THE BIG PROTEIN SCAM
Due to global supply and shipping shortages, the cost of whey protein powder has gone up between 100% – 200%.
Unfortunately, certain supplement brands found a loophole to create much cheaper, lower quality “protein” products in order to maintain high profit margins.
Brands are now mixing low quality protein sources like soy / wheat with small amounts of whey or worse, adding amino acids to spike the nitrogen protein content, ultimately scamming the consumers that believe they are getting a high quality protein product.
Some brands stipulate on the label that the protein content is from nitrogen. If you see similar wording to: *Protein calculation based on Nitrogen content, under the Nutritional information panel (lists energy, protein, fat, carbohydrates etc.). You have been scammed.
This deceptive practice is called Amino / Nitrogen Spiking, used to exaggerate the protein claim on labels and cheat consumers out of real protein.
Simply put, Nitrogen protein spiking is when a manufacturer takes the more expensive whey protein out of a product and replaces it with cheap amino acids. These amino acids are non-proteinogenic which means they are not coded for building protein.
Amino acids are added to protein powder with low protein levels to spike nitrogen value on protein tests. In order to test protein value in a supplement for label claim, a nitrogen value test is done. However, amino acids test much higher in nitrogen than whey protein does.
The problem is many brands don’t adjust the protein value down, they pretend that a single amino acid is a protein and make a false protein claim on the label. This practice is most commonly found in mass builders that contains a bunch of extra amino acids such as creatine, glycine and taurine.
Next time you’re investing in a brand, make the premium quality choice, trust ALPHA SPORTS NUTRITION® with your health and fitness goals.
