Key Points
The findings of the analysis carried out on 36 different brands of protein powders, including those containing herbal and dietary supplements such as vitamins, minerals, and other natural or synthetic ingredients, werepublishedin the peer-reviewed journal Medicine last week...
Protein supplements are extracts or concentrates of high protein foodstuff used for bodybuilding and as a dietary supplement to fulfil protein intake in a lean and pure source of proteins and amino acids (the building blocks of proteins)...
We demonstrate that the protein-based herbal and dietary supplement industry requires stringent scrutiny, regulation, and basic safety studies before being marketed, the authors said.. Dr Cyriac Abby Philips, hepatologist from Rajagiri Hospital in Aluva in Kerala, the principal investigator of the self-funded study, told ThePrint that though there is published data from various research groups and clinical units across the world on organ damage, especially liver injury due to herbal and dietary supplements, there has been no proactive and prospective analysis of widely utilised supplements especially protein-based in published literature...
There are occasional published reports that look at the quality of whey protein and amino acids analysis in protein supplements to identify amino acid spiking or doping to falsely elevate protein content, he said.. Philips added that one study also looked at how marketed protein supplements adhered to regulations with respect to quality but much of this was done on protein supplements sold in the US and there were no such studies done from the Asia Pacific region...
The safety of contents in protein-based herbal and dietary supplementsmust be assured by the manufacturer, while the content and labelling are scrutinised by the FSSAI, based on test results submitted by the manufacturer that are not made public and remain non-transparent, according to the studys authors...
