Do NOT buy protein shots/bullets -- REPOST

You know that old adage about "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is"... well, that is the case with these. 

There have been several posts this week about people using these, so apparently it is time for the warning again.  You are wasting your money and are endangering your health (including your hair) if you are relying on these as a source of protein.  If you look at the ingredients you will see that they are made primarily from collagen protein.  Not only is this a significantly inferior form of protein to begin with (compared to whey or whey isolate), but -- more importantly --  they do not have the necessary amino acids to enable your body to absorb even the crappy protein that they do have.  The PDCAAS scoreis used to rate the bioavailablity of protein (how well your body can absorb it).  For whey protein, milk, and eggs the score is a perfect 100.  For these shots it is LESS THAN ONE (.08 according to the manufacturer of the Body Fortress brand)!  So, if you are thinking that they are "better than nothing", they aren't... they ARE nothing!  Youw iull get afr more protein from a plain glass of milk or the Special K protein waters that have only 4 or 5 grams of protein!

If your dietican "recommended" them, either your dietician is not aware that they do not have all the necessary amino acids to make it a complete protein (this has been the case for several of the members here when they confronted eitehr their surgeon or nutritionist about these "shots") or your dietician is not aware of the role that the amino acids play in making a complete protein.

PLEASE do NOT waste your money and endanger your health!  An acquaintance of mine from grad school had this surgery shortly before I had mine, and after relying on these "shots"/"bullets" for the bulk of her protein (at her surgeon's recommendation!) for a number of months, she became quite ill (lethargic, weak, vomiting, dizzy, etc.).  She eventually passed out at work abd ended up in the ER and was hospitalized with an irregular heart beat and something else heart related.  She had a serious protein deficiency and it was affecting her heart!   (Her surgeon immediately stopped recommending the "shots" after he actually looked into them after she became ill.)

Lora

p.s. edited 7/4/12 to add that it appears there is ONE protein shot called "Yes Whey" (NOT to be confused with "New Whey", which is is primarily collagen and therefore useless) that is entirely whey protein.  This is based on the info from their website (which, of course, we have no way of verifying).  Personally -- and THIS part is just my opinion -- I would not trust it.  Protein is too important to our health to take a chance on it.

i was at GNC today and found this new thing called "new whey liquid protein" it has 42 grams of protein no fat and no sugar, these are the ingredients:
water, complete protein matrix(IDS proprietary blend of collagen proein isolate, whey protein isolate, casein protein isolate) phosphoric acid, natural and artificial flavor, sucralose, sodium hexametaphosphate, acesulfame, potassium, sodium bensoate, potassium sorbate, yellow 5 and yellow 6, calcium disodium salt. it contains milk and says its a complete source of protein containing all essential amino acids as part of a balanced diet. what is your opinion on this? i know the shots that you are talking about and this is different so im wondering if it is better or not? thanks!

No, they are primarily collagen protein with just a wee bit of whey protein thrown in for marketing purposes.  These were the initial protein "bullets", so they are exactly the shots I am talking about... they are just one of many brands that are now out there.  Yes, it contains a miniscule amount of milk.

I cannot say for sure whether or not they have REALLY modified the ingredients so that they now DO have all the amino acids (and have them in sufficient amounts to truly make it a complete protein), but they initially did NOT contain them all, so until someone can show that they now DO have them all, I would not take the chance.  This is your health we are talking about, and we have already seen that the Pure Protein people are labeling the individual tubes as "whey" protein when, in fact, when you read the ingredients, they are collagen... so NONE of these companies is abvove lying to make a buck.  The ingredient list looks almost identical to the one from the old version (I still have a couple of them laying around)

Until I see a PDCAAS rating for them, I would still tell poeple to stay away from them. The potential health problems are just WAY too serious if this ends up being nothing more than a marketing scheme to sell them as "new and improved" now that people have caught on to the fact that their original formula was useless.

Lora

See the word "collagen?"

If you see that, it does not  have all the amino acids and is no good.

Just look for that one word.

It does have all the amino acids because it has a teeny tiny bit of whey isolate.  But some of the amino acids it has lots of, and some only a teeny tiny bit, so it still doesn't work.

Just look for the word "collagen."  If you see it, do not buy it.

I had seen these mentioned on OH posts, but had not seen them at stores or internet.  Thanks for the heads up!!  

Thank you for posting this . I was going to buy some this weekend to stock up before surgery !!

Ur a life saver ! =)

They seem convenient and to good to be true with all that protein in just a few ounces! They are worthless as we don't digest them properly and it's a waste of money! They always say if it seems to good to be true, it probably is!

Thank you for always posting these PSAs : )

It's easy to make your own "bullets" with Syntrax nectar flavors - particularly the twisted cherry or crystal sky. Stir a scoop into 4 ounces of water and voila!

I agree.... these PSAs are really essential.

I don't have the stamina to do it. Glad someone does

I stopped doing it for a while -- you know me... patience is not my forte and I get tired of repeating myself  --  but I am SO angry that at least TWO of the manufacturers of these things are deceptively marketing these things to make people THINK that they are whey protein instead of collagen... and that people are falling for it... that it gave me some renewed energy!

It took my grad school collaegue almost a YEAR to recover from the damage to her heath (including her heart) from primarily using these things during her first 6 months or so post-op... and I do not want anyone here to get as ill as she became from this garbage! 

Oddly, some people get a little defensive when you ask them to actually read the ingredients list instead of just reading the marketing labeling...  I don't understand that.

Lora