Protein scam or not?

[OKIE]

A friend of mine told me that his masters class at a local University tested 3 dfferent protein powers to actually see how much protein they contained. @ of them were from the US and the other was from German laboratories. The two from the US claimed to have over 30g of protein per serving, but actually had closer to 17g. The German brand actually exceeded its claim of 33g of protein. He said companies in the US can get away with this because they just have to be within aroound 25% of its label to meet US standards, while German standards specify that its products must meet or exceed the label. How much of this is true?

 

[FitnessFrk]

there are now hundreds of suppliers these days that sell supplments. what you said is one of the main reasons to buy them from big, reputable companys like EAS, Optimum, Met Rx etc.

so I'm sure that very well could be true. there are a lot of little bull shit scam companys out there especailly on the Internet.

 

[Enock]

Officially they have to be within 5% of the label claims in the US.

Meeting or exceeding the label isn't always good take saturated fat. oh look its legal we have 80grams of saturated fat and we only claim to have 5 and look we exceed calories too our new dieters twinkies only have 5 calories but yet we go beyond and exceed this claim since they really have 800.

What your friend said ranges from outright wrong (25% us) to sketchy generalization to a point that the statement means nothing. I wonder if this *study* wasn't funded by a german protein producing company.

Its true some companies to vary wild from the label claims this happens more in herbal ingredients than actual food required labels which are more strictly governed.

 

[tropicdude]

I think that what makes it all inconsistant are the way we measure, a scoop is not always a scoop, a powder can be more "fluffier" or compact, so youll get more protien with one than the other, the comparison should be gram to gram, in other words, 100 grams of this stuff compared to 100 grams of that. even then, you could have moisture that throws that out of whack

 

[chillin408]

If this is true, then I should probably start buying from the manufactors or places like protein factory, or if possible to buy german company protein in the US. At least with protein factory and manufactors you know what your getting...."80% WPC" for example.

If companies do this on purpose then I'm sure they exceed the amount of saturated fat and carbs and decrease the amount of protein.

 

[OKIE]

Actually, I believe one of the powders tested was from MetRX, and he wasn't certain what % the US standard had to be held to, only that German companies are held to a much higher standard. The study was not funded by a German company, it was funded by the University. I don't know all the details, but I'll see what more I can find out w/o getting anyone in trouble.

 

[cure]

What i don't understand is why can't at least some companies come out and be reputable. Seems like everything is a scam now a days.

 

[chillin408]

Yea, I would think with all the government "protection" that underdosing would be a federal crime, but with whole pharmcuetical industry scam in play it probably is only rational to believe that protection is not a primary objective.

 

[cure]

In the business i'm in if i would tell my client "yup i'm done, everything is 100% complete" and it wasn't i'm sure they would either not pay me or take me to court. I'm guessing multi-billion dollar companies are excluded from this practice.

 

[anthrax]

protein powders are just supplements, not drugs.
So the FDA is "less strict" for sup. manufacturer than for the pharmaceutical industry.

Just stick with reputable brands: they can't cheat too much