Warning: Is this commonly used ingredient in your protein powder, weight gainer or diet shake?

Commonly referred to as a healthy source of protein, Soy Protein, in our opinion is far from healthy; in fact we strongly believe that it could damage your health and it’s why you won’t find Soy Protein in any Reflex products.

So what is the problem with Soy Protein?
Well in the past we’ve told you about the simple facts i.e Soy Protein being an inferior protein compared to Whey Protein etc, more on that later, first lets look at why Soy Protein has absolutely no place in Reflex Nutrition’s products.

Soy Toxins
Soy beans contain a number of naturally occurring toxins that are both toxic to humans and animals. Soy Protein contains even more toxins, during the chemical manufacturing process extra toxins develop including residues of one of the chemicals (Hexane) used to extract the protein.

So what are the main Soy Toxins?

Trypsin Inhibitors
This is perhaps the worst culprit. It is literally unbelievable that sports nutrition companies are happy to use Soy Protein with Trypsin Inhibitor as one its components.

Trypsin inhibitors, as the name suggests, inhibit the action of your digestive system’s Trypsin and Protease enzymes. These are two essential enzymes responsible for digesting protein. Yes you read correctly. They inhibit protein digestion. Why on earth would anyone be so stupid to add Soy Protein to a protein powder or weight gainer? It gets worse monkeys1 fed a diet around Soy Concentrate developed chronic pancreatitis a condition that leaves the pancreas susceptible to pancreatic cancer.

Phytates
These have the ability to chelate minerals. This means they are able to bind to minerals in the digestive system, unfortunately the process is quite specific to essential minerals such as Zinc, Calcium, Copper, Manganese and Iron. Sports people in particular have higher requirements for certain minerals, especially Zinc & Iron, adding Soy Protein could therefore have a potentially negative effect.

If you’re a male wanting to optimize Testosterone levels forget Soy.
If you want to build and maintain a lean physique soy protein could hamper your results.
Unfortunately soy protein has recently been scientifically proven to lower testosterone levels2 in men by 19%. It’s hard enough to maintain peak levels of testosterone whilst training hard, so the last thing you’d want to do is start adding soy protein to your diet.

Is soy protein in your protein powder?
It’s an established fact that whey protein is number one for building muscle so why would supplement companies use soy protein in their products? Simple, it’s cheaper. If you make a protein powder with whey protein and combine it with soy protein the potential increase in profits can be substantial. Great for the company, but potentially not so great for athletes trying to optimize their dietary regime for gains in lean muscle.

Soy protein is an inferior protein compared to whey, egg and milk protein.
If lowering testosterone and interfering with digestion of protein digestion wasn’t bad enough soy protein also has a lower biological value compared to whey, milk and egg proteins giving even more reason to avoid its use. Listed below are the biological values of whey, egg, milk and soy. The biological value is a measure that shows the amount of protein utilised by the body. In simple terms the higher the score the better the protein.

•Whey Protein 104
•Milk Protein 88
•Egg White Protein 85
•Soy Protein 75

The other reason that whey, milk and egg proteins are superior to soy protein is the higher content of branch chain amino acids. Whey protein has the highest content of branch chain amino acids of any food. Branch chain amino acids (L-Leucine, L-Isoleucine, L-Valine) are scientifically proven to boost protein synthesis aiding the formation of lean muscle tissue. They are by far the most important amino acids for athletes.

Reflex Nutrition have always favoured whey protein as our “King” along with other first class sources of protein like egg and milk. In fact whey protein was the first protein we ever produced as far back as 1996, and for reasons stated above we have absolutely no plans to start using soy protein in our formulations.

References.
1. JP Harwood et al., Adv Exp Med Biol 1986 199: 223-37
2. Clinical and biological activity of soy protein powder supplementation in healthy male volunteers. 2007 Apr;16(4):829-33.