The Truth About Protein Supplements

Protein supplements are one of the most in-demand nutrient supplements in the market. Nowadays, more and more people are being health conscious and with that, there is often a demand for protein supplements.

Most of them have it for building their muscles and some of them have it to satisfy their daily protein requirements, as sometimes it’s difficult to meet requirements from diet alone. Anyways, today let us do some scientific review and get a deeper insight into protein supplements.

What are protein supplements?

Protein supplements are the concentrated form of protein that is sourced either from plants or from animals and often made into a powder. Each scoop of the protein powder can provide around 20-40 grams of protein depending on its purity. If sourced from plants, it’s normally from hemp, rice, pea, soy, and other legumes. Protein powder from animal sources is mainly from two of the milk proteins, whey, and Casein.

While curdling the milk, the casein protein is the one that gets curdled and whey is the liquid part. These are subjected to spray drying and made into powder. Whey protein is the most used one and has highly bioavailable essential amino acids in it. Powders sourced from other animal sources like eggs, chicken, and red meat are also available in the market, though not very common. There are some algal protein powders available too.

Uses and benefits of protein supplements

● Protein powders, as said earlier, are mainly used by bodybuilders to gain muscles. Protein being an essential macronutrient, is highly involved in muscle formation, tissue formation, and growth.

● It can be a convenient source of protein for meeting daily protein requirements for those who find it difficult to have the recommended protein amount each day.

● Adequate consumption of good quality protein with each meal, natural or supplement, can help you to stay fuller, reduce appetite, and thus helps to manage body weight. For weight loss, a calorie deficit diet with adequate protein is recommended.

● A surplus calorie diet with 20-30 g protein powder with every meal will do the reverse and help you to gain weight. Adequate protein helps to gain muscle mass rather than fat mass, which is very healthy.

● Protein supplements helps to speed up the recovery after the workouts as it has tissue repairing and regeneration ability.

● In elderly people, adequate and regular consumption of protein powder can help to reduce muscle loss and prevent injuries.

● Protein supplements come in several flavors and their powdered consistency helps us to incorporate them into any meal preparations.

● Many protein supplements have several vitamins and minerals incorporated into them which makes them even more nourishing.

Do they have any downsides?

● You are at the risk of overconsumption of protein while having protein supplements. Thus, it’s always necessary to keep an account of how much protein you are having each day. Excess can lead to some health issues like kidney, liver, or bone problems.

● The possibility of contaminants, especially heavy metals contamination is a serious concern. In an investigation conducted by a nonprofit organization, around 75% of 130+ top-selling protein supplements have high lead contamination. Apart from this, metals like mercury, arsenic, and cadmium are also seen in some protein supplements.

● Another negative point about protein supplements is that they are really expensive sometimes and thus it is more sensible to use natural whole foods instead.

How much protein powder should I have?

The recommended daily allowance for a normal person is around 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. This means that if you weigh 60 kg, you should be taking approximately 48-50 grams of protein. If you are looking for bodybuilding and gaining muscle mass, then around 1-2 grams of protein per day will be enough.

Always remember, that arbitrary consumption of protein supplements will do more harm than good. Excess consumption will put an extra load on your kidneys and liver and may cause damage in the long run.

So, as the bottom line, protein supplements are great for athletes, persons having regular workouts, older adults, and the ones having a protein deficit diet. If you are having a well-balanced diet and don't do any intense training, then you are good to go, no need to have any protein supplements.

That’s all! Yes, one thing more, whenever you buy one, get it from a reputed company that has done third-party testing on the product to ensure its safety. If you have any doubts, comments are always welcomed.