Beware: Adulterated whey protein is fairly common in India

When Vinay Aravind opened a jar of what ought to have been pure protein goodness this May, he was assaulted by an overpowering odour that filled the air in his Chennai residence. The photographer and fitness enthusiast had ordered a leading international brand's dietary supplement on eBay for its lower price on the e-commerce platform.

"It was the first time I'd got a fake product. It appeared roughly the same as legitimate whey protein, but the smell was different," he recalls. "I emailed the manufacturer, Optimum Nutrition, with details including batch number, best-before date, etc. They confirmed it was a counterfeit."

Stuck with the spurious, unhealthy powder, Aravind contacted eBay, only to be subject to a "nightmarish" customer care experience. After first refusing, eBay eventually agreed to pick up the product and refund the amount even as the Hyderabad-based seller, 'ganesh_shoppie' did not respond to questions about the whey protein. "I suppose the manufacturer can't do much. They aren't present in India, only distributors are," observes Aravind, who has been having a scoopful of whey protein daily for the last year upon his trainer's recommendation.

Aravind's isn't an isolated case. Spurious whey protein – whether procured online or from brick-and-mortar health stores – is becoming increasingly commonplace. Talk to any fitness trainer, and s/he will share anecdote after anecdote about clients ending up with tubs that are suspect or outright risky for health. "I'm always worried about adulteration and duplication, especially of the big brands," says Mumbai-based fitness trainer and nutritionist Karan Khatri. "Middlemen are known to replace whey with cheap powders because profit margins are huge."

Weighed down

Khatri gives vent to a critical aspect – the market, and therefore profits, for nutritionally-beneficial foods or nutraceuticals is on the rise. A one pound tub of whey protein costs between Rs2,000-3,000 on average and offers the manufacturer a profit margin of nearly 70 per cent. "The dietary supplements market in India is currently estimated to be worth $2bn and likely to double to $4bn by 2020," stated a December 2015 report by industry lobby ASSOCHAM and consulting firm RNCOS. Alarmingly, the same report warned that 60-70 per cent of these products sold in India are either "fake, counterfeit, unregistered and unapproved".

And since most whey protein is imported from the US, Europe and China by local traders and distributors, the onus of spurious whey protein dissolves in a sea of grey. With no real responsibility vested on either the manufacturer or the distributor, the situation is ripe for pilferage, adulteration and thuggery.

"A trainer recommending a particular brand of whey should know exactly where it is manufactured. A lot of factories have come up in areas like Dharavi, where middlemen create knock-offs or adulterate whey protein containers with soya powder or cocoa," stresses Abdul Khatri, a fitness trainer for the last eight years. "Excess soya interferes with hormone function and is bad for the kidneys."

The 29-year-old, who too has had a bad experience buying supplements online, recommends imported brands via authentic channels or opting for FSSAI-certified domestic brands.

Other markers for telling apart a spurious product from a legitimate one is to look for holographic stickers and a uniform seal on the mouth of the container. Some manufacturers allow online verification for batch numbers so consumers can match the one printed on their tub against the online reference, says businessman Ritesh Shah, who had recently started consuming whey protein on the advice of his trainer.

"Even so," the 36-year-old points out, "US-manufactured whey protein tubs do not list expiry dates. Instead, they print a best-before date. Such close to best-before-date tubs are often offered at heavily-discounted rates."

Breaking it down

Protein helps rebuild the body's infrastructure – think cells, enzymes and bone structure, and is particularly required by athletes, trainers and regular gym-goers who undergo muscle damage and wear-and-tear during intensive workouts. "But unlike for carbohydrates and fats, the human body has no storage form for protein," points out Dr Jyoti Vohra, who heads the biochemistry department at Ramnarain Ruia College. "So one needs to constantly replenish protein in the body."

This is a primary reason athletes and fitness enthusiasts rely on whey. Trainers Karan Khatri and Abdul Khatri both say that whey is a convenient source of protein. "Whey has an added advantage over meat in that the body absorbs protein from whey sooner than it does from meat," says Karan.

But protein absorption is not uniform and depends on multiple factors, such as a balanced diet. "This is why a lot of people who take whey for the first time complain of gaseousness, loose motions or an acne breakout," says Abdul.

Dr Vohra explains that the body requires 45 nutrients in specific proportions for optimal energy and health. If protein is had in excess or a whey protein shake is substituted for a full, balanced meal, it would not be the boost it is assumed to be. "Every nutrient helps absorb the other. Besides, protein has a component of nitrogen. Our body has a separate metabolism to process nitrogen," she says. "This needs a lot of energy as it transforms nitrogen into non-toxic urea, which is flushed out as urine. So an overload of nitrogen will result in the kidneys being metabolically stressed and manifest as protein in the urine – which is not supposed to be there."