Here’s a little protein powder scam that few people know about: supplement manufacturers dumping cheap ingredients into their powders so that they can pass tests to claim a higher protein content than they truly have.
Scandalous, right? Well, that’s the supplement industry for you. Here’s how it happens and what to look out for on labels so that you avoid getting scammed.
What is Protein Powder Spiking?
We gym bros like protein powder. It’s a quick, convenient, and cost-effective way to hit our daily protein targets.
Whey protein is not the cheapest, but it is popular due to the high BCAA content, particularly leucine, which is critical to the muscle building process.
Now, with consumers becoming wiser there is a rising demand for products that claim to have been lab tested, but this comes at a time of overall rising global demand (and thus prices). Consumers are becoming sensitive to these price increases and given a lack of general education about what they should be looking for on the packet, the incentives for companies to cut costs by cheating the system are all there, and many do.
I’m talking about the rise of the phenomenon known as ‘protein spiking.’
How Protein Spiking Works
Some labs test for the nitrogen content of protein powder rather than the amounts of the individual amino acids – the building blocks of protein.
Under normal circumstances, as every amino acid contains nitrogen, measuring the nitrogen content of a powder should indicate how much protein it contains. However, this assumes that the manufacturers are honest, ha!
The first way they cheat the system is to dump cheap amino acids like glycine and taurine into the mix.
Amino acids are not all of equal value. This robs you of some of the ones that are critical to the muscle building process.
The second is to add other nitrogenous, but non-proteinogenic (protein creating) acids into the mix, such as creatine and beta-alanine.
These are cheaper by the gram, and gives the manufacturer the benefit of being able to list these on the packet, knowing that consumers have enough general awareness of these to think they are good, but not be educated enough to realize that, in fact, they are just being robbed of the protein they should be getting.
So, let’s say you are looking at a tub of protein and considering whether you should purchase it. The front of the packet advertises 25 g protein, 5 g creatine; the back label does not have the amino acids listed.
This could potentially mean that you have only 12 g of whey, with 5 g of creatine, 4 g of added glycine and 4 g of taurine added. – Without the individual amino acids listed, you simply do not know.
How to Check Protein Powder Quality
Let me tell you specifically what to look out for to ensure that you are using a quality product. I’ll then show you examples of me checking a few popular powders.
Some Red Flags To Look Out For When Choosing A Whey Powder:
1. It has a proprietary blend (or doesn’t list leucine content).
- Proprietary blends are just a way for manufacturers to hide the actual quantity of the ingredients they are using in the mix so that they can use less of the beneficial but expensive ones.
2. Leucine content, when listed, is lower than 2.7 g per 25 g of protein content.
- 11% of whey protein content should be leucine. So we should see ~2.75 g per 25 g of protein.
- 25% of whey protein should be BCAAs. So we should see ~6.25 g per 25 g of protein.
3. The cost per 25 g of the claimed protein content is considerably cheaper than average.
- Whey is a commodity traded on the open market. You can be ripped off and pay way too much – I’ve seen 11x market price protein from one “luxury gym” called RIZAP in Japan which targets rich but ignorant people. They are highest on my shit-list. But you should not ever find a powder that is significantly cheaper than everything else. It’s like trying to buy cheap gold bars – if you manage to find one, it is not gold.
If your protein powder doesn’t pass these checks, you’re rolling the dice with the quality of what you’re getting. I advise you buy something else.
For more useful graphics, check out my Instagram.
Comparing Whey, Beef Protein and, Vegan Protein
I feel that it might be useful if I showed you examples of me checking popular products, and at the same time drew quality comparisons of beef and vegan proteins with whey.
1. Dymatize Elite 100% Whey
You can see that there is 2.8 g of leucine listed on the front of the packet per 25 g of whey.
Double-checking the back label, the leucine quantity is only listed as 7.8 g per 100 g. This was a red flag, but I then realized that this was per 100 g of powder (the whey makes up 70% of it). Dividing 7.8 by 0.7 gives us the ~11% we are after.
This product passes our quality test. ✅
***
2. Beef Protein Isolate Sample Protein
‘Beef Protein’ appeals to consumers because the name suggests quality. But as far as I can see, this must be the only reason for the existence of this category of protein products because the quality pales in comparison to whey.
The protein that we get from meat has approximately 30% less leucine and BCAA. Powdered versions are much lower than this because the manufacturers are not creating it from the typical cuts that we like to eat, but including various parts of the animal that we don’t.
To illustrate my point I’ve chosen one of the most popular beef proteins on the market. There are two red flags on the front of the tub:
- Just 2 g of BCAAs are listed (whey would give us 6.25 g).
- There are more grams of amino acids listed than protein, 28 g vs 25 g.
Looking at the back of the packet you can see that:
- Glycine is 22.8% of the mix. This is very high. (Beef contains ~7% on average, whey protein a lot less.) Recall that glycine is one of the cheap filler amino acids that manufacturers use to pass the nitrogen testing for protein content. This is suspicious.
- Hydroxyproline is in the mix. This comes from collagen, which comes from skin, bones, and tendons. This explains why the amino acid number is higher than the protein number because it is a non-proteinogenic amino acid.
This powder does not pass our quality test. I cannot recommend this product. ❌
***
3. SunWarrior Warrior Blend Plant-based Protein
Note: The amino acids are listed per serving, each containing 19 g of protein.
Most of the vegan protein powders I have come across do not have the amino acids listed. The few that do are complete shit. This is one of the exceptions, but you pay dearly for it.
The leucine content is 8.6% versus whey’s 11%. The BCAA content (noted by the red stars) is 17.7% versus whey’s 25%. The essential amino acid (EAA) content is 39% (this is the red plus yellow stars), versus whey’s typical 50-60%. (Essential, in the nutritional context, means that it cannot be made in the body, we have to get from our diets.)
Unfortunately, to get a reasonably high-quality plant-based protein that also stands up to testing like this one, you need to pay a lot more than whey. When I checked for the lowest selling prices on Amazon, this is 3.3x the cost of the Dymatize Elite Whey.
Unless you are a vegan, I don’t recommend this product. ❌
***
Protein Quality – Frequently Asked Questions
What do you think of [product name]? What products do you recommend?
I will not make specific recommendations because a manufacturer can change the formula of their products at any time. Use this guide to make an educated decision on buying a product that is available to you at a reasonable cost and shipping rate in your country. I’m not here to make that decision for you.
Does this advice apply to pre-packaged protein drinks and protein bars?
Yes. I’d bet the abuse is even more rife for these small item purchases because the manufacturers know that people will neither think to check, nor likely demand it.
I am lactose intolerant and cannot consume whey shakes. Is there anything you recommend as an alternative?
A 70:30 mix of pea and rice protein closely mimics the amino acid profile of whey. You can order custom blends from a number of stores, I’ve heard good things about True Nutrition.
What protein do you use?
The Dymatize Elite Whey. It passed quality test at the time of purchase (product formulas change, so always check), is as reasonably priced as anything else I can get here in Tokyo, and they agreed to fund my friend Alan Aragon’s protein research regardless of the results – a rare honest gesture that I appreciate.
How does the quality of casein protein compare?
Similar enough to whey to not have any meaningful difference.
How much of my daily protein intake is it fine to get from protein shakes?
There is no upper threshold I can point to; whey is just a powdered food source after all. However, it’s best to think of protein powders as compliments to an already varied diet – supplemental. The one serious consideration is that when you are dieting, hunger will be your enemy at some point. Limit the calories you drink in favor of real food as this will help.
How do we know that the product labels are accurate?
The short answer is that we can’t be certain.
LabDoor is a company that performs independent quality checks and displays the results of their test results online. However, I take issue with the overall scoring system they use. As they are such a popular website, I feel this needs to be addressed.
LabDoor defines ‘quality’ as purity, safety, and accuracy of labeling. This is how they define those terms and what the problem is with them.
- Purity – This means how much of the powder is protein, not how much of the protein is protein. This punishes whey concentrate powders unfairly because they contain more carbs, favoring the more expensive whey isolate powders. This should not factor into the rank in my opinion.
- Safety – Pretty much anything containing any form of artificial sweeteners have red ingredient safety ratings, despite the lack of evidence of the ones flagged as being harmful in human trials.
- Accuracy – This measures only the accuracy of the label claims, and only counts for 10% of the overall score.
So, do not choose a protein based on it having a high rank in LabDoor. There are high-ranking but low leucine and BCAA containing products on their list. What I recommend that you do is find a product you are considering first, then check there only to see if the label accuracy rating is high and take that to be a proxy of the accuracy of the leucine and BCAA claim. Ignore everything else.
*****
Thank you for reading. Questions welcomed in the comments.
– Andy
Please keep questions on topic, write clearly, concisely, and don't post diet calculations.
Privacy policy.
Hi
Labdoor lists Acesulfame-K and Sucralose in their “Watchlist items”. Acesulfame-K is a controversial artificial sweetener linked to a negative influence on taste preference. Pending research is testing hypotheses regarding Ace K’s negative effects on cognitive function, prenatal development, and carcinogenicity.
what’s your take on that as all Dymatize Elite flavors contain Acesulfame-K ??
Hi Uzi, thanks for the question.
For things like this, I defer to the information the team of researchers at Examine.com put out. Here’s one of the relevant pages on artificial sweeteners, though I’m sure you’ll find more if you dig further.
I haven’t heard anything new since I last looked into artificial sweeteners that was cause for concern, but if I do I will update my recommendations.
I have an isolate powder that lists 9.158g of leucine per 100g of powder, giving me 13%. Is a higher than 11% amount of leucine also a red flag?
Not necessarily. They could have added leucine, but that would be unusual. I’m not sure if there is another reason it would be slightly above. Unless the math is off.
Anyway, if it’s a known brand at the right (average) market price, there’s less cause for concern. Otherwise, your call.
Hi Andy,
this is a great article and really helpful, the protein I am currently using is one of the cheapest on the market and does provide amino breakdown. Would you be able to help me understand if it is a quality protein.
Thank you.
Yes, that’s what this article is for.
Now, if you’re asking me to look at the product and tell you, then no. — I teach people how to fish, I don’t fish for them.
But if there’s something you don’t understand, please feel free to ask.
Actually I have tried to look into it in a way you mentioned in the article, it only list’s about 18 of the amino’s out of 21 and also they are way cheaper than most other brands I can find
(30g serve –> approx 27g protein with ~3.5g Leucine (roughly 12% so it falls within the range you mentioned)
My concerns
– I am OVO-vegetarian (so I already find it difficult to complete the complete amino chain just through whole food diet and if I am missing important amino’s from my protein powder too Ill have to look for other sources…- (should there be more than 18 amino’s?)
Thanks
There are 21. Regardless, if they’ve already tripped the red flag of being significantly cheaper I’d avoid them for reasons stated above.
It’s like buying cheap gold, there isn’t any. Gold is gold.
Now, there are profit margins on whey, obviously, but they’re slim relative to other products. So, if this brand is significantly cheaper than most other brands on the market, they are either selling in such bulk that they can afford to bring the price down, or… well, they’re doing something dodgy.
If I were you, I’d avoid them.
Thank you, Andy… I really appreciate the information you provide…Thank you.
Most welcome, Andrew!
hi there is a company(perfect sports) that is doing something strange tell me what you think. they have whey isolates and the list their amino acid profile. but when it comes to their concentrate there is no list yet the website says BCAA 6g EAA 7G non essential 11G for a total of 24G of protein from 1 35g scoop.
they breakdown the bioactive fractions in %. when i asked them to tell me the amino acid profile of their whey concentrate they said “Hi, We’ve yet to do an analysis on the specific amino acid breakdown on the product. So, we unfortunately, can not provide the amino acid profile at this time.” does that make sense or are they hiding something?
They have the BCAA and EAA content on the website, which suggests they have done the test. So, either the website is wrong or the customer support person is wrong. Either way, I’d go with something else.
I guess the other possibility is that there’s a way to test for BCAA and EAA content, without testing for the individual amino acids.
yeah i’m going with something else. i have bought 3 or four different protein supplements and i would have to say getting a response to a question via telephone is impossible they have no number and email is rarely responded too. i emailed one company dec 2018 and contacted them on facebook and still almost a year later no response to the question about their amino acid profile. as a general rule i believe if something was good about the product they would have it on the container if it’s not there it’s cause it’s not good.
In the past, consumers weren’t aware of what the amino acids and what to look for, so brands didn’t dedicate label space to it.
However, as consumers have become more educated, brands are now more incentivized to update their labeling. Some will still be behind on this, and some aren’t behind but are purposefully not, because they don’t meet the standard.
So, they could just be slow in updating their product labels, but even so, the best thing is to avoid anything without it on there.
Hi Andy,
Thank you for managing this thorough website dedicated to helping people for FREE! What are your thoughts on protoleyic enzymes and the science claiming we can only absorb a small amount of protein per hour?
There is indeed a limit to the rate at which we can absorb protein per hour (~8-10g per hour for whey), but that doesn’t mean that the rest isn’t put to good use, nor that this rate limitation is a bad thing.
There are three proteolytic enzymes produced naturally in the body to break down protein in meals. I don’t have any particular thoughts on them. Unless you’re asking because this is a new thing being marketed as a supplement. If that’s the case I’d need to see research pointing to this being more beneficial over the long term.
This paper is easy to read and provides an excellent summary on this topic: How much protein can the body use in a single meal for muscle-building? Implications for daily protein distribution.
Thank you for the quick response, that article speaks slightly over my head but I tried to understand it as best I could. I was asking about the supplements or consuming enzymes from fresh food sources such as papaya/kiwi/pineapple. For now I plan to avoid the supplements until an authority on the subject confirms its usefulness. Ultimately I want to avoid over spending hard earned money on expensive protein if it is just wasted through excrement. Your reply suggests that’s not the case.
Correct! Though there is no need to supplement with it if you get enough protein through food throughout the day. Whey is just a powdered food, helpful to hit protein targets if you struggle otherwise.
Thank you for the post. Sometimes it’s hard to teach a man to fish, tho. For those who are curious about MyProtein, here’s the profile for all Impact whey protein (isolate, blend, etc): [Deleted]
Sometimes it’s hard to teach a man to fish, tho.
People have to be willing to learn to actually learn. Most just want to be spoon fed. This is fine, but I don’t write for nor work with the latter group.
I’m not sure if you’ve listed the My Protein because you’re confused as to how to assess the quality of it as it’s listed as 100 g, but it’s quite simple: The BCAAs add to 22.9 g, the leucine is listed as 10.6 g. The quality check is 25% and 11% respectively. This is close enough in my eyes.
I deleted your link because I won’t have external links to supplement companies on my website, so I took a screenshot of the relevant section here:
Hi Andy, Great article! Do you still use The Dymatize Elite Whey ? Hope you will answer, Ty 🙂
Hi Jiman,
I understand you asking, but what I personally choose is truly irrelevant, how I decide what I buy is what’s important.
I choose a protein based on quality, which you now know how to do. The next thing I look at is price, when including taxes and shipping fees to Japan, which is where I live.
Hello, Andy
What do you think of Rule 1 protein products? They use a “nutrition facts” rather than a “supplement facts” label. They also include lecithin as an ingredient.
Please see the first FAQ item.
Hi Andy,
Thanks for all your great content I was really interested to read the information about protein powders but I have some questions I wonder if you could help with.
I started looking around for a casein protein powder without sweeteners or flavours – just plain casein protein that fits the leucine profile you suggest (+/- 2.75 gms leucine per 25 gms protein) but I am finding it impossible so far. So I started to wonder does casein protein have a different leucine profile to whey ? Looked at whey to compare but this seems to be a similar situation. I just don’t need & don’t particularly like the additives in these powders but surely there must be a product on the market that is additive free but meets the profile?
Then I happened upon bulk supplements companies that sell leucine powder on its own & I wondered if this might be an option to buy the cheapest plain casein powder on the market which is the closest to the leucine profile you suggest & boost it with some pure leucine powder.
Appreciate any comments you have about above.
I just don’t need & don’t particularly like the additives in these powders but surely there must be a product on the market that is additive free but meets the profile?
– I don’t know.
I wondered if this might be an option to buy the cheapest plain casein powder on the market which is the closest to the leucine profile you suggest & boost it with some pure leucine powder.
– Just have a little more protein from real food instead, meaning, bump your protein intake for the day by ~20 g.
Hi Andy! What a great read was this, thank you so much! In my country whey is affordable but casein is high priced and hard to find. Is egg protein powder a good substitute? i would love to mix egg and whey protein whenever i have little time to eat. I dont know if im right but i think egg+whey would last longer to be digested. Do you recommend only whey or whey+egg in this case?
Thank you so much andy, your site is pure gold, i cant thank you enough. A big hug from Argentina!
I haven’t looked up the length of digestion for egg protein, but it would be fine to mix if it meets the standards above. In general, it’s not worth worrying about the speed of digestion.
Thank you so much Andy! Every time i have asked you something you give me a good answer and that is really means a lot in this “internet-coach-era” so thank you so so much
Most welcome, Maxy.
Around when IF/LG was reaching its peak popularity, [X] also started to gain a lot of popularity. Somewhat surprised it’s not mentioned..
– decent price (~$3.8-$4.4 USD/100g Protein, depending what you get/where you buy)
– has proper bcaa content (~23-24% of total protein, and ~10-11% of total protein is leucine)
– plenty of flavors taste great, macro friendly, and even has fiber
I have readers all over the world different products available to them. So I don’t give recommendations, it’s better to teach people how to assess what they have available to them. This is more empowering and is the way I like to coach clients also.
Note: I’ve deleted the product name.
Hi Andy,
great article.
I am struggling with dumping my default protein powder when I compare its amino acid profile with your reccomendation. Maybe you can help me with a short rating from your side 🙂
It is listed that L-Glycin is added additionally to the soy/whey/mil-mix resulting in 7,55% of Leucine and 13,47% of Glycin. So Leucine is below your reccomendation of 11% but Glycine is not above the 22,8% of the Beef Protein Isolate you have analyzed above.
I would like to read from you whether you consider this Leucine/Glycine ratio as a good or a bad protein powder. And may be you can tell me what it is best to look for; either high Leucine (x>=11%) or low Glycine (x<=15% or similar) when I meet a powder that cannot fullfill both requirements.
Thanks a lot!
The glycine content will differ depending on the protein source. (I do not those numbers, but you can google it, run the averages and see if your powder has likely been spiked).
Honestly, I wouldn’t bother though. When you are done with that powder I’d just get a better one what meets the requirements above.
Hi Andy,
I was wondering what your opinion would be on Huel’s amino acid profile, and whether you would recommend supplementing BCAAs (or an excuse to eat a steak more often)? (see here: https://uk.huel.com/pages/nutritional-information-and-ingredients#amino)
It’s ~30g of protein per 100g of huel thus the amino acid profile is based off around that. While the leucine amount seems reasonable the general volume of BCAAs is quite poor. I’m not sure about the other stuff.
I have approx 3 shakes a day throughout work (I have work very busy 12 hour shifts) alongside lunch and dinner. Try to avoid whey as it’s detrimental to my bulk (satiates for too long + bloating).
Cheers.
Hi G. I can’t offer to look at specific powders and give opinions. However, if the product has only 30g of protein per 100g, you’ve bought a ‘mass gain’ powder which mostly carbs. You’re better off buying a whey powder and eating real food instead.
As for the quality of the protein in that powder, the same rules apply but to the 30 g. So, multiply by 0.3 if the ingredients are listed per 100 g when checking.
Hi Andy,
The Protein I have been using is a 37g scoop, claims 30g of protein. L-Leucine content is 3.056 grams, but the total amino acid profile adds up to 30.117 grams (Per scoop, 37G serving)
Does this mean I am getting almost no protein?
Protein is made up of amino acids, so those numbers match.
The leucine content is a little over 10% of the protein powder, which is close enough to 11%.
Hello Andy,
First of all thanks for all the information on the website, I’ve been reading it for years.
In May of last year I decided to start working out with the big 3 routine and then added some tricep dips and chin-ups (3x a week). But I’m thinking about stopping since I realized too much hair was falling from my head and I don’t have genetics for AGA (I’m 30 though). I don’t know if it has something to do with the protein powder I was having (WPI from Alpron and Big casein from Bulksports ) or with the weightlifting itself (high levels of testosterone produces more DHT). So I stopped having the powders for a week and continued weightlifting, and didn’t change anything. What do you think about it? Do you know any similar cases?
Best regards
Marcel
Hi Marcel. I’ve only heard of hair loss with people that use steroids, as this pushes testosterone levels far above the regular physiological range. Training will only have a small effect on t-levels, not an order of magnitude effect, like with steroid use, so I can’t see that being the cause.
I’ve never heard of someone going bald due to their diet, but I am not the best person to ask about that.
Andy,
Long time, no message. When last we exchanged emails I was abroad in Asia, but I’m now permanently back in Japan, Tokyo to be exact. While following your Instagram feed I realized we share a second common interest: fast cars. Anyway, I digress.
You mention you have an affordable source for Dymatize. Where are you buying from? My protein in Japan has come from Amazon and Costco so far.
Hi JB!
iHerb.
I use Myprotein brand Impact whey protein. I have read good reviews about it but discovered there is no listed leucine content on the packaging.
Is this a warning sign?
It could be perfectly fine, but the point is, you simply do not know.
When you say ‘reviews,’ if you mean laboratory test results, then that’s one thing. But if you’re referring to customer reviews, then, “It tastes good. or “It worked for me!” doesn’t mean shit. There is not a difference to either taste nor be able to tell in terms of results as there is nothign to fairly compare against.
Pinned this article immediately. Thoughts on Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard whey? It lists 5.5 grams of BCAAs but not a specific gram count for leucine. I’ve been using it for years now, but would love your feedback. Thank you!
Thank you.
It lists 5.5 grams of BCAAs but not a specific gram count for leucine.
I don’t know any more than what is on the label, but I Labdoor.com does tests and probably has this.
Without the leucine listed there is no way to tell if, as the most expensive amino acid, it’s been stripped out to be sold elsewhere. That’s probably unlikely, but still worth pointing out.
Also, it’s 0.75 g short of what I would expect for 25g of whey.
I agree with your view on the specific vegan product listed. I’ve used it. Maybe you should also point out that Rice protein isolate has far higher quantities of arginine per gram than whey protein isolate. Furthermore when you consume adequate doses of Rice Protein Isolate (48g per serving) versus Whey isolate(48g) their are no difference in muscle/strength and recovery capabilites between the two proteins: Read this study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3698202/
Cheers mate.
Hi Vince, thank you for pointing that out. A 70:30 mix of pea and rice protein closely mimics the amino acid profile of whey, which can be ordered as a custom blend from a number of stores. I’ve added that to the article.
Great timing Andy. A new protein supplier has just popped up in NZ, and one of the biggest attractions to them is the low cost. I’ve just checked for Leucine content, and shocked to see none.
I also noted the term, “Whey Protein concentrate.” Is that what you mean when you say proprietary blend?
Cheers Andy
No. Concentrate is a whey protein type, whey isolate generally has fewer carbs but for a higher cost.
A proprietary blend is where manufacturers write something like:
Proprietary Amazing GetFUckingHuuuuge Matrix, 10g.
Ingredients: Creatine, Taurine, Glycine, Leucine, Valine, Isoleucine
By doing this they can hide the actual amounts of the good shit and add in useless crap to increase their profit margins.