Heating protein powder

[baarat]

Does this effect the availability of the AA's. And yes I know denatured protein is fine, but what about the powder form, any thoughts.

[baarat]

burp.

[in10city]

From previous posts... The biologically active / immunological properties of the protein would probably be diminished, but the aminos won't be lost (dependant upon time and temp). Depending on the ingredients that you're using and the temperature you're using, there may be some slight occurance of the Maillard Reaction. Typically it's not significant. It's more of a concern with fast food being heated / fried at high temperatures.

Originally Posted by Layne Norton

while we're on the topic of protein degradation, a old roommate of mine used to make hot cocoa with his chocolate whey protein and microwave his shakes until they were steaming hot. I told him that he probably shouldn't do it since it could denature the protein but he said he didn't give a ****. But you are saying its not really a big deal anyways?

It is absolutely no deal whatsoever. You see proteins are long chains of amino acids that are linked together by peptide bonds. Each protein folds into it's own natural 'conformational' shape depending upon the sequence of the amino acids contained within it. Heat and acid will both denature proteins which means they will unfold from this conformational state. However, this does not 'destroy' the protein, it simply causes it to unfold. The amino acids remain intact and are still available. Just to make my point that it does not matter if you denature a protein, look at what happens during digestion. Proteins are exposed to concentrated acid in the stomach (6 Molar Hydrochloric Acid) which will denature almost ANY protein. In the small intestine the denatured protein is then cleaved into individual amino acids, di, and tri-peptides. So as you can see, denaturation is a natural part of digestion and in the end it really doesn't matter anyway if you denature a protein because it ends up being cleaved anyway.

Originally Posted by Designer Protein

However, exposing protein to extreme temperature (hot or cold) will denature the protein to a certain degree. For example, heating whey protein to temperatures above 140 degrees F (60 degrees C) results in denaturation. For this reason, cooking or baking with DP denatures the protein. In addition, repeated freezing and thawing of a protein solution can result in deanaturation, but simply exposing the powder to low temperatures does not cause denaturation.

This does not mean that the amount of the protein is diminished. Denaturation can affect biological value (bioavailability) and may slow the digestion and absorption of the protein. (However, not to worry here; although the biological value is lowered somewhat by cooking, it is not reduced to zero.) Regardless, denatured protein still retains full nutritional value with regard to amino acid composition. And Designer Whey is a good source of all essential and non-essential amino acids; therefore, even if it is denatured, it is still a very high quality protein source. Also, all proteins are denatured when cooked (e.g., eggs, meat, soy, etc.). I hope this helps to explain the full nutritional value of the amount you use, and the Amino Acid content is still the same.