Is your protein "spiked"? w. Sarah Ainlsey Harrison - Embodied Wellness Radio | Episode 17

Welcome back to another episode of Embodied Wellness Radio!  On todays episode, guest Sarah Ainsley Harrison (holistic nutritionist, Miss Canada, editorial writer for Inside Fitness Magazine, as well as brand manager for Believe Supplements) sits down with Denon to chat about the amino spiking controversy, how to avoid getting scammed by protein manufacturing companies, as well as how Believe Supplements is going above and beyond the rest to provide transparency to customers.

Podcast Blog:

• Short label.  The shorter the better. No artificial sweeteners, colours and flavours, gums, etc.
• Organic, fermented and sprouted would be ideal.
• Low levels of heavy metals, no California prop65 warning
• Good ingredients and blends of proteins such as rice and pea protein to maximize the amino acid profile
• 3rd party testing (NSF, USP, Informed Sport, Informed Choice, etc)

• Again, a short label.
• High quality sourcing, such as hormone free, organic and grass fed are ideal
• No prop65 warning
• 3rd party testing
• and the last one, and this is a big one that I want to dive into with you, is amino spiking.  I feel like I could run an entire consumer report project on this alone, so please, I would love for you to explain to the listeners what the amino spiking controversy is, and then we can talk about ways to check to see if there may be signs that your protein company is ripping you off!

• Without lab testing, it's pretty hard to tell if a protein has been amino spiked or not, but one of the first clues to look for would be looking at the branch chain amino acid content, or BCAA content of the powder.  The BCAA content of whey powder should be about 25% of the total protein content, with leucine coming in at about 11%.  So per a 30g of protein, and you check the amino acid profile on the side of the bottle, L-Leucine should read as no less than 2.7 grams.
• High amounts of cheap amino acids on the amino acid profile such as glycine, glutamine, arginine.  Creatine also contains nitrogen and can test a protein higher
• Proprietary blend (give examples)
• Cheaper per unit size as compared to others on the market of the same size (give example of this)
• If the manufacturer states directly on the supplement label that amino acids have added, and the powder has a “typical amino acid profile” or if amino acids are listed directly in the ingredients, then you know that the protein powder is fortified, meaning they've added ingredients on-top of the naturally occurring ones to help improve the blend even further, or make the protein more complete.   If they don't make those statements and amino's have been added, this should raise an eyebrow.

NOTE* We have no affiliation with any brands mentioned in todays podcast.

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Connect with Sarah Ainsley Harrison

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahainsleyh/

Connect with Believe Supplements

• Website: https://www.believesupplements.ca/
• Believe Supplements - TrueCheck Analysis (Transparent Testing) - https://www.believesupplements.ca/pages/analyze-your-products
• Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/believesupplements/

Test your own protein:

• "Dude, what's in your protein?" Video with Sarah Ainlsey Harrison