Use Protein Powder for Bodybuilding? The Hidden Dangers in Protein Powder You Need to Know about

welcome to Integrative Medicine perspective I'm Dr Wendy Liu use of protein powder is extremely common in our life if you go to a grocery store in the supplement aisle you can easily see various kinds of protein powders occupying a quarter or even half of the grocery shelves many among my patients clients and Friends use protein powder I asked them why they use protein powder their answers mainly give two reasons one is that protein is a better energy than sugar so our diet should be high protein and low carbohydrates so the protein powder definitely can help with the high protein part now another reason is that muscle formation takes protein protein powder can help increase protein intake so increase muscle formation protein powder is extremely common among cancer patients especially those with malnutrition and severe weight loss their dietitians and the nutritionists will encourage them to use protein powders to ensure adequate protein intake now our protein powders are beneficial and harmless I don't think so I really think protein powder has some hidden dangers um Harvard Health publishing posted an article uh previously warning people about toxin contaminations uh in commercially available protein powders I put the link to that article below certainly toxin contamination is a serious problem but let's say those protein powders are pure protein without any contamination are they then become harmless I think when it comes to the use of protein powder we at least needed to ask ourselves to questions one is that is protein a better energy than sugar the second is in our dietary approaches to help ensure adequate protein intake what is the position of protein powder well let's start with the first question is protein a better energy than sugar protein to our body the main function is structural the formation and repair of our bone muscle down to every single cell requires protein there are other biochemical functions require protein for instance the production of nitric oxide requires an amino acid called arginine what does nitric oxide do for us it can dilate blood vessels reduce blood pressure it inhibits platelet gathering in other words it inhibits blood clot formation so you can see its important function in the management of coronary artery disease and hypertension as a matter of fact many pharmaceutical agents are designed based on that mechanism but when our body uh acquires an excessive amount of protein more than our structural needs more than those biochemical function uh requires our body does not have specific places to store protein so what do we do with the excess protein well our body can burn it for energy we can also turn protein into fat and store it in the fatty tissue so excessive amount of protein intake can lead to increased fat Mass formation and increased cholesterol levels beyond that regardless whether our body turn protein into energy or turn it into fat for storage the two processes will generate nitrogen containing waste ammonium excessive amount ammonium is harmful to our body it can lead to inflammation the major organs to manage ammonium are the liver and kidneys so excessive amount of protein intake not only can lead to increased fat formation elevated cholesterol levels and inflammation it also puts excessive amount of burden on the liver and kidneys so our protein intake should not be excessive definitely not the higher the merrier it should be the right amount adequate but not excessive on the other hand the burning of sugar only generates carbon dioxide and water it does not have the problem of nitrogen containing waste so as a form of energy sugar is cleaner than protein now I'm not here to promote consumption of sugar or any form of refined carbohydrates I think in our dietary approaches those pure calorie empty foods have very limited functions this will lead to our second question increase the protein intake help muscle formation that probably is only halfway true and we have to exercise to help with muscle formation but let's say we exercise and we use protein powder to help a protein intake but we don't go over an excessive amount is that okay we just talked about uh empty calorie foods the reason we call sugar and refine the carbohydrates empty calorie foods because they are empty of nutrients vitamins minerals Trace elements antioxidants and probably many other essential but unknown nutrients by that concept protein powders are also Pure or near pure protein extracts from Foods they are also empty of nutrients so in my opinion protein powder is another form of empty calorie foods people might ask well I use protein powder and it definitely helped with my muscle formation how do you explain that when our body acquire empty calorie foods we need various nutrients to properly metabolize those energy those empty calorie foods that certainly don't come with nutrients so where do we get all those nutrients well we make it from other Foods that means when we use protein powder as one of the major protein approach we need to consider nutrients balance we need to make sure that our other foods will provide adequate nutrients to help properly metabolize the protein intake let's say we don't get enough nutrient intake we still have our body reserved to use we can get nutrients from our nutritional Reserve to help metabolize the pure protein when we are healthy our nutritional Reserve is more than likely adequate so a very short period of time of empty calorie food intake may not result in serious nutritional issues but if we consume empty calorie foods every day we use our body's nutritional Reserve every day is that a good long-term nutritional method more than likely not for cancer patients with severe malnutrition and weight loss or for patients with any other chronic illnesses and the mild nutrition if we just increase protein intake by the form of protein powder or probably use some protein shakes when we solve the underlying malnutrition problem that is a question for patients doctors nutritionist and dietitian to ask I think for these vulnerable population our dietary approach our nutritional approach needs to be much more comprehensive complete and balanced than just ensure adequate calorie and protein intake I certainly agree with Harvard's um articles warning about toxin contamination in protein powders but even without any contamination I still think protein powder is just another form of empty calorie by that concept it is not any better than sugar I love to see your comments and questions please tell me your thoughts about protein powder and that's all for today I will see you soon

Channel: Integrative Medicine Perspective

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Length: 9min 40sec (580 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 21 2023