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Does heat destroy protein powders?

protoculture

Member
I use soy, whey, vegan and pumpkin seed proteins.

Would heat as in mixing with hot oatmeal or cooking with it destroy the protein?
 
protoculture said:
I use soy, whey, vegan and pumpkin seed proteins.

Would heat as in mixing with hot oatmeal or cooking with it destroy the protein?
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I don't know the answer, but just to clarify are you mixing it with something that's hot or actually taking the protein through the heating process? I imagine the answer depends on your method of heating, since if heating over a fire destroyed proteins then man might not be where we are today. However microwaving food is generally not good for protein integrity.
 
I doubt it. I believe I read a study that the protein are bound in chains to begin with and when heated, they only change their shape but they still remain intact. So go ahead and heat it.
 
I also doubt it.

Even if the protein survives the cooking process, it will be toast when it hits your stomach (pH=2) and then gets chopped into bits by your digestive enzymes. In fact those steps are necessary for you to absorb and utilize the protein.

In other words don't worry about it, heat away.
 
There's a .doc FAQ w/ Layne Norton around here somewhere but I can't find the link. Anyways, it reads:

"... 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. However, [heat] does not 'destroy' the protein, it simply causes it to unfold. The amino acids remain intact and are still available."

So like these other guys have suggested, no, it doesn't destroy the protein and it's fine if you prefer to heat up your sources.
 
Heating your protein is absolutely fine because of what we are eating it for. Protein is just a chain of amino acids that we want our body to break down and use to build muscle. This is of course a very simplified version, but heating protein for this purpose doesn't matter.

The whole idea of where heat can cause a problem is with enzymes. Enzymes are proteins which catalyze a chemical reaction. Heating them, denatures them and causes them to unfold, losing their shape and therefore their ability to do their job.

So you can heat your protein powder and it will still give you the same result as it would ice cold. Hope that helps.
 
bump to alex. You want your proteins destroyed, it saves the body from doing it itself. Also like alex said was the only case you'd worry about this is if there was a natural enzyme in the food product that could be destroyed/lose functionality due to the denaturing process.
 
The only thing heat might do is denature the protein structure. No matter what your body is gonna break it down into smaller building blocks of amino acids so what would it matter? Example: eggs. In either case - many people are using protein supplements that have readily available amino acids in free form.

I mix my whey with oatmeal too. Delicious.
 
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