published<\/a> last week in the peer-reviewed journal Medicine.<\/p>\nProtein supplements are concentrated extracts used for bodybuilding or to meet protein requirements through a \u201clean\u201d source of proteins and amino acids.<\/p>\n
Medical-grade powders, typically manufactured by pharmaceutical companies, are formulated for patients with specific clinical needs such as malnutrition, diabetes, post-surgical recovery or chronic illness.<\/p>\n
The analysis\u2014 conducted by the Mission for Ethics and Science in Healthcare (MESH) represented by researchers at Rajagiri Hospital in Kerala, the University of Cincinnati (US), and Abeer Medical Group (Saudi Arabia)\u2014found that pharmaceutical protein powders contained about 29g protein per 100g on average.<\/p>\n
Eighty-three percent were \u201cgrossly mislabelled,\u201d and only one product met the established quality benchmark.<\/p>\n
None of the pharma-grade powders contained more than 5g leucine per 100g, a key amino acid that triggers muscle protein synthesis.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, 44% had more than 2g sucrose or fructose.<\/p>\n
Several products also tested positive for heavy metals and the carcinogen aflatoxin, while many showed high levels of taurine, a cheap non-protein amino acid added to inflate measured protein content.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe findings are striking because they showed that while people are paying more for these specific protein powders, they are getting low-quality products\u2014this is a double whammy,\u201d hepatologist-researcher Dr Cyriac Abby Philips, lead author of the study, told India Today.<\/p>\n
Dr Philips, widely known as LiverDoc on social media, added that many physicians who routinely prescribe these products may also be unaware of their quality issues.<\/p>\n
In India, all protein supplements fall under the Food Safety and Standards (Health Supplements, Nutraceuticals, etc.) Regulations, 2016.<\/p>\n
India Today has reached out to the Food Safety and Standards Authroity of India for comment. This copy will be updated if and when their reply is received.<\/p>\n
A previous 2024 paper led by Dr Philips had highlighted poor quality and misleading claims among whey protein brands in India, though he noted that the attention may have pushed some companies toward course correction.<\/p>\n
Independent experts say the new findings reinforce concerns about the popularity of protein powders despite limited evidence of benefits and continued quality problems.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been highlighting that protein powders should be considered as supplements only in very specific circumstances under expert supervision,\u201d said Dr Hemlatha R, nutrition scientist and former director of the Indian Council of Medical Research – National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR-NIN).<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are no replacement for a wholesome diet and can do more harm than good for most people.\u201d<\/p>\n
LOW QUALITY, HIGH SUGAR, WEAK AMINO ACID PROFILE<\/p>\n
Researchers tested 34 whey protein powders\u2014medical pharmaceutical products prescribed to patients and over-the-counter nutraceutical powders\u2014at Eureka, an independent Mumbai-based food testing laboratory.<\/p>\n
Nutraceutical products had an average amino acid content of 82.26g\/100g, compared with 25.84g\/100g in pharmaceutical powders\u2014a threefold difference. Essential amino acids averaged 36.83g\/100g in nutraceuticals and only 10.98g\/100g in pharmaceutical products. Leucine content in nutraceuticals ranged from 5.7g to 8.5g per 100g of protein.<\/p>\n
Even major brands fared poorly. B-protein (British Biologicals) contained just 0.61g leucine but 4.83g sucrose. Ensure High-Protein (Abbott Nutrition) had 2.78g leucine, while Protinex (Danone) contained 3.43g fructose.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo product in this group met at least 7g leucine or 30g total essential amino acids,\u201d the researchers noted, adding that more than half fell below 20g total essential amino acids, classifying them as \u201cvery low quality.\u201d<\/p>\n
India Today has reached out to Abbott, Danone and British Biologicals. This copy will be updated if and when their replies are received.<\/p>\n
NITROGEN SPIKING AND TOXIC CONTAMINANTS<\/p>\n
Pharma-grade powders\u2014particularly Fresubin (Fresenius Kabi) and Prohance (Sun Pharma)\u2014showed the highest levels of taurine, suggesting nitrogen spiking, the practice of adding cheap amino acids such as taurine or glycine to inflate protein readings, since protein tests typically measure nitrogen levels.<\/p>\n
\u201cManufacturers do this because individual amino acids cost a fraction of what complete protein sources like whey cost,\u201d explained Dr Philip.<\/p>\n
India Today has reached out to Fresenius Kabi and Sun Pharma. This copy will be updated once we get their responses.<\/p>\n
Several powders also showed more-than-permissible levels of heavy metals, aflatoxin, and hormones such as progesterone.<\/p>\n
While the study used a single batch of each product, researchers noted that the consistent gaps between pharmaceutical and nutraceutical categories point to systemic issues rather than batch variation.<\/p>\n
\u201cFuture regulatory and independent surveillance efforts should incorporate longitudinal, multi-batch testing to assess the consistency of product quality and hold manufacturers accountable,\u201d the authors wrote.<\/p>\n
– Ends<\/p>\n
Published On: <\/p>\n
Nov 17, 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Most pharma-grade protein powders sold in India contain low-quality protein, high sugar, and have misleading labels, making many…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138281,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[85849,46708,85843,85850,85846,163,85847,85844,85,46,85842,76282,543,85845,25341,85841,85851,85848,22401],"class_list":{"0":"post-138280","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-abbott-nutrition","9":"tag-danone","10":"tag-dr-cyriac-abby-philips","11":"tag-fresubin","12":"tag-fssai","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-health-supplements","15":"tag-icmr-nin","16":"tag-il","17":"tag-israel","18":"tag-liverdoc","19":"tag-nutraceuticals","20":"tag-nutrition","21":"tag-pharma-grade-protein-powders","22":"tag-protein-powder","23":"tag-protein-powder-in-india","24":"tag-proteinex","25":"tag-sun-pharma","26":"tag-whey-protein"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}