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Abstract
Protein powder consumption has increased with the rise in popularity of increasing lean body mass to develop a muscular physique. The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) does not regulate supplements because they fall under the category of special foods and not drugs. The purpose of this paper is to determine how much protein powders are currently used and how their intake contributes to adverse health effects such as kidney damage. Systematic database search inclusive of EBSCO Host, PubMed and Medline was performed on the existing literature related to implications of chronic diseases and the use of protein powder. Inclusion was based on studies exploring general risk factors associated with protein powder. Keywords used were "protein powder," "dietary supplements," "kidney failure," "cancer" and, "side effects." Studies pertaining to professional athletes using protein powder were excluded. Studies indicated whey and casein protein powders may lead to kidney failure. It was also found that some protein powders contain the heavy metal Cadmium (Cd) and artificial sweetener Sucralose, both of which show no significant toxic effects when consumed in excess. The public needs clear guidance about safe protein supplement usage. There is a lack of high-quality evidence to neither promote nor dissuade the use of protein powder supplementation amongst non-athletes.
Keywords: Protein powder adverse effects, whey protein, casein protein, kidney damage, artificial sweetener, dietary supplement, athletes
Introduction
Protein powder consumption has increased with the rise in popularity of increasing lean body mass during exercise to obtain a muscular physique. It is noted that consuming protein leads to hyper-aminoacidemia which increases the rate of skeletal muscle protein synthesis, suppresses muscle protein breakdown, and promotes the overall net protein (1). The FDA does not regulate supplements because they fall under the category of special foods and not drugs. All drugs are put through strict safety and effective testing before allowed onto the market, supplements on the other hand are viewed as safe until proven harm occurs.
There is protein concentrate vs. isolate and complete vs. incomplete protein. The protein concentrate has a major percentage of protein and the remaining percent consists of mostly fats and carbohydrates. Protein isolate removes a higher percentage of the non-protein component making the product almost pure protein. Complete protein contains all nine essential amino acids...