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With the recent supertrend toward healthy living, physical fitness and personal image, it’s no surprise that premixed protein shakes, ready-to-eat bars, and protein powders have become extremely popular. But what are the real benefits of these products, and are they healthy to eat and drink on a regular basis?

You’ve probably heard that if you eat too many protein bars or drink too many shakes, you can overload your kidneys and even risk renal failure. While it is true that extensive, sustained protein overload can seriously harm your kidneys, it is unlikely to affect you adversely if you simply pay attention to your diet and avoid going far overboard.

But how much protein do you need, and how much is too much? The amount depends on your body weight and how physically active your lifestyle is. At a bare minimum, men should consume at least 56 grams of protein per day and women should take in at least 46 grams. But a better rule for both genders is to consume 0.8 grams per kilogram of bodyweight for those who are relatively inactive, or twice that (1.6 grams per kilogram) for people with athletic lifestyles.

For people interested in building muscle, it’s important to get enough protein because the human body doesn’t have a way to store easily-accessible protein except in muscles. This means that whenever your body needs more protein than you give it, it will start to break down your existing muscles for nutrition. Additionally, protein is the main building block of muscle, which means whenever you want to grow your muscles it will require protein.

The benefits specific to supplements like protein shakes and protein bars, though, is in their immediate accessibility after workouts. Working out primes your muscles to absorb protein right away, and consuming protein right after resistance or endurance training is the best way to pump that nutrition straight into your muscles to grow them rapidly. Protein shakes can deliver a large amount of growth boost to be quickly digested and absorbed, and protein bars can do the same thing to a lesser degree (because they usually contain less protein) but in a more transportable way.