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MiladyB · 05-08-2008, 05:34 PM

I sent an email off to the nutritionist in my surgeon's office yesterday. I wanted to ask her about these 3 oz protein vials so many seem to be taking after surgery. I was curious what she thought of them and if it was the kind of protein we should be using after surgery. She quickly got back to me with an explaination about protein. I just thought I would share it with all of you. I know this is a pretty technical explaination but I thought some of you might like to know what kind of protein is best for us when it comes to protein supplements.

Here is her email response:

Not all protein has the same value to your body. The amino acid profile
is the reason for this. Proteins are made of amino acids. There are 20
different ones in the human body. Of the twenty, 9 of them must be
consumed to meet your daily needs. These 9 amino acids are called
Essential (EAA) or Indispensable.

The 9 EAAs are needed in certain proportions. A protein scoring system
called Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Scoring (or PDCAAS)
was developed to show which products contain all the EAA and in the
correct proportions. It is supported by the FDA, the World Health
Organization, and perhaps most importantly, the Institute of Medicine at
the National Academy of Sciences. The highest possible score is 100.

-- Collagen Protein gets a 0 (the lowest possible score)
-- Whey Protein Isolate gets 100 (the highest possible score)

Some proteins such as COLLAGEN or HYDROLYZED COLLAGEN protein are
missing one of the EAAs entirely. So the PDCAAS for collagen is zero.
Collagen is often the main ingredient in protein supplements that come
in a liquid form, and they usually have lower PDCAAS scores.

Here are some collagen products that have lower PDCAAS scores:

New Whey and Profect1: These products appear to have a PDCAAS score of
5 or 6 out of 100. Lab analyses of several samples suggest that about
94% of their protein, by weight, is from collagen.

Proteinex2: The Proteinex OTC products appear to get protein only from
hydrolyzed collagen, so their PDCAAS score is 0 or virtually 0.

Pro-Stat 64 / Pro-Stat 1013: These products appear to have a PDCAAS
score of about 37 out of 100.

The BEST products to purchase are products made from whey protein
ISOLATE (not concentrate) and soy protein ISOLATE.