of body weight.For example, if the person weighs 150 pounds, a modest protein goal would be around 54 grams of protein.Arguably more importantly than any goal is the quality of protein the person is consuming.”A lot of the health problems that we have are due to the, all the processed foods,” Flannery reminds.A New York Times investigation in October found many popular protein powders and shakes contain dangerous levels of lead.Flannery said this is what worries her about the rise in protein snacks.”We’re just adding protein to junk food,” Flannery said.Flannery recommends getting protein from real foods like beans, tofu, meat, fish, and in some cases, pasta that can be healthy, too.”My opinion is that it’s better to eat real food and get your protein from real food,” Morselli agreed.
New diets come and go often, but every now and then, some stick around. The latest: protein. Everyone seems to be looking for more ways to add it to their diet.
From coffee shops to grocery stores, you couldn’t miss the promotion of protein even if you tried. But how much do you need?
Doctors and nutritionists say it’s less than what social media might lead consumers to believe.
Prioritizing protein isn’t new, but the number of people doing so is.
“Things tend to go to an extreme at first,” said Kim Flannery, director of nutrition at the Wisconsin Athletic Club. “And I think that’s kind of where we are right now.”
It’s everywhere, from social media influencers and now in coffee shops.
For the first time, Starbucks added protein to its menu of drinks, even allowing customers to add it to their cold foam on top of their coffee.
The trend has continued at the grocery store, too.
Emilie Williamson with Metro Market said she’s seen a substantial increase in protein-filled snacks.
“A big goal of ours is to meet shoppers where they’re at,” Williamson said.
Walking down the aisle of your local grocery store, you will quickly find protein in many everyday snacks, like muffins, cereal, pretzels, chips, and even protein pastries.
Dr. Lisa Morselli, assistant professor in the division of endocrinology at Froedtert Hospital in Wisconsin, said this is where she gets worried about the quality of the product.
“These are all foods that are pretty processed,” Morselli said. “The protein snack marketing probably gives people license to snack without really paying attention to what they put in their mouth.”
Morselli believes the trend has been influenced by social media.
Morselli said those on GLP-1 weight loss medications need more protein in their diet for muscle gain.
Separately, those looking to lose weight can find success in protein, too, according to Dr. Morselli.
“Protein is involved in the control of hunger,” Morselli said.
Morselli explains that protein-rich foods can make you feel full longer.
Protein can also be great for balancing blood sugar levels. But for muscle gain or weight loss, protein isn’t a magic pill, either.
“It’s not that if you take a higher protein, or if you have a higher protein intake, it will magically protect your muscles; you still need to exercise them,” Morselli said.
Flannery said when talking to nutrition clients, she hopes to emphasize that protein is just one piece of the pie.
“People tend to focus so much on the protein that they tend to lose the balance,” Flannery said.
Flannery worries the trend of sharing personal protein goals could be going too far.
“One number does not by any means apply to everyone,” Flannery said.
Flannery said personal protein goals are different for everyone, with age, sex and activity levels all taken into consideration.
According to the recommended dietary allowance, when calculating protein goals, the person should take .36 grams of protein per pound of body weight.
For example, if the person weighs 150 pounds, a modest protein goal would be around 54 grams of protein.
Arguably more importantly than any goal is the quality of protein the person is consuming.
“A lot of the health problems that we have are due to the, all the processed foods,” Flannery reminds.
A New York Times investigation in October found many popular protein powders and shakes contain dangerous levels of lead.
Flannery said this is what worries her about the rise in protein snacks.
“We’re just adding protein to junk food,” Flannery said.
Flannery recommends getting protein from real foods like beans, tofu, meat, fish, and in some cases, pasta that can be healthy, too.
“My opinion is that it’s better to eat real food and get your protein from real food,” Morselli agreed.
On a chilly February afternoon in 1953, a gangly American and a fast-talking Brit walked into the Eagle pub in Cambridge, England, and announced to the assembled imbibers that they had discovered the “secret of life.”
Even by the grandiose standards of bar talk, it was a provocative statement. Except, it was also pretty close to the truth. That morning, James Watson, the American whiz kid who had not yet turned 25, and his British colleague, Francis Crick, had finally worked out the structure of DNA.
Everything that followed, unlocking the human genome, learning to edit and move genetic information to cure disease and create new forms of life, the revolution in criminal justice with DNA fingerprinting, and many other things besides, grew out of the discovery of the double-helix shape of DNA.
It took Watson decades to feel worthy of a breakthrough some consider the equal of Einstein’s famous E=MC2 formula. But he got there. “Did Francis and I deserve the double helix?” Watson asked rhetorically, 40 years later. “Yeah, we did.”
James Dewey Watson, Nobel Prize winner and “semi-professional loose cannon” whose racist views made him a scientific pariah late in life, died Thursday in hospice care after a brief illness, his son told the Associated Press. He was 97.
Born April 6, 1928, in Chicago, he was the son of a bill collector for a mail-order school who had written a small book about birds in northern Illinois. The younger Watson originally hoped to follow his father’s passion and become an ornithologist. “My greatest ambition had been to find out why birds migrate,” he once said. “It would have been a lost career. They still don’t know.”
At 12, the brainy boy who read the World Almanac for pleasure appeared on the popular radio show “Quiz Kids.” As is often the case for the gifted, his teen years were trying. “I never even tried to be an adolescent,” Watson said. “I never went to teenage parties. I didn’t fit in. I didn’t want to fit in. I basically passed from being a child to an adult.”
He was admitted to the University of Chicago at 15, under a program designed to give bright youngsters a head start in life. It was there he learned the Socratic method of inquiry by oral combat that would underlie both his remarkable achievements and the harsh judgments that would precipitate his fall from grace.
Reading Erwin Schrodinger’s book, “What Is Life?” in his sophomore year set the aspiring ornithologist on a new course. Schrodinger suggested that a substance he called an “aperiodic crystal,” which might be a molecule, was the substance that passed on hereditary information. Watson was inspired by the idea that if such a molecule existed, he might be able to find it.
“Goodbye bird migration,” he said, “and on to the gene.”
Coincidentally, Oswald Avery had only the year before shown that a relatively simple compound — deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA — must play a role in transferring genetic information. He injected DNA from one type of bacterium into another, then watched as the two became the same.
Most scientists didn’t believe the results. DNA, which is coiled up in every cell in the body, was nothing special, just sugars, phosphates and bases. They couldn’t believe this simple compound could be responsible for the myriad characteristics that make up an animal, much less a human being.
Watson, meanwhile, had graduated and moved on to Indiana University, where he joined a cluster of scientists known as the “phage group,” whose research with viruses infecting bacteria helped launch the field of molecular biology. He often said he came “along at the right time” to solve the DNA problem, but there was more to it. “The major credit I think Jim and I deserve is for selecting the right problem and sticking to it,” Crick said many years later. “It’s true that by blundering about we stumbled on gold, but the fact remains that we were looking for gold.”
The search began inauspiciously enough, when Watson arrived at the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University in late 1951, supposedly to study proteins. Crick was 12 years older, working on his PhD. When they met, the two found an instant camaraderie. “I’m sure Francis and I talked about guessing the structure of DNA within the first half-hour of our meeting,” Watson recalled.
Their working method was mostly just conversation, but conversation conducted at a breakneck pace, and at high volume. So high, they were exiled to an office in a shabby shack called the Hut, where their debates would not disturb others.
In January 1953, the brilliant American chemist Linus Pauling stole a march on them when he announced he had the answer: DNA was a triple helix, with the bases sticking out, like charms on a bracelet.
Watson and Crick were devastated, until they realized Pauling’s scheme would not work. After seeing an X-ray image of DNA taken by crystallographer Rosalind Franklin, they built a 6-foot-tall metal model of a double helix, shaped like a spiral staircase, with the rungs made of the bases adenine and thymine, guanine and cytosine. When they finished, it was immediately apparent how DNA copies itself, by unzipping down the middle, allowing each chain to find a new partner. In Watson’s words, the final product was “too pretty” not to be true.
American biology professor James Dewey Watson from Cambridge, Nobel laureate in medicine in 1962, explains the possibilities of future cancer treatments at a Nobel Laureate Meeting in Lindau on July 4, 1967. Watson had received the Nobel Prize together with the two British scientists Crick and Wilkins for their research on the molecular structure of nucleic acids (DNA).
(Gerhard Rauchwetter / picture alliance via Getty Images)
It was true, and in 1962, Watson, Crick and another researcher, Maurice Wilkins, were awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine. Franklin, whose expert X-ray images solidified Watson’s conviction that DNA was a double helix, had died four years earlier of ovarian cancer. Had she lived, it’s unclear what would have happened, since Nobel rules allow only three people to share a single prize.
In the coming years, Watson’s attitude toward Franklin became a matter of controversy, which he did little to soothe by his unchivalrous treatment of her in his 1968 book, “The Double Helix.” “By choice, she did not emphasize her feminine qualities,” he wrote, adding that she was secretive and quarrelsome.
To his admirers, this was just “Honest Jim,” as some referred to him, being himself, a refreshing antidote to the increasingly politically correct world of science and society. But as the years passed, more controversies erupted around his “truth-telling” — he said he would not hire an overweight person because they were not ambitious, and that exposure to the sun in equatorial regions increases sexual urges — culminating with remarks in 2007 that he could not escape. He said he was “inherently gloomy” about Africa’s prospects because policies in the West were based on assumptions that the intelligence of Black people is the same as Europeans, when “all the testing says, not really.”
He apologized “unreservedly,” but was still forced to retire as chancellor of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the Long Island, N.Y., institution he had rescued from the brink of insolvency decades earlier. Afterward, he complained about being reduced to a “non-person,” but rekindled public outrage seven years later by insisting in a documentary that his views had not changed. This time, citing his “unsubstantiated and reckless personal opinions,” the laboratory rescinded the honorary titles it had bestowed, chancellor emeritus and honorary trustee.
Mark Mannucci, director of the documentary “American Masters: Decoding Watson,” compared him to King Lear, a man “at the height of his powers and, through his own character flaws, was brought down.” Those sympathetic to Watson said the problem was he didn’t know any of his Black colleagues. If he had, they argued, he would have immediately renounced his prejudices.
Following his DNA triumph, Watson spent two years at Caltech before joining the faculty at Harvard University. During this period, he worked to understand the role ribonucleic acid (RNA) plays in the synthesis of proteins that make bodily structures. If the double-stranded DNA contains the body’s master plan, the single-stranded RNA is the messenger, telling the cell’s protein factories how to build the three-dimensional shapes that make the whole. Watson’s 1965 textbook, “Molecular Biology of the Gene,” became a foundation stone of modern biology.
As great as was his obsession with DNA, Watson’s pursuit of, and failure to obtain, female companionship was a matter of only marginally less critical mass. At Harvard, he recruited Radcliffe coeds to work in his lab, reasoning that “if you have pretty girls in the lab, you don’t have to go out.” He started attending Radcliffe parties known as jolly-ups. “Here comes this 35-year-old and he wants to come to jolly-ups,” said a biographer, Victor McElheny. “He was constantly swinging and missing.”
His batting average improved when he met Elizabeth Vickery Lewis, a 19-year-old Radcliffe sophomore working in the Harvard lab. He married her in 1968, realizing by only days his goal of marrying before 40. On his honeymoon, he sent a postcard back to Harvard: “She’s 19; she’s beautiful; and she’s all mine.” The couple had two sons, Rufus, who developed schizophrenia in his teens, and Duncan.
The same year, Watson finished writing “The Double Helix.” When he showed it to Crick and Wilkins, both objected to the way he characterized them and persuaded Harvard not to publish it. Watson soon found another publisher.
It was certainly true his book could be unkind and gossipy, but that was why the public, which likely had trouble sorting out the details of crystallography and hydrogen bonds, loved it. “The Double Helix” became an international bestseller that remained in stock for many years. Eventually, Watson and Crick made up and by the time the Englishman died in 2004, they were again the boon pals they’d been 50 years earlier.
After their discovery of DNA’s structure, the two men took divergent paths. Crick hoped to find the biological roots of consciousness, while Watson devoted himself to discovering a cure for cancer.
After serving on a voluntary basis, Watson became director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island in 1976. It had once been a whaling village, and the humble buildings retained a rustic charm, though when Watson arrived the rustic quality was on a steep descent toward ruination. Its endowment was virtually nonexistent and money was so tight a former director mowed the lawn himself.
As skilled at raising money as he was at solving difficult scientific problems, Watson turned the institution into a major research center that helped reveal the role of genetics in cancer. By 2019, the endowment had grown to $670 million, and the research staff had tripled. From an annual budget of $1 million, it had grown to $190 million.
“You have to like people who have money,” Watson said in explanation of his success at resurrecting Cold Spring Harbor. “I really like rich people.” His growing eccentricity, which included untied shoelaces and hair that spiked out in all directions, completed the stock image of a distracted scientist. Acquaintances swore they saw him untie his shoelaces before meeting with a potential donor.
In 1988, he became the first director of the $3-billion Human Genome Project, whose goal was to identify and map every human gene. He resigned four years later, after a public falling-out with the director of the National Institutes of Health. “I completely failed the test,” he said of his experience as a bureaucrat.
Among his passions were tennis and charity work. In 2014, the year of the documentary that sealed his fate as an exile, Watson put his Nobel gold medal up for auction. He gave away virtually all the $4.1 million it fetched. The buyer, Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, returned it a year later, saying he felt bad the scientist had to sell possessions to support worthy causes.
A complex, beguiling, maddening man who defied easy, or any, categorization, Watson followed his own star to the end of his life, insisting in 2016, when he was nearly 90, that he didn’t want to die until a cure for cancer was found. At the time, he was still playing tennis three times a week, with partners decades younger.
Besides the Nobel Prize, Watson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Eli Lilly Award in Biochemistry and the Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and was made an honorary Knight of the British Empire. Among his literary works were both scientific and popular books, from “Recombinant DNA” to “Genes, Girls, and Gamow,” a typically cheeky book recounting his twin obsessions, scientific glory and the opposite sex.
So, is one healthier than the other? Sardines are higher in protein, calories, and fat per serving, and they contain more vitamin B12 as well as trace minerals like magnesium, zinc, iron, and phosphorous. Canned anchovies have five times more sodium than sardines, due to their unique processing. However, anchovies are a bit more nutrient-dense than sardines thanks to their small size.
