Most protein users are aware of the recent consumer reports article regarding heavy metals present in some protein powders.  The brands with the largest amounts of metals where EAS Myoplex and Cytosport Muscle Milk. 

On a positive note the brands we have chosen to support at Performance Nutrition are free of these toxic metals.  You can continue to use Optimum Health Pro Complete 40 and Intek Evolution with confidence.  

Consumer Reports purchased 15 protein powders and drinks and tested multiple samples of each for arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury. Levels in several of the products could, with just three servings a day, result in daily exposure to arsenic, cadmium, or lead exceeding USP limits.

Of the 15 protein drinks tested, three of them contained very worrisome levels of arsenic, cadmium and lead.

Which Protein Drinks Fared the Worst?

Three daily servings of the ready-to-drink liquid EAS Myoplex Original Rich Dark Chocolate Shake contained an average of:

·              16.9 µg (micrograms) of arsenic

·              5.1 µg of cadmium

The proposed United States Pharmacopoeia’s (USP) limits for these two toxins are 15 and 5 µg respectively.

The worst of the products tested was Muscle Milk Chocolate powder, which contained all four toxic metals; three of them at the highest levels of all products tested.

Muscle Milk’s Vanilla Crème contained slightly less lead, but still exceeded the USP lead limit of 10 µg.

A fourth product, Muscle Milk’s liquid Nutritional Shake Chocolate, also tested high in arsenic, providing you with an average of 14.3 µg of arsenic per day, which is very close to the USP limit.

Arsenic and cadmium appear to be the most problematic here, as the levels of these two compounds in some cases exceeded maximum “safe” limits. However it’s worth noting that, ideally, you don’t want to ingest these toxins at ANY level, as even low-dose exposure can contribute to lingering health problems.

Prevention is clearly your best defense when it comes to protecting yourself against heavy metals and other toxins.

Fortunately, preventing exposure to toxins like arsenic, cadmium and lead is possible by making sure you’re eating as much organic foods as possible, and using protein drinks that are free of heavy metals.  We recommend Intek Protein Evolution and Optimum Health Pro Complete 40 as two of the safest, high quality, great tasting protein products available.

While we cannot recommend any of the low quality, commercial protein shakes on the market, we strongly believe that whey protein powder is a very healthful supplement to your diet and an excellent source of protein.

Whey protein has been linked to a variety of health benefits, including:

·              Helping your pancreas-produced insulin work more effectively, which supports balanced blood sugar levels

·              Promoting healthy insulin secretion

·              Helping to promote your optimal intake of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals needed for your overall wellness

·              Supporting your immune system, as it contains immunoglobulin

·              Helping you preserve lean body tissue (particularly during exercise) as it delivers bioavailable amino acids and cysteine

·              Maintaining blood pressure levels that are already within the normal range

So keep in mind, protein drinks can be quite beneficial, whether you’re working out and want to increase muscle or using them to supplement an otherwise healthy diet, but quality is everything, and drinking something that’s contaminated with heavy metals won’t do you any good.

Making sure that the product you buy fulfills the healthy criteria mentioned in this article (Such as Pro Complete 40, or Intek Evolution) will ensure that you’re getting the safest, healthiest protein supplement possible.

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Blender bottle is the brand name for a shaker cup with a unique mixing ball design.  It comes in a 20oz size and a larger size which holds 28oz.  The Blender Bottle uses a more rigid plastic than some other shaker cup designs.  We have found that this makes the cup more durable and allows it to be dish washed without the cup warping.  With many shaker cups you cannot dish wash them because the plastic will warp.  When this happen the cup does not seal properly and it will leak when shaken.

The Blender Bottle also includes a small metal whisk/mixing ball in the bottom of the cup.  The mixing ball helps the cup more thoroughly mix up protein and other thick powders.

Overall we find this cup to be very useful and durable.  If you are mixing protein, or other powders this cup is definitely helpful.

Which Protein Should You be Using?

Muscle growth is dependent on the balance between protein synthesis and protein breakdown. The goal is to increase protein synthesis and decrease protein breakdown. Casein protein is considered to be a muscle-sparing protein. Since casein protein slowly enters the blood stream, it has a moderate impact on protein synthesis, but it has a powerful effect on reducing protein breakdown.

Current research has shown that in terms of overall muscle tissue increases and decreases of body fat, casein reigns superior. It’s been shown to accomplish this by increasing anabolism to a moderate extent, but more importantly, decreasing catabolism to a large degree. It seems that the reason behind this is simply because of its slow digestion and consequently, absorption rates. It provides a steady, slower paced release of amino acids into the blood stream.

We all know that we need to take whey protein after workouts–but that doesn’t mean that whey can’t be better. Slow-digesting casein protein was once believed to have no place around workout time, but newer research suggests otherwise. In fact, a study from Baylor University (Waco, Texas) reported that men who consumed a whey/casein blend of protein after workouts for 10 weeks gained significantly more muscle than the subjects who consumed a whey protein shake without casein.  These subjects also lost more fat than the ones using only whey.

Current research is showing that the optimal protein for fat loss and muscle building is a mixture of whey and casein protein.  Try Intek Evolution Protein or Optimum Health Pro Complete 40 for the ideal blend of whey and casein proteins.

Time to get back to the basics.  In order to build strength and muscle one must first understand what weightlifting is actually doing to the body to produce growth.  With this knowledge making the right choice in supplementation is easy.  When we lift weights and push ourselves pass our limits we are actually inducing microscopic tears in the muscle fiber.  That’s why after a good work out we are sore.  The human body evolved in such a way that we adapt to caused trauma (microscopic muscle tears, broken bones, etc.) by recovering the affected area stronger than its original state.  This is called progressive overload when having to do with weightlifting and muscle growth.  The idea is that the harder we train, the more trauma we cause to the muscle fiber, the bigger and stronger the muscle will grow.  This is where supplementation can come in handy.  Certain supplements allow us to train harder and longer and ultimately cause more trauma to the muscle fiber which translates to greater muscle growth.  Creatines are great for this.  ANS Diesel Fuel is a customer favorite.  MSI CXS Revolution is also excellent for those trying to keep water retention to a minimum.  Pre-workout powders are also another good choice for increasing workout overload.  BioRhythm’s SSIN Juice is one of the craziest pre-workout powders I’ve ever tried.  Another aspect of muscle growth is recovery from those intense training sessions.  If the muscle is not completely recovered by the time you work it out again it will not grow and performance will be diminished.  The faster you recover the sooner you can get back in the gym to stimulate more muscle growth.  Supplements that promote a faster, fuller recovery include but are not limited to protein, glutamine and BCAAs.  Intek makes an excellent protein and BCAA powder.  BioRhythm makes a product called AfterGlow to be consumed right after a workout; this is the best stuff Performance Nutrition sells for recovery.  Stress the muscle, recover the muscle and rule the gym!

Geranium oil extract, or 1, 3-dimethylamylamine, is the hot new ingredient in many pre-workout powders and fat burners.  Geranium extract mimics the body’s own chemical messanger, epinephrine (adrenaline).  If you couldn’t guess it has a strong central nervous system stmulating effect, i.e. incrased energy, mental clarity and physical performance.  This stuff is ultra potent and is even great for fat loss.  Geranium works through a similar pathway as ephedrine causing an increase in cAMP, the chemical messanger that triggers fat release, appetite suppression and thermogenisis.  I personally think geranium extract will eventually replace ephedrine.  I feel its a better alternative with less of a crashing effect and no jitters.  If you haven’t tried any products containing this wonder herb you are in for a treat.  Supplements containing geranium extract include Intek’s Thermogenic Revolution (strongest fat burner post ephedrine ban), USP Lab’s Jack3d, BioRhythm’s SSIN Juice, MSI’s Lean PreWorkout Revolution.

The key ingredients in Intek’s Fat Burner Evolution have been shown to increase energy and stimulate the metabolism.  By increasing nor epinephrine this product creates a thermogenic effect which allows the body to become energy inefficient.  This causes the body to burn excess calories and waste them as heat, allowing an individual to use more calories throughout the day even while at rest.  Fat Burner Evolution not only increases metabolic output but also forces your body to tap into fat as a fuel source by allowing the body to release stored energy (body fat) into the blood stream so it can be used as fuel.  A patented appetite suppressant keeps cravings in check so you don’t have to fight hunger while moderating calories.

Try this product with Intek CLA Evolution as it enhances the fat mobilization effect.

GPLC is a propionyl ester of carnitine (PLC) that includes an additional glycine component. Compared with other forms of carnitine, GPLC executes its powerful effects on muscle tissues, including the heart.

GPLC exerts powerful antioxidant effects against superoxide radicals and it limits lipid peroxidation. It plays an important role in energy production by acting as a vehicle for the transport of fatty acids into the mitochondria and as a vehicle for the removal of waste substances out of the mitochondria. GPLC maximizes muscle function by compensating for reduced oxygen availability during times of physical exertion and it offers powerful support for arterial blood flow. Under reduced oxygen conditions, GPLC also supports normal carbohydrate metabolism and minimizes lactic acid buildup.

In US studies, GPLC has been shown to increase NO levels in the human blood stream. Increases in NO optimize the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the muscles, and facilitate the body in producing ATP energy (energy at the muscle’s cellular level).  NO is essential to anaerobic power activities such as strength training and bodybuilding and, in this capacity, helps to increase stamina, endurance and recovery.

GPLC also improves the pump associated with weight training through an increase in nitric oxide (NO) retention.

An increase in NO has the added benefit of antioxidant properties.  NO aids in the expelling of metabolic waste build up, such as lactic acid and carbon dioxide – elements that decrease time to fatigue.  An increase in NO thereby improves muscle efficiency, again increasing stamina, endurance and recovery.

Look for GPLC in products like EST’s Plasmatic.

If you shop for your supplements at discount stores you may be seriously shortchanging yourself because those products typically use cheap synthetic isolates.

Millions gorge themselves on synthetic vitamins, only to acquire and die from degenerative diseases.

You see, isolated vitamins are partial vitamins, combined with other chemicals. They’re a low-end alternative to whole, real complete food.  When you remove a part from the whole, you get ‘Synthetic,’ ‘Isolated,’ or ‘Fractionated’ pieces of the whole, but it’s simply not the same. 

There are four problems with synthetic vitamins…

1. Nature intended for you to consume food in WHOLE form because all the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and enzymes are together in one package. They work synergistically to give your body the nutrition it requires for optimal health. 
2. Your body only absorbs a small percentage of an isolate form of vitamins and minerals – and it utilizes even less. You get the best bioavailability in whole food form.
3. Synthetic vitamins often give you massive quantities of some nutrients (usually the most inexpensive ones) and insufficient quantities of others, not balance.
4. You can experience side effects of synthetic isolates from the additives and the unnatural state of the synthetic supplement.

You’ve heard it before… Fast food and a sedentary lifestyle can be a disaster for your health.

Don’t let your multivitamin add to the collateral damage.  In fact, you want to be sure it makes a real and significant contribution to your health, especially if you’ve already adopted healthy lifestyle practices.

Check out ANS Natural Vita Greens for a good whole food based multivitamin.

Inflammation promotes blood vessel disease, heart attack and stroke. Researches found that a low-carbohydrate diet reduced markers or inflammation and blood fats better than a low-fat diet in people with MS. MS is a group of symptoms linked to poor metabolic health that include insulin resistance, abdominal fat deposition, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, low HDL (the good cholesterol), inflammation, type 2 diabetes and blood-clotting abnormalities. Low-carb diets reduced inflammation and improved blood-clotting regulation better than low-fat diets in people with MS.

Overfeeding gradually leads to increased fat mass. Arginine supplements prevented fat accumulation in rats fed high-calorie diets. In a study genetically obese rats were fed diets high or low in fat. Fat pad weights were 74 percent higher in rats fed a high-fat diet. Supplementing their diet with arginine reduced fat increase by 50 percent. Arginine treatments resulted in lower blood levels of leptin (weight controlling hormone), glucose, triglycerides, urea, glutamine and branched-chain amino acids. The arginine-fed rats also had higher levels of nitric oxide, an important marker of metabolic health. If these results apply to humans, taking arginine supplements might be useful in athletes trying to gain quality weight.