Adding a scoop of a protein powder to a shake or\nsmoothie sure sounds like a good idea. After all, proteins are essential nutrients for the human\nbody. They are one of the building blocks of body\ntissue and can also serve as fuel sources. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But\nthere\u2019s a very important distinction to be made between the protein in meat,\nfish, poultry (and other whole-food sources) and the powder that comes out of that\nbox, bag, or jar. Read this post carefully before you touch another\nprotein-fortified drink, snack bar or supplement. Your brain will thank you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amino acids <\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Proteins are polymer chains made of amino\nacids linked together by peptide\nbonds. During human digestion, proteins are broken down in the stomach to smaller polypeptide\nchains via hydrochloric acid and protease enzyme actions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When protein is ingested and then broken into individual\namino acids, those individual amino acids proceed slowly through the human digestion\nprocesses. Unless one is allergic or sensitive to the food that contains the\nprotein, its amino acids continue along to be digested without adverse effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But if protein is broken into individual amino acids before<\/em><\/strong>\nit is ingested, those free amino acids take on a toxic potential that they\nwould never have ingested as part of a whole protein. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Take glutamic\nacid (glutamate). When released from\nprotein during digestion, glutamate is vital to normal body function. Often\nreferred to as \u201ca building block of protein,\u201d it is the major neurotransmitter\nin the human body, carrying nerve impulses from glutamate stimuli to glutamate\nreceptors throughout the body. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet, when freed from its protein source (be it from milk, peas, soy, etc.) and then consumed in amounts that exceed what the healthy human body was designed to accommodate, glutamate takes on \u201cexcitotoxic\u201d properties. <\/em><\/strong>What was a normally functioning neurotransmitter turns hostile, firing repeatedly and damaging receptor cells in the brain and elsewhere until they die. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Excitotoxins <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The U.S. Food\nand Drug Administration (FDA) makes a labeling distinction between whole\nprotein foods and potentially excitotoxic processed protein products that are\nmade up of individual amino acids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n FDA rules say\nthat an unadulterated tomato is to be called a \u201ctomato.\u201d A \u201cpea\u201d is required to\nbe called a \u201cpea\u201d and whey is called \u201cwhey.\u201d Those are their common or usual\nnames. No reference is made to the fact that these protein-containing foods\ncontain protein. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In contrast, when\namino acids are freed from proteins such as peas, the resulting ingredients will\nbe called \u201cpea protein,\u201d or \u201cisolated pea protein,\u201d \u201cpea protein concentrate,\u201d\nor \u201chydrolyzed pea protein.\u201d And you\u2019ll find these ingredients in all kinds of\nfood products, including a popular dairy-free drink called Ripple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other food ingredients that have the same excitotoxic properties have names that include the words<\/a> \u201chydrolyzed,\u201d \u201cautolyzed,\u201d \u201camino acid,\u201d \u201cL-glutamate,\u201d \u201cglutamic acid,\u201d and \u201cL-glutamic acid.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n So, why haven\u2019t you come across this information before? Why are products containing these brain-damaging excitotoxins even allowed on the market? <\/p>\n\n\n\n The answers lie in the dark history of an unregulated industry \u2013 \u201cpoliced\u201d by an FDA that chooses to look the other way. That history can be read in The Toxicity\/Safety of Processed Free Glutamic Acid (MSG): A study in Suppression of Information<\/a>. Accountability in Research<\/em>. 1999(6):259-310; by A. Samuels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To learn more about how the FDA cooperates with Ajinomoto, the world\u2019s largest producer of monosodium glutamate, check out this page<\/a> at our website. <\/p>\n