For years, Paul Saladino built a following by positioning himself as one of the most outspoken critics of processed food, supplements, and protein bars. Now, the carnivore diet advocate has launched his own protein bar line under the brand Lineage, and the internet has not been quiet about the contradiction.
Saladino announced the product on social media with confidence: “We just cooked the protein bar industry. Most are candy bars in disguise: seed oils, gums, fake sweeteners, sugar. Not @eatlineage.”
The announcement set off a wave of pushback from nutrition professionals, researchers, and longtime followers alike, many of whom pointed to years of content in which Saladino condemned the very category of product he was now promoting.
Registered dietitian Wendi A. Irlbeck, MS, RDN, LD, CISSN, did not hold back: “Biggest grift out there. For years you told people to eat nothing but meat and fruit and that protein bars and supplements were ‘junk.’ Now you have your own supplement and protein bar line?”
She also noted that she had been contacted by Saladino’s team about paid promotion, writing, “Also, please tell your social media team I’m not interested in promoting your brand for money. They can stop the DMs and emails.”
Irlbeck added that for less than the bar’s asking price, consumers could obtain more nutritionally complete whole foods including eggs, tuna, beef, cottage cheese, chicken, Greek yogurt, and a piece of fruit.
The pricing drew its own criticism. At roughly $4 to $5.75 per bar depending on the source, many observers argued the cost was difficult to justify.
Saladino defended the price point by noting that using real food ingredients rather than artificial alternatives drives up production costs: “It costs a bit more to make a protein bar from real food and not artificial doo doo.”
One of the more pointed scientific critiques came from Kevin C. Klatt, PhD, RD, who challenged the bar’s advertised 20 grams of protein. Because the formulation blends whey with collagen, and collagen carries a protein digestibility score of zero, Klatt argued the functional protein content is far lower than labeled.
“The tip off is 20g from a blend that is whey and collagen,” he wrote, estimating the quality protein content at around 12 grams after correcting for the daily value methodology. “That’s the amount of protein in 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt or an RX bar. Except these bars are $5.75 each.”
Saladino acknowledged the protein scoring issue but attributed it to a production error: “PDCAAS is .86, %DV for protein on label should be 42% not 24% — graphic design error which we will correct. These stack up pretty darn well to what’s out there without garbage artificial ingredients.”
The label itself came under separate scrutiny from an industry professional. The account @TipOfTheBanana posted a detailed breakdown alleging multiple FDA compliance issues, including calorie math that did not add up, improper abbreviations on the nutrition panel, missing required language, and a suspicious discrepancy in the chocolate flavor’s sugar listing that suggested no naturally occurring sugars were present despite the product’s “real food” branding.
“If these issues are just on the label,” the account concluded, “I question the ingredients themselves.”
A user also challenged Saladino on his decision to include a chocolate flavor, given his previous public statements about cacao containing elevated levels of lead and cadmium.
Saladino responded, “Give the people what they want, and we sourced the cleanest possible cacao we could find.”
Questions were also raised about the bar’s packaging. Physician Brian Ingold, DO, noted the irony of a wellness brand whose entire identity rests on the dangers of modern living selling a product wrapped in plastic.
Cardiologist Dr. Mohammed Alo, DO, FACC, summed up the sentiment circulating widely online: “All processed foods are bad, except mine!”
Throughout the backlash, Saladino remained unusually active in the replies, defending the product across dozens of comment threads. The pattern did not go unnoticed.
One user wrote, “I have never seen Paul respond to so many posts. Ever. He must really want this paycheck.”
Saladino pushed back on that framing, stating he was proud of what the product represented: “Super proud of this product and excited about it. Hope you will try it. The protein bar industry is a mess but it’s huge, I believe this product could make a massive positive impact.”
