MuscleTech Nitro-Tech Whey Protein: Citizens Protein Project 1 finding (2024)

MuscleTech Nitro-Tech Whey Protein was product 21 of 36 in the first Citizens Protein Project, a self-funded study published in Medicine in April 2024. The study bought the products in 2023, coded and blinded them, and had an FSSAI-approved laboratory in Kochi run total protein (Kjeldahl), aflatoxin, pesticide residue, heavy metals and steroid screens. The label figure comes from the study's master chart (Supplementary Document 1) and Figure S1; the measured figures are from Table 1 of the paper. This was the largest over-delivery in the study: 76.96 g protein per 100 g measured against 65.20 g claimed, 11.8 points or 18% above the label. The paper singles out the product, noting that a Kjeldahl reading well above the label can indicate either good raw material or nitrogen from cheaper amino acids, and recalls MuscleTech's 2015 US class-action settlement over amino spiking. The study did not run a spiking-specific test. Lead was detected at 0.11 mg/kg and copper at 2.40 mg/kg.

The study reports differences as percentage points of protein per 100 g. It tested one batch of each product and did not compare metal readings with FSSAI limits. No FSSAI action on this product is on record.