What about PROTEIN products?

 Last year, the Clean Label Project? completed a study examining 134 plant-based and animal-based protein powder products from 52 different brands. They screened for over 130 toxins, including heavy metals, BPA, pesticides, and other contaminants with ties to health problems.

What did they found? (You might want to sit down for this one.)

Many of the most popular plant-based products were ranked the worst for their high levels of contaminants like heavy metals. In fact, plant-based proteins ranked lower than animal-based proteins on average. So how does that nasty stuff get into your food?

According to Clean Label Project, “Contaminants are the result of sourcing and production practices. Contaminants can be found in soils because of pesticides and mining run-off (ex. heavy metals) and can be absorbed into plants just like nutrients. They can also be the resultof the manufacturing process (ex. BPA/BPS is using the lining of cans and containers and leach into your nutrition

Let’s take a closer look at some of the most common heavy metals and chemicals to see what the study actually found:

BPA (bisphenol A)

By now you’ve probably heard of BPA, but most people don’t actually know what it is. BPA, or bisphenol A, is a chemical used in a lot of commercial product packaging as a way to strengthen the plastic. High amounts of BPA, however, are known to cause cancerous tumors, birth defects, and other mental and physical health issues. A few years ago, BPA garnered a lot of attention when it was discovered to leach from plastic into drinks, like water. Since then, many popular water bottles have gone BPA-free, but it’s still commonly used in many food containers.The Clean Label Project study found that 55% of protein products had high levels of BPA, and one had over 25 times the regulatory limit 

Lead

According to the study, nearly 70% of plant-based protein products contained measurable amounts of lead. The potential mental and physical health problems associated with lead are well documented, so why is it showing up in these protein products? The primary problem seems to be where the ingredients are sourced from. Lead in the ground seeps into the growing food before harvesting.

Arsenic

Arsenic is a naturally occurring chemical often found in water, food, and soil. This is a particular problem with rice-based products, which is grown in water-flooded conditions, and arsenic in the soil finds its way into the roots of rice crops and is eventually stored in the grains. Arsenic, of course, is also known to cause a number of health problems including cancer. So why is it in plant-based products? Primarily because of poorly sourced rice protein isolate.

Cadmium

According to the same Clean Label Project study, 74% of protein contained measurable amounts of cadmium.Cadmium is another natural toxic element often found in rocks and soil, and because it does not corrode easily, it’s often used in batteries. That’s right, batteries. And you guessed it, cadmium also has links to cancer.

But what if your food is organic?

That was one of my first questions as well. But organic, although good for other reasons, is no help when it comes to heavy metals. Organic protein products had on average twice the amount of heavy metals as non-organic options, so if a brand doesn’t disclose heavy metal information to you, you’re left wondering.

Sweeteners and Flavorings

These days, sweeteners are added to just about every processed food, so it should come as no surprise that they’re also often added to protein productsBut here’s the thing. Sweeteners are totally unnecessary. Same goes with flavors (natural or not) like vanilla. The only reason companies often adds the sweeteners and flavors is to try and mask the taste. In turn, however, they’re adding unnatural ingredients that not only taste fake, but are potentially harmful. Take a look at common artificial sweeteners like acesulfame potassium, sucralose, or splenda, for example. These sweeteners with their potent taste not only train the brain to crave sweet foods, but are known to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and obesity.

Fillers, Preservatives, and Gums

While the contaminants scare me most, the biggest shocker I came across in my research on protein powders was what I learned about fillers. First, there’s a reason you don’t see percentages next to protein products ingredients on labels. Many brands, like the one used to take, boast a “blend of pea, rice, hemp, and chia” (for example) to create the appearance of a complete amino acid profile. But if they’re not telling you the amounts of each in the product, then nothing prevents them from using 95 or even 99 percent of the cheapest powder, and only blending the others to make up the remaining 5 percent or less. There’s nothing to tell you it’s pretty much just one type of protein. And on top of that the amino acid profile is incomplete. In an industry so unregulated as supplements are, it’s not hard toimagine that’s what they do. Besides all this cheap proteins, dextrin (a carbohydrate from starch) and maltodextrin (produced from corn, rice, potato starch, or wheat) are common fillers added to protein products to bulk it up. Then there are gums, like xanthan gum, which is derived from corn and soy and often used as a thickener in protein power. These gums are totally unnecessary and some people can find them hard to tolerate. With the "manipulated" labeling requirements you can’t really feel confident about what’s in your nutrition. Sure, you might have an ordered ingredient list, but when you don’t know how much of each ingredient is included, you have no idea if your product is really as healthy as it claims to be.

CONCLUSION

When it comes to protein, the best place to get it is from food. And for many people, that’s not hard to accomplish. If you eat a wholesome diet based around real food, then in the vast majority of cases that will leave with more than enough. (And keep in mind, the average consumer gets about twice as much protein as they need – and in the industrialized world, excess protein consumption is causing vastly more disease than inadequate protein.) But if you’re over 65 or highly active, and vegetarian or vegan, then you may want to consider supplementing – especially if you don’t include soy, gluten,lectins or abundant legumes in your diet. Make sure to read the label to insure that the protein you’re getting is organic and is free of any undesirable sweeteners, flavorings, chemicals, preservatives, fillers and gums that you don’t want. Bonus points if it uses a range of protein sources, tells youhow much of each is included, and has a diverse amino acid profile. Keep also in mind that a protein supplement isn’t for everybody. In fact, it isn’t even not for most people. But if you’re someone who might benefit from it, then the way I see it, you deserve to know the facts to buy a product that might wind up doing more harm than good.

I know, it is hard to find your way in this food manipulated "jungle". The best way is to eliminate "step by step" certain products you liked, and try to replace them with others. Maybe join our Prague based, but International focussed movement.

Science for a better future

and we will see what oer years can be realized to make some positie changes.

To your health - Take care

Prof. Guy Van Elsacker DrSc. - Biomed Expert Research Epigenetics & Nutraceuticals European Institute for Molecular Hydrogen (EIMHT) Ostrava - Czech Republic (www.H2world.world.com)

For endorsments Personal web: www.science4thefuture.com