Assessment of Nutritional Label Accuracy and Protein Quality in Commercial Whey Protein Powder Products in Thailand
Keywords:
Whey protein, Label accuracy, Protein quality, Protein spikingAbstract
This study was survey research by Cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate the consistency between labeled and measured protein content, and to assess protein quality in six whey protein powder products collectively representing over 60% of the sports protein powder market share in Thailand. This descriptive cross-sectional study collected samples from six brands, which were analyzed for total protein content using the Kjeldahl method and for 18 amino acid compositions using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), followed by comparison against reference criteria to determine mean values and percentage deviations.
The results showed that all six products met their labeled protein claims, with deviations ranging from -6.69% to +8.66%, within the acceptable tolerance of ±20%. Furthermore, all products passed four protein quality indices: the ratio of essential amino acids to total amino acids (43.60–46.27%), branched-chain amino acids to total amino acids (21.61–23.49%), leucine to total amino acids (10.80–13.57%), and the leucine-to-glycine ratio (5.97:1 to 9.03:1). No glycine-based protein adulteration was detected in any sample.
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