American Pure Whey is bad and should feel bad

Note added 8-29-2012: This article contains formatting based on the old template, apologies if it looks strange now.

In the world of protein supplements, not all brands are created equal. They can vary by minerals, protein content, even by somewhat dangerous chemicals that unfortunately make their way into mixtures.

As someone who has been looking to get back into playing hockey and putting on a few good pounds in the process, I spent several weeks researching brands and prices. I had used protein supplements in high school to a fair amount of success, and I was looking to build in that following college.

I came across a recommended brand by the name of American Pure Whey, a decently priced and apparently very good tasting product offering a good amount of protein at an affordable cost.

Or so we thought.

I must admit, I have terrible luck with this sort of thing. In no less than 24 hours after purchasing their chocolate protein, I spotted a thread on a certain bodybuilder forum that alleged that all is not as it seems with APW. In fact, they're allegedly outright lying about their products.

I'll let SomethingAwful take a crack at it:

Recently in the Pills, Powders, and Protein Megathread (http://forums.somethingawful.com/sh...hreadid=3470330), forums poster Zugzwang posted results of a test between reference quality protein, ON whey, and APW (American Pure Whey, known for being ridiculously cheap). The results showed that APW contained negligible protein contents compared to ON and reference. 

There may also be a problem with APW lot numbers: everyone seems to have lot 4389. This could indicate fake lot numbers.

Tests show that APW clearly has less protein content than other brands. In a response on their website they posted a CoA that they say confirms that their protein is legitimate.

Debates continued on several prominent websites, including numerous body building websites, SomethingAwful, and Reddit.

Things start to take a turn for the worst as more users begin posting their own tests with APW's supplements against other brands:

Well I was giving the company the benefit of the doubt, hoping Zug's assay had some unknown interference that altered results. I took a sample of my Cinnamon Bun and Peanut Butter and Chocolate into work to run a different protein test, and my test seemed to confirm Zug's results. About 12% protein in each sample, well below 79% that should be present (26g out of 33g claimed on label).


This test was done using our Leco. This is a combustion method that measures nitrogen content and is very common in the food industry. The good news, the nitrogen content was very low, so the odds of there being melamine contamination is low since that is a nitrogen containing compound. The bad news, the protein claim appears to be way off.

Other tests begin to shed some light on the contents of APW's "protein."

Tossing my APW, did this first for fun/science.

10g each APW cinnamon bun whey isolate, ON delicious strawberry whey

with 20ml cool water

after microwaving for 30 seconds 

Strawberry ON formed a glob of protein popover

APW did nothing, bubbled over its glass but didn't coagulate

Other users join in on the science, and begin doing tests of their own:

You've inspired me. I went ahead and performed an experiment of my own: 
Application of Heat to Dry Protein Powders: A Preliminary Investigation.
For my "control" protein powder, I have selected Optimum Nutrition's Double Rich Chocolate.

I put 4 scoops into a saucepan, and put the heat on high:
The powder begins to toast:

After about 4 minutes, the powder begins to burn:
The result

:
Taste Report:
Tastes vaguely like protein powder, but mostly just that burned carbon-y taste. Very coarse, dry, gritty texture.


For our "unknown" protein powder, I have selected American Pure Whey's Cinnamon Bun

.
I put 4 scoops into a saucepan, and put the heat on high:
The powder begins to clump

:
The powder continues to clump and begins to burn:
The Result

:
Taste Report:
This was rock hard in consistency by the time it cooled. I took a bite, and it was very crunchy/difficult to eat. It tasted very similar to the powder by itself, albeit with a slight burnt flavor.



Conclusion:
All I can say is that one of these things is not like the other. I think APW has at least some amount of simple sugar, such as sucrose or fructose, considering the way it behaved under heat. I was almost able to caramelize it.


In Summary:

 

Needless to say, I'm definitely regretting my purchase, although I'm not nearly as angry as other users who have purchased over 30 lbs. of this suspect product.

Here's where things go from outrage to borderline hilarity:

Yes. Both labels are the same. The label on my chocolate protein that arrived in the mail? Same as above. The company apparently wasn't able to create new labels at all.

Users on SomethingAwful and Reddit are posting similar stories with matching labels.

I had a feeling this was too good to be true, as APW tasted entirely too delicious for its own good. Users are canceling orders left and right, and it appears that word is spreading around about the product. 

Looks like it's back to ON for me. Big shout out to SomethingAwful for the pics and info in this post.