Is this protein product good?

[[xeno]Julios]

http://www.interactivenutrition.com/products/completevegetarian.php

I bought it because it's a great deal in terms of amount of protein you get per dollar.

Is the amino acid profile suitable for bodybuilding?

 

[Ruthenian]

I think that this will work.  Both soy and the rice/pea combination are considered "complete" proteins based upon their PDCAAS.  The addition of the rice/pea protein to the soy appears to have increased the level of essential amino acids and BCAAs in most cases.

I would be interested in what percentage is soy isolate.  It is listed first and similar combinations I have seen can be over 90% soy protein.  There are some who think that soy protein is terrible for men due to a potential weak estrogenic effect.  For every study they cite, there are others that say otherwise, so it becomes one of those "who do you believe" issues.  Personally, I note growth when I increase my soy protein intake, so I am coming around to thinking it is not so bad in appropriate amounts.  Still, I shy away from making the majority of my protein come from soy.

Are you interested in this because you are a vegan/vegetarian? If so, here are some other thoughts:

Naturade's Soy-Free Vegetable Protein is good, but they are currently in Chapter 11 and this won't be available again until late May (I hope).  It is somewhat expensive, though.

I have been using brown rice protein lately -- it is not ideal, but you can get larger quantities for fairly cheap.  Unfortunately, it seems to cause gas problems just as much as soy.

 

[Ruthenian]

You got me to thinking about protein quality, so I made a spreadsheet that compares the amino acid profile of powders to the "ideal" profile used by WHO and integrated into the PDCAAS evaluation.  The limiting factor of this product is Lysine at 90% of the ideal profile.  This means that to get the equivalent of 100 gms of the "ideal," you would need to take 111 grams of this product.  Not too bad, though you still have to consider issues like any concerns about soy.

The other products I mention don't fair nearly as well, with the Naturade coming in at 63% for sulfur-containing amino acids (methionine and cysteine) -- a 160 gm equivalent. The rice protein (which I noted wasn't ideal) is Lysine limited at 47%, requiring a 213 gm equivalent.  From what I can now see, the best single vegetarian source is pea protein. A 75/25% combo of pea and rice is close to ideal.  Considering the rice results, I am definitely looking to switch (or add some lysine).  

Note than many of these non-soy vegetarian sources run roughly twice the cost of whey.  Whey itself is an interesting case, as everyone seems to have their own way of isolating the protein and I got very different numbers from four different products off the web.  Some run 100%, while others were as poor as 76%.

The WHO protein profile (mg AA/gm protein) is:

Isoleucine: 28
Leucine: 66
Lysine:  58
Meth+Cysteine: 25
Phenyl+Tyrosine: 63
Threonine: 34
Tryptophan: 11
Valine: 35

Of course, some argue that the PDCAAS is not an ideal way to evaluate protein sources, (Schaafsma Article) but it currently appears to be the best we have.

 

[Aaron_F]

protein quality becomes less important as protein QUANTITY increases.

 

[Ruthenian]

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">protein quality becomes less important as protein QUANTITY increases.</div>
Are you saying that it is not so important to get the right mix at exactly the same time? That would make some sense, as most vegetarian cookbooks, etc have pretty much abandoned &quot;complimentary proteins&quot; -- the general feeling being that it is more important to get a good mix over the course of a day, rather than at exactly the same time.  I haven't much kept up on that stuff, so any light shed is appreciated.

And, of course, you can just take so much that it overpowers any deficiencies!

Of course, there can be other factors to consider, as well, like digestibility and other protein sources in the diet.  That said, he wanted to know if this powder, specifically, had a good profile so I was just commenting on that level.

 

[[xeno]Julios]

thanks for the thoughtful responses!

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Are you interested in this because you are a vegan/vegetarian?</div>

It's the cheapest deal I've found so far. I calculated that I end up getting over 40 grams of protein per canadian dollar. $47  for a 2.3 kg tub.

The best deal I found before that was ultimate balance whey isolate - $32  for a 1 kg tub, and each 35 gram scoop had 32 grams of protein, working out to 26 grams per dollar.

I've been using this new product (the vegetarian one) for a week or two now, and have noticed no detriment to my gains/maintenance.

I also use interactive nutrition's mammoth 2500 and get a lot of whey/casein from there, so I guess I'm avoiding specializing in a deficient product (though as it seems, this product is not deficient).