New Delhi, India: A groundbreaking peer-reviewed study published on November 14, 2025 in Medicine journal has exposed alarming quality issues with pharmaceutical-grade protein powders prescribed by doctors across India, revealing that most of them contains significantly less protein, more sugar, and higher contamination levels than fitness supplements sold in stores.
The Citizens Protein Project 2, conceptualized by renowned hepatologist Dr. Cyriac Abby Philips (known as "The Liver Doc"), analyzed 34 popular whey protein supplements in India and found that medical-pharmaceutical products are inferior to nutraceutical fitness supplements across nearly every quality metric.
The exhaustive laboratory analysis compared 18 pharmaceutical-grade and 16 nutraceutical (fitness industry) protein powders that included popular brands like B-Protein, D-Protein, The Whole Truth, etc.
Pharmaceutical protein powders averaged just 29.1 grams of protein per 100 grams of product, while nutraceutical supplements delivered 75.6 grams, nearly three times more.
Only one product qualifying as high-protein and the remaining 17 qualified only to be classified as low-protein formulations.
The quality benchmark included presence of more than 60 grams of protein per 100 grams.
The range was equally stark.
Pharmaceutical products varied from 10.1 to 63.8 grams per 100 grams of protein, while fitness supplements ranged from 57.2 to 86.8 grams.
The study revealed that 83% of pharmaceutical protein powders breached the standard tolerance limit for label accuracy, with one product delivering only 25% of their declared protein content.
In contrast, nutraceutical products showed better label compliance, with only 6 products exceeding tolerance limits, and those discrepancies were generally modest.
Nearly half (44%) of pharmaceutical protein powders contained sucrose, with many failing to disclose these added sugars on their labels. Also, 33% contained fructose with approximately 27% with undeclared claims.
Some popular hospital-prescribed protein drinks contained over 14 grams of added sugar per pack or bottle.
This is particularly concerning for patients with diabetes, metabolic disorders, or liver disease, where such glycemic loads can be counterproductive to treatment goals.
From a patient-centric view, a high-protein claim is meaningless if glycemic load is high and brands should disclose added sugars prominently, and clinicians must scrutinize them.
Nutraceutical products, by contrast, contained negligible added sugars, with most below 0.5 grams per 100 grams only one (Jan Aushadi Whey) contained more than 2g of sugar.
The study assessed essential amino acid (EAA) content, which determines how effectively protein supports muscle growth and recovery. Nutraceutical products averaged 36.83 grams of EAAs per 100 grams compared to just 10.98 grams in pharmaceutical products.
Critically, leucine, the amino acid that triggers muscle protein synthesis was found in the range from 5.7 to 8.5 grams per 100 grams in nutraceutical supplements.
Six nutraceutical products met elite quality standards with more than 7 grams of leucine per 100 grams and more than 40 grams summed EAAs in whey isolates.
Not a single pharmaceutical product exceeded 5 grams of leucine per 100 grams.
For context, clinicians recommend less than 3 grams of leucine per serving to effectively stimulate muscle growth.
Pharmaceutical products showed higher contamination rates than nutraceutical supplements. While neither category was perfect, pharma powders had:
38% contamination rate versus 25% for nutraceuticals
Arsenic contamination 3.5 times higher
Lead detected only in pharmaceutical products
Copper was detected in 75% of nutraceuticals and in 78% of pharmaceuticals
Aflatoxin (a cancer-causing fungal toxin) detected in two pharmaceutical products
Progesterone (a hormone) found in two pharmaceutical powders
Perhaps most troubling was the discovery that 89% of pharmaceutical protein powders contained undisclosed taurine, a non-protein amino acid that inflates nitrogen-based protein measurements. This practice, known as "nitrogen spiking," allows manufacturers to falsely claim higher protein content.
Only 12.5% of nutraceutical products contained taurine, and the amounts were generally minimal.
The economic implications are stark. Pharmaceutical protein powders cost between ₹6.71 to ₹24.77 per gram of actual protein, while nutraceutical products ranged from ₹2.19 to ₹8.79 per gram.
Patients are essentially paying premium prices for inferior products, often under the assumption that doctor-prescribed supplements represent pharmaceutical-grade quality.
Dr. Vishal, an MD, expressed shock by a post on X (formerly, Twitter) stating that:
"We routinely prescribe these powders to patients, trusting that they're safe as drug regulating authorities have cleared them. But the reports of commonly used pharma protein powders are horrifying."
He questioned where regulatory oversight has failed, asking, "How are these brands getting approved? They're adding heavy metals, taurine, excess sugars, and ingredients that can genuinely harm patients."
What makes this research particularly significant is its funding model. The Citizens Protein Project 2 was entirely crowd-funded by the public, ensuring complete independence from industry influence and institutional bias.
"This is first-of-its-kind study funded by the public," Dr. Philips noted, thanking participants and urging widespread sharing of the findings so "the public and patients get what they truly deserve."
The study highlights a critical regulatory gap. In India, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) oversees nutraceuticals but doesn't require public disclosure of quality data. The Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), which regulates pharmaceuticals, appears to have failed to ensure quality standards for protein supplements.
This landmark study demonstrates that the assumption that pharmaceutical-grade protein powders are superior to fitness supplements is fundamentally flawed.
As Dr. Philips concluded: "High time to stop blindly following what the pharmaceutical industry has been making doctors do. Time to make changes."
1. Philips, Cyriac Abby, Arif Hussain Theruvath, Aryalakshmi Sreemohan, Ambily Baby, Shinsmon Jose, Mathew Philips, and Tony Philip, on behalf of members of the Mission for Ethics and Science in Healthcare (MESH). 2025. “The Citizens Protein Project 2: The First Publicly Crowd-Funded Observational Study on Exhaustive Analysis of Popular Whey Protein Supplements in India Reveal Poor Quality and Deceptive Marketing Claims of Medical Pharmaceutical- Compared to Nutraceutical- Industry Powders.” Medicine 104(46): e45970. https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000045970.
(Rh/VK)