The most significant difference among different protein supplement is the facilities in which they are manufactured.  Unfortunately, most commercial brands do not come from laboratories that have stringent manufacturing practices and certifications ensuring the quality and purity of the protein supplement.  High quality physician’ line supplement brands have superior laboratory testing procedures and accreditations, they are accountable to independent third party testing of ingredients and final formulas, therefore eliminating impurities and heavy metals.  Many commercial manufacturers use inexpensive whey proteins – in order to improve the bottom line – that can be laden with nasty chemicals such as cadmium, lead and mercury.  A recent report by Consumer Reports Magazine in 2010 showed most all ‘commercial’ brands of whey protein had elevated levels of many or all of the above toxins.₁  Heavy metals inhibit mitochondrial function in the cell, resulting in muscular weakness, fatigue, and poor recovery. Heavy metals are very difficult to get out of the body, so reducing your intake and your body’s burden is very important. This is a primary reason why it’s critical to purchase ‘quality’ whey protein from reputable physician-line brands.

High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is another ingredient that can be found in protein supplements to improve the taste and make it more palatable.  You might think that sugar is fine to consume post-exercise but unfortunately the fuel your cells require is glucose, not the fructose found in sugar which must travel to the liver to be converted to glucose, placing a heavier burden on liver function.  HFCS is a common sugar used in popular sports drinks and protein powders to provide simple sugars to working muscles.  Unfortunately, the over-emphasis of fructose in these products can lead to gas, bloating and cramping. This is due to the high concentration of fructose found in these products, which slow the rate of gastric emptying – how quickly the solution leaves your stomach – and therefore makes for a poor fuel choice. Fructose consumed in large quantities also exerts a pro-inflammatory effect on the liver; contributing to insulin resistance and disrupting intestinal microflora.₂  This can be extremely detrimental to athletic performance.  Increased inflammation can lead to longer recovery time and increased likelihood for nagging injuries, while excessive fructose intake is associated with insulin resistance and subsequent weight gain. This relationship is highlighted in a 2012 study from the Institute of Food in Switzerland that shows the connection between high fructose intake and altered gut bacteria, and significant weight gain.₂

More sweeteners added to protein supplements include acesulfame potassium and sucralose.  These artificial sweeteners are about 200-600x sweeter than sugar respectively, making them sought after sweeteners to mask the taste of some of the more bitter amino acids, namely the important muscle building branch-chain amino acids.  While these sweeteners do not significantly impact blood sugar leaves and are low in calories, they do significantly increase insulin levels.₃  This is especially important for people trying to lose weight.  In order to reduce body fat, insulin levels must be kept low.  Elevated insulin levels are bad news because it directly inhibits your ability to breakdown body fat for fuel.  Sucralose is a sugar alcohol, a synthetic chemically modified version of a sugar designed to taste a sweet with little caloric impact on the body.  The synthetic sucralose compound is made in a laboratory when sugar is treated with trityl chloride, acetic anhydride, hydrogen chlorine, thionyl chloride and methanol in the presence of dimethylformamide, 4-methylmorpholine, toluene, methyl isobutyl ketone, acetic acid, benzyltriethylammonium chloride and sodium methoxide. Doesn’t sound very natural, does it? As well, sucralose doesn’t impact your total carbohydrate intake because it is very poorly absorbed, which is why consuming very high doses can lead to loose stool, diarrhea, and even anal leakage.  Other side effects of sucralose consumption include headaches, numbness, muscle aches, and stomach pain. A recent 2010 study suggested further testing on these sweeteners is required to ensure they are not detrimental to overall health.₄ Another more recent 2012 study showed that the breakdown of sucralose into the water table negatively impacts the motor function of crustaceans, suggesting a toxic or over-stimulatory activation which researchers suggested ‘should be considered a warning’ against exposure.₅

So what type of protein should you be consuming? The answer is high quality, pure proteins that are free of toxins and artificial sweeteners.  The number one option is the new Klean Protein for Douglas Labs, which has only one ingredient… whey protein isolate.  In general, the fewer ingredients in a protein formula the better.  The Klean Protein is NSF certified for sport (approved by the World Anti-Doping Agency or WADA) and contains no yeast, wheat, gluten, corn, starch, artificial coloring, preservatives or flavoring. The next best option is any protein supplement containing natural herbal sweeteners like stevia, cocoa, or vanilla extract, or actual natural sugars like cane sugar juice, rather than synthetic forms.  Examples include Thorne’s Whey Protein Isolate or New Zealand Whey Protein Isolate.  If you are lactose intolerant you should switch over to a vegetable based protein to avoid gas, bloating, and cramping.  Examples of rice protein blends include Thorne’s Vegalite or MediClear formulas.

Take your sports nutrition, recovery, and overall health to the next level.  Stop compromising your progress and health with sub-standard protein blends.  You wouldn’t eat salmon laden with toxic metals, so why do the same with your protein.  Choose clean, pure, high quality protein sources and feel the difference today!
Dr Marc Bubbs ND, CSCS, ART

References –

1)     Consumer Reports Magazine. July 2010.

2)     Payne AN et al. Gut microbial adaptation to dietary consumption of fructose, artificial sweeteners and sugar alcohols: implications for host-microbe interactions contributing to obesity.  Obes Rev. 2012 Sep;13(9):799-809.

3)     Malaisse WJ et al. Effects of artificial sweeteners on insulin release and cationic fluxes in rat pancreatic islets. Cell Signal. 1998 Nov;10(10):727-33.

4)     Karstadt ML. Inadequate Toxicity tests of food additive. 2010 Jan-mar;(16(1):89-96

5)     Wiklund AK, et al. 2012 Jan;86(1):50-5 doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2011.08.049.

Written by Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY

This excerpt is taken from the article written by Jorge L Ortiz…

“You can compare his first five years with almost anybody who has ever played this game,” Reds manager Dusty Baker says. “Even Barry Bonds wasn’t this good this quick.”

The single-minded drive to attain that excellence, though, made it difficult for Votto to deal with baseball’s inevitable ups and downs, and it might have left him vulnerable to some of life’s harshest realities.

Votto, 28, struggled with the death of his father, Joseph, near the end of his rookie season in 2008. His grief led to a bout with anxiety and depression that forced Votto to spend three weeks on the disabled list midway through the next season.

“After my dad died, I didn’t have much balance in my life,” Votto says. “I was like any rookie, watching Baseball Tonight, looking at the stats, envying key players’ contracts, dreaming of the future.

…To read full article please click here.

Article written by Jordan Winnett Special to the Star on Thursday January, 24th 2013

MADRID—Canada basketball is not only on the rise in North America, it’s leading the Spanish league in scoring.

Carl English, a 31-year-old St. Johns, Nfld., native, isn’t quite ready to pass the Canada basketball torch to up-and-comers Anthony Bennett and Andrew Wiggins.

English is leading the Spanish league (Asociacion de Clubs de Baloncesto), arguably the second-best league in the world, in scoring at 18.5 points per game, nearly 1.4 points better than the next best scorer.

Currently playing for Asefa Estudiantes, English is rumoured to be heading to Barcelona as part of a transfer that would see him play there the rest of this season and all of next.

“It’s about time someone from Canada noticed me here,” chuckled English, in his sixth season in the Spanish league, after a recent home win against perennial power Barcelona.

English has been all but forgotten in his homeland, lost in the shuffle of Canada’s rising stars: Bennett with UNLV deemed by some to be the top freshman in the NCAA this season, Wiggins as the potential No. 1 overall NBA draft pick in two years, and solid seasons from Orlando Magic centre Andrew Nicholson and Cleveland Cavaliers forward Tristan Thompson.

English’s road from St. John’s to leading the best basketball league outside of the NBA in scoring has been quite the journey.

English moved to the GTA as a teenager to attend Oakville’s Saint Thomas of Aquinas High School, with hopes of increasing his exposure and landing a NCAA scholarship down south, and his plan was always to play in the NBA.

Despite a brilliant career at University of Hawaii, he wasn’t taken in the NBA draft. English tried his shot with both the Indiana Pacers and Seattle Sonics but couldn’t stick.

In 2005-06, English put his NBA dreams aside and signed his first European contract with Virtus Bologna of the Italian league.

After a one year stint in Croatia with Zadar the following season, the Canadian national team member signed his first deal in the Spanish league with Gran Canaria.

English then bounced around three more clubs in Spain before landing in Madrid with Asefa Estudiantes for the 2012-13 campaign.

English has developed quite the following in Spain. A fan fell in love with his game and created the Carl English fan website that offers incredible access and detail into the Canadian’s life. The creator has even contacted English’s childhood friends through various social networks for photos and comments to be included in a birthday scrap book for the soon to be 32-year-old.

In a recent must-win contest against Barcelona, with huge implications for the mid-season Copa Del Rey, English continued his dominance by scoring a game-high 17 points on an efficient 8 of 12 from the field.

English will never be confused for the quickest or most athletic player on the floor, but his patience and veteran skill-set allow him to get where he needs to be on the court to be effective.

“FIBA is a totally different game but I think my game adapts well here. I’m in my best shape, I’m playing with confidence and I have a role where my coach gives me more freedom and lets me play. It’s a good situation for me.”

English acknowledges it would have to be the right opportunity for him to jump back for another shot at the NBA.

“I still believe that if I got in the right situation in the NBA, I could have a role as a shooter. But, it’s all about the situation, the timing and the chance.”

English points out that based on his play this season, the likelihood is that bigger teams such as Barcelona or Real Madrid, which operate with 15-20 million Euro ($19.9-$26.6 million) budgets, will probably come calling in the spring to lure him away from small market Asefa (approx. $3.9 million).

“The way it works here is that the biggest clubs will come after me in March or April, while NBA teams look for guys like me in September. And, if you get with a team like Barcelona you want to try and stick, but if I say no (to pursue the NBA) then all the jobs are gone.”

“There’s a lot that can have an effect.”

For most the NBA seems like the best option. But life in the Spanish league can be pretty good with tax- free contracts, as well as free houses and cars excluded from the agreement.

Plus, it’s doubtful that English would hear chants of ‘M-V-P, M-V-P’ from an NBA crowd like he currently hears from the 12,000 strong Asefa faithful when he exits the game.

English and his family have adapted well to the Spanish culture and with his young son having started Spanish school this fall, he admits that while playing in the NBA “has been a lifelong dream, it would have to be the right situation for me to give it up.”

Raptors fans are aware of the basketball journey Alan Anderson took before landing a job in the NBA. The Canadian played against Anderson two years ago when the Michigan State product was with Barcelona, offering hope that English, and players like him in Europe, could one day get a chance to live out their childhood dream.

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin that is currently the subject of intense medical research due its many health-promoting benefits. It is produced in the body when ultraviolet rays from the sun come in contact with the skin, stimulating the production of vitamin D.

Vitamin D levels decrease dramatically during the winter months in Canada and other northern climates, and as the days get shorter and darker you are more susceptible to deficiency. Also, vitamin D is not naturally present in many foods and must added or fortified in foods, or taken as a dietary supplement to maintain normal levels throughout the winter. Low vitamin levels are associated with; depleted immunity, weight gain, decreased mood and depression, poor bone health, inflammation and hormonal imbalance.

Doctors typically recommend supplementing with 1,000 IU daily during winter months to support the body. While this is a good rule of thumb for the general public, this may not be sufficient enough to meet your individual requirements. The lab test required to measure your vitamin D status – serum concentration of 25-hydroxy vitamin D – is the best indicator of your current levels. The test results will tell you how much vitamin D you are getting from foods, supplements, and the sun. The normal range for this test is between 75-250 and in clinical practice we commonly see patients at the low end of normal at the start of the winter season.  This means as the winter season progresses most people are quite susceptible to vitamin D deficiency, resulting in depleted immunity and mood as they try and cope with busy work days and getting into the gym.

Clients often ask me ‘how much vitamin D should I take over the winter’ but the truth is, unless we have tangible lab results your current vitamin D levels, it is difficult to safely recommend higher doses. Getting tested is an important step to safely and effectively prescribe the appropriate dose of vitamin D so you can feel better, fight off colds and flu, and keep your overall health in balance. Whereas one person may only need 1,000 IU daily, another will need 4,000 IU daily, and others still even greater.  People should not increase their vitamin D dose above recommended guidelines without getting tested and the supervision of a medical practitioner.  Excessive vitamin D levels, while rare, can cause the build-up of excessive calcium in the bloodstream, leading to symptoms of poor appetite, nausea, and vomiting.

Getting your vitamin D levels tested is an important first step to feeling better throughout the winter months; fighting off colds and flus, keeping your mood elevated, and maintaining overall health. Knowing your current levels allows practitioners to safely prescribe the appropriate dose of vitamin D for you, which is critical to keep you healthy during busy winter days at work and in the gym. Get tested today!

Dr. Marc Bubbs ND, CSCS, ART

Starting the 2013 year off on the right foot means setting new health and fitness goals. Taking the time to develop SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, results based, and trackable – goals is the key to obtaining and maintaining your progress. Whether your focus is health or athletic performance, the goals must be specific to the changes you would like to see, or the success you envision yourself having. For example, many clients come into my office wanting to lose weight, however when I ask how much weight they would like to lose or in how many weeks they often aren’t sure. This is a perfect example of unspecific goal.  The more specific you can make your weight loss goal, the more likely you are to achieving the result.  Now, it’s understandable that many clients aren’t sure how much they should lose or what a ‘healthy’ weight loss should look like.  This is where the expertise and guidance of the practitioner is critical.  They should be guiding the client throughout the process by creating a roadmap for success.

This is where the measurable component of your SMART goals come into play.  Using our weight loss example, this would mean starting the year off by getting your body-fat percentage, blood sugars, and thyroid function in order to get some important baseline measurements for how well your body is dealing with sugars, your current metabolic rate, and your starting point for total body-fat.  This is an important point because weighing yourself is not sufficient enough to evaluate weight loss.  Time and time again clients come in thinking they haven’t lost weight because the needle on the scale hasn’t changed, yet after comprehensive measurements they realize they have actually lost fat and gained lean muscle! Without measuring your progress, it’s too easy to get confused and lose your way on the roadmap to success.

Thirdly, when coming in for a wellness check-up or goal-setting session in the new year it’s important for you and the practitioner to set-up achievable goals. This means being realistic about how much time you can dedicate to training, while trying to balance work and family life.  Clients often get frustrated when progress stalls because their plan was unrealistic from the outset.  It’s easy to be motivated in January with 5 sessions per week, but if you can’t sustain that in the long-term, then it can slow progress and leave you frustrated.  Train smarter, not harder.  Develop achievable goals with your practitioner so you can have short-term and long-term success! I always use quarterly goals (12 weeks) with clients, with check-points along the way to ensure we are on the right track.

Next, your goals need to be results-based. This means that at the end of the day, there are tangible qualitative measurements they can objectively assess whether or not you are achieving the short-terms benchmarks in order to accomplish your long-term goals. By being accountable to a specific result, you can feel the sense of accomplishment, pride, and satisfaction that goes with achieving those benchmarks.  It provides you with positive feedback to let you know that your hard work is paying off.  On the other hand, if you are not achieving results this is where the practitioner can help right the ship before it strays too far off course.  It’s very common for clients to experience ups and down along the way to achieving their goals. A qualified practitioner can help identify the roadblocks and provide the roadmap for getting your progress back on track. Without results-based SMART goals, this would not be possible.

Finally, a critical component of any new year’s resolutions or fitness plans is to ensure that your goals are trackable! Clients often come in say to me.. ‘I want to be healthier’, or ‘I want to be stronger’… but don’t know how to track these parameters.  This is where running blood tests, getting body composition assessed, or even a simple urinalysis can provide valuable health and fitness information that can be used to track your progress.  Using these methods, we can re-test and measure your progress after 12 weeks, 6 months, and one year to show you how much progress you’ve made.  I am always amazed how little credit patients often give themselves.  For example, weight loss patients commonly say ‘I think I am doing ok’ after having lost 7-8 lbs in one month. That is great progress.  Over the course of 3-6 months this translates into tremendous success.  However, because clients  ’see’ themselves everyday in the mirror, it’s more difficult for them to appreciate all their progress. Another important reason for working with a qualified practitioner.  Again, this is where getting tested – measuring liver function, blood sugars, metabolism, hormones – is a fantastic way to get a baseline at the outset of your year in order to appreciate all your progress down the road.

Start your 2013 off on the right foot and come in for a Wellness Check-Up to set your health and fitness goals for the new year.  Setting the proper road map, developing SMART goals, and being held accountable for your actions is the key to long-term success! Contact NSM today to get your year off to the best possible start.

Dr. Marc Bubbs ND, CSCS, ART