Protein is having its moment. But do consumers really want to eat bars made out of liver and crickets?

As other food groups, including carbohydrates and fat, have come to be associated with weight gain, health-conscious consumers have increasingly turned to high-protein items instead, leading to increased sales for yogurt and nuts.

The demand for more protein in more ways has also led to startup food companies creating some new and out-of-the-box items, like snack bars made from meat, liver and crickets and a new product called “clusters” that are truffle-sized granola-like snacks, in addition to more run of the mill items.

Sales of several high-protein foods have climbed in recent years in the U.S.

Sales of sports protein bars were $488.7 million in 2015, up about 32% from $371.6 million in 2010. Sales of nuts hit $4.5 billion in 2015, up about 32% from $3.4 billion in 2010 and yogurt sales rose 27% to $8.4 billion in 2015, up from $6.6 billion in 2010. It’s a trend that will likely continue, says Chris Schmidt, a senior analyst in the consumer health department of Euromonitor International, a market-research firm.

Some start-ups making high-protein snacks have caught the eye of larger companies. Hershey’s HSY, -1.12% bought premium beef jerky company Krave Pure Foods Inc. in January 2015. And General Mills GIS, -0.45% purchased EPIC Provisions, a company that makes meat bars, in January 2016.

The impact of low-carbohydrate diets, characterized by the Atkins Diet, which became popular in the early 2000s, has led many health-conscious consumers to look for foods that are higher in protein and lower in carbohydrates, Schmidt said.

Because the Atkins Diet got so much attention, consumers started to eliminate carbohydrates from their diets in large numbers; added sugar, in particular, was thought of as an enemy, he said.

Of course, it’s possible to eat too much protein. Overindulging in any food item will cause weight gain, said Despina Hyde, a registered dietitian and diabetes educator in the weight management center at New York University’s Langone Medical Center.

The USDA’s dietary guidelines suggest limiting added sugars, but don’t suggest cutting out carbohydrates completely — fruits, vegetables and whole grains are all suggested in the guidelines, and they contain carbohydrates.

The guidelines also suggest limiting solid fats (for saturated fats, less than 10% of calories for the day), but still recommends about five teaspoons of healthy oils, including canola, olive and sunflower oil, because they provide essential fatty acids and vitamin E.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture also has a calculator that consumers can use to determine how much protein they need per day, based on their age, weight, height and activity levels. For many adults, that’s recommendation ends up being around 50 grams of protein per day, Hyde said, and most people are getting about that amount in their normal diets.

Athletes may require more, Hyde said. Although the average person should aim for 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, endurance athletes should eat 1.2 to 1.4 grams per kilogram, and strength athletes should eat up to 1.7 grams per kilogram.

Just one serving of chicken provides about 25 grams of protein, half of the day’s allotment. One container of plain Fage Greek yogurt has 18 grams.

Males between 14 and 70 should eat about 30 to 35 grams of meat, poultry and eggs per week (they eat more than that now, on average), according to U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates, and females in that age range should eat between 20 and 30 grams (they typically eat in that range).

Men and women eat less seafood on average than the USDA recommends, however. They eat about one to five ounces per week compared to the recommended allowance of 8 to 10 ounces per week for adults. Adults also tend to eat less than the recommended amount of protein — about three ounces per week versus the recommended four to six ounces per week — from nuts, seeds and soy products.

Hyde recommends balancing animal-based proteins like meat with plant-based proteins because they provide fiber and other nutrients.

Insect-based protein snacks, on the other hand, are still expensive to produce and consumers may have to be convinced to try them, Schmidt added. “There’s still a little bit of an ‘ick’ or ‘yuck’ factor,” he said.