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Supplements

Over the past few years I have seen a definite trend toward greater use of supplements by health conscious and performance minded individuals. According to the Nutrition Business Journal, by 2009 supplements had become a 2.7 billion dollar industry, with more than half of the adult population having taken supplements to improve health, improve performance, avoid prescription drugs, and to lose weight. Unfortunately the supplement marketplace may not be as safe as it should be. Two recent editions of Consumer Reports take a look at a variety of popular supplements including whey protein. The Consumer Reports articles address multiple issues including supplement contaminants, which supplements to avoid, why they're on the market, and what supplements might be worth trying. It is interesting to note that based on the questions people have been asking me recently I would guess that the greatest concern people have are the reports of contaminants found in whey protein. So lets look at the data that has been presented and what it means.

First off what is whey protein and why would we want to consume it?

Whey is the a by-product of cheese-making process. A simple outline of cheese making is as follows: A high quality milk from a cow or goat is slowly warmed, a bacteria is added to the milk to digest lactose (milk sugar) into lactic acid, after some time the milk will coagulate or solidify into curd. The solidified curd is then cut and cooked to allow the whey, which is liquid, to separate from the solid curd. Traditionally the whey would then be discarded and the curd subjected to several steps of pressing, waxing, and aging resulting in the finished product. The whey by-product was long considered useless and was often produced in such large volumes that the dairy industry had trouble disposing of it. It turns out whey contains multiple high quality proteins.

Beta-lactoglobulin(BLG) accounts for approximately 50-55% of whey protein. BLG has been found to bind fat soluble vitamins making them more bioavailable. BLG also provides an excellent source of branch chain amino acids (BCAA)

Alpha-lactalbumin (ALB) is the second most abundant whey protein component, making up to 20-25% of the whey protein. ALB is the primary protein found in breast milk and is high in the essential amino acid tryptophan. ALB is also an excellent source of BCAA's, and is the only whey protein component capable of binding calcium.

Immunoglobulins (IG's) make up about 10-15% of whey protein and can provide immunity enhancing benefits to infants.

Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) makes up about 5-10% of whey protein and is a large sized protein with a good essential amino acid profile with good fat binding properties.

Glycomacropeptide, Lactoferrin, Lactoperoxidase, and Lysozyme make up the remaining protein components of whey.

Compared to other protein sources such as egg, meat, soy, etc., whey protein is hard to match as a high quality complete protein that is easily and readily used by the body. Standard methods of measuring the quality of protein for growth such as the Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS), the Biological Value (BV),Net Protein Utilization (NPU), Nitrogen Balance (NB), Protein Digestibility (PD) and the Protein Efficiency Ratio (PER) all place whey protein as the highest quality protein matching or exceeding all natural foods. Proteins play a vital role in virtually every metabolic, structural, and physiologic process in the body and are required to sustain life. The amount of protein needed for each individual varies considerably based on muscle mass, age, physical activity, diet , etc. Often athletes and individuals who lead very active lives can find it difficult to meet all their dietary protein needs with natural foods and can benefit from a high quality convenient source of protein. Supplementing the diet with a high quality whey protein can be an excellent way to ensure that all protein needs are met. So lots of people, not just athletes and bodybuilders, consume considerable quantities of whey protein today.

Consumer reports tested 15 protein powders and drinks and tested multiple samples of each for levels of arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury and published the results based on three servings per day. These four heavy metals were undoubtedly chosen because they represent the main threats to human health from heavy metals. The negative health effects of heavy metals have been extensively studied and have been known for a many years.

Exposure to arsenic is mainly via food and drinking water. Long term exposure to arsenic increases the risk of certain cancers, and pigmentary changes. The excessive exposure to cadmium can lead to kidney damage and weakened fracture prone bone. Exposure to cadmium has risen secondary to the extensive use of non-recycled nickel-cadmium batteries. Smoking also increases exposure to cadmium. The general population is exposed to lead from air and food. Lead can produce neurotoxic effects which have been remarked upon as long ago as the Roman Empire. Exposure to mercury is primarily via food, with fish being the major source. The risk of mercury exposure from dental amalgams is greatly debated. Excessive mercury exposure can lead to neurological damage in adults. One reason heavy metals are so dangerous is that some of them tend to bioaccumulate, or increase in concentration in a biological organism over time. Basically, some heavy metals are taken up faster than they are broken down or excreted so their concentration in organisms increases over time. Because of the serious negative health effects of excessive heavy metal exposure it is very important to determine what acceptable levels of heavy metal exposure are. You might be tempted to say that no exposure is acceptable,however, this would be completely unrealistic since we are exposed to heavy metals in the air we breath, water we drink, plants and the food we eat on a daily basis. Clearly it would behoove us to limit our exposure as much as possible, or at least keep levels of exposure to acceptable levels. Acceptable levels of heavy metal exposure are generally based on intake in mg/kg body weight and is multiplied by the average body mass of an adult of 60 kilograms or about 132 pounds. The exact levels published are basically best guesses at the number. Levels are determined based on estimates of Provisional Maximum Tolerable Weekly intake(PTWI) or No Significant Risk Levels (NSRLs). Adding to the confusion are problems associated with the standard limit test utilized for heavy metals which is a qualitative test that demonstrates the content of metallic impurities that are colored by sulfide ion does not exceed a specific limit. Eventually the USP and FDA will use Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) which is a much more specific and sensitive test. Now to make matters much worse lets look at how organizations such as the WHO determine what an acceptable level of arsenic is for a supplement like whey protein. I have included a brief excerpt from the “Dietary Supplement -Standard 173 Metal Contaminant Acceptance Levels”, published by the National Science Foundation. I would recommend you take a look at the entire document: http://www.nsf.org/business/newsroom/pdf/DS_Metal_Contaminant_Acceptance_Levels.pdf

The acceptable level of heavy metals of various foods varies and depends on some extent to the assumed daily consumption of a particular food. For example, the maximum amount of arsenic allowed in liver or kidney of swine is 2 mg/kg uncooked meat. The maximum lever of arsenic in bottled water (2002) 50 ug/L, uncooked muscle tissue in chicken and turkey max is 0.5 mg/kg of uncooked meat.

So what did Consumer Reports find:

This is from the July 2010 Consumer Reports Magazine.

Here are the average amounts of metals we found in three servings of these protein drinks. The maximum limits for them in dietary supplements proposed by the U.S. Pharmacopeia are: arsenic (inorganic), 15 micrograms (µg) per day; cadmium, 5 µg; lead, 10 µg; mercury, 15 µg. Amounts at or exceeding those limits are in bold. Experts said three servings a day is common.

So we don’t know what method the lab used to determine the heavy metal levels, we don’t know if it was a certified lab following USP guidelines, we must presume the maximum limits stated is for a 60 kg adult who consumes “average” amounts of other liquids and foodstuffs, and that a 10% allocation to dietary supplements limit for finished products was adhered to.

I think it quickly becomes quite obvious that the simplistic presentation by Consumer Reports may allow for many false conclusions regarding their data. I think the most accurate thing we can say is that we must always be vigilant with regards to the solids and liquids we consume. Some supplement products may not be healthy for us and whole natural food should always make up the bulk of your diet. Caveat emptor should always be your motto but be careful of scare tactics and use common sense in your dietary decisions, avoiding excess and you will probably be fine.

Randy.