Evaluating Supplements: What Do Their Labels Say?

As for all products, you have multiple brands to choose from, even for nutritional supplements which claim to be “Specially formulated for pregnancy and lactation” or “Food for special dietary use: for pregnant & lactating women”.

You want to be sure that the supplement you have is the best for you and your growing baby and it should not cause any kind of harm.

Don’t lose sight of why you are having the supplement in the 1st place:
It is most likely that your doctor has asked you to have a protein supplement.
So, focus on protein content first. Everything else that the brand claims to have, should be secondary in your consideration.
As you look for what is good for you, be alert for things that are NOT good for you. Doctors sign the Hippocratic oath, which says “First Do No Harm”.
Products and brands that claim to be designed and formulated specially for pregnancy, should also be held accountable to the same yardstick.

To Know your protein requirements & estimate the protein content in your current diet.

What information on the label should I read?
Nutritional Facts: By law, all products with FSSAI approvals, must declare the nutritional data and composition, which ideally should be given in 2 forms:
a. Per 100 gm of powder, and
b. Per Serving.

Recommended Daily Use / Dose:
All brands will recommend a daily dose, even if they add “… or as advised by your clinician”. This will be given as “number of scoops per serving” (the gm. of each scoop would be mentioned). and the “number of servings per day”

Ingredients: The law requires all ingredients to be listed in descending order of % in formulation.

How good is it in proteins: Quantity and Quality ?

• Quality: See under “Ingredients” –Typical sources of protein used by most supplements are:
Milk (or Skimmed milk) Solids/ Powder; Soy Protein (usually in combination with Milk Solids), Whey Protein Concentrate, or Whey Protein Isolate.
Whey Protein is considered the best form of protein, containing all 9 Essential Amino Acids, and being the easiest to digest.
Please read blog “Understanding Protein!!” for more information.

• Quantity: See under “Nutrition Facts” – Proteins would be one of the top 2-3 rows.
You want to choose a brand that has the highest % (or g) of Protein, in 100g.

• How much protein will you get, from their recommended servings (scoops) per day?
Example: A brand has only 20% protein; it recommends 2 scoops (of 25g)/ day. So on estimation you will get only 10g of protein (20% of 2 x 25g) per day.
Is that meaningful compared to how much your body needs?
Please read blog “Protein Supplements – Do I really need them?” for more information.

• Conversely, how many glasses (scoops) would I need to drink, to get my required amount of proteins?
Example: If you need 80g of proteins per day (depending on your body weight), and assuming your diet is providing only 50g per day (which you have to estimate), then the balance 30g should be obtained from Protein Supplements.
In the above example of the brand which has only 20% protein, you will need to have 6 glasses/scoops (of 25g each) – consuming 200g of the brand, per day.
You may find it almost impossible to consume and digest so much of protein powder.

What does the brand contain that may be harmful or avoidable?

A. If you see a brand with only 20% protein, then the immediate question in your mind should be “What is the rest?”

B. Look for “Carbohydrates” and “Added Sugar” under Nutrition Facts table, on label.
The chances are, such a brand will have ~ 60-65% Carbohydrates; of which “Added Sugar” could be 20-30% (20-30 g in 100g of powder)

C. Look deeper: If Added Sugar is, say 25%, what is the balance ~40% of Carbs?

Can it all be the milk carbohydrates that comes with Milk Protein?
Some of it, Yes! – if the brand is using milk solids, but not so much (See “ingredients” on label).
Definitely not twice that of proteins from the same milk powder
So, what then is the “Rest of carbohydrates”?
Look for “Maltodextrin” under “Ingredients”. There is a good chance these brands would have added
Maltodextrin in addition to sugar
Why would a brand add the more expensive Maltodextrin, instead of all sugar?
What is Maltodextrin: It is a highly processed form of sugar. It is fluffy – and hence makes a good “filler”. It is 1/5th as sweet as sugar – adding all sugar would have made the drink too sweet

Note however, it has the same calories as sugar. In fact, unless you are diabetic, you are better off with the brand which has “Added sugar” rather than one which claims to have “No Added Sugar” but has Maltodextrin instead

D. You went looking for a supplement to get the proteins, but what you get in the above example is 260 gm of “Carbohydrates” in a 400g jar of the supplement brand, paying over Rs 350 for the Carbohydrates. Well, you can buy ~8kg of your own sugar in that money.

E. You need to evaluate if so much of empty calorie intake is good for your pregnancy or not? For those with risk of gestational diabetes, it is crucial to avoid such carbohydrates. For others too, would you want to add unhealthy and avoidable weight gain – when each kg of extra weight is going to be a struggle to reduce after pregnancy?

What other secondary benefits does the protein brand provide?

A. Most brands claim to have many vitamins and minerals added. Most of these vitamins and some of the minerals indeed are crucial for the baby’s development and growth.

B. You need to ascertain whether the recommended dose per day provides any reasonable amount of such micro – nutrients.

Look at the quantity of these Micro – Nutrients per 100gm of the supplement, in the “Nutrition Facts
Table” of the label. E.g In one of the other brands, Calcium is 600mg in 100mg
Based on the recommended daily dose of say 2 scoops of 35 g each (70g) per day, you will get 420mg of calcium per day
Which is only 35% of the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA), as1200 mg of CA is pre scribed by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines for nutrition in a pregnant woman

C. When you check this for all the micronutrients, you will find that they are not standardized % as per RDA. They can vary from as low as 8% to even higher than 100% of RDA