What Is the Best Protein Powder for Heart Patients​?

Are you looking for the best protein powder for heart patients​? Discover how to safely supplement your protein intake after heart surgery.

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Protein Powder for Heart Patients​

Is Protein Powder Good for Heart Patients​?

A heart patient is someone who has been diagnosed with a form of heart disease or cardiovascular condition.

This includes individuals with coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular heart disease, arrhythmias, or other structural or functional cardiac abnormalities.

Although diet is a cornerstone of secondary prevention in heart disease, protein supplementation is not universally recommended for cardiovascular risk reduction or event prevention.

That said, it might be beneficial for patients with heart disease in specific contexts.

For instance, research has shown that a high protein diet can modestly improve cardiovascular risk factors such as blood pressure, total and LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides.

This is in part because increasing the percentage of your calories that come from protein can you achieve and maintain a healthy body weight.

Maintaining a healthy body weight is important for heart patients because excess fat accelerates atherosclerosis (plaque buildup), promotes adverse changes in cardiac function, and increases the risk of comorbidities such as hypertension.

How Much Protein Do Heart Patients​ Need?

For patients with heart disease, the minimum recommended protein intake is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight per day.

Protein intake should always be individualized, however, and adjusted for comorbidities, nutritional status, and rehabilitation goals.

In patients with heart failure, for example, randomized trials and systematic reviews suggest that higher protein intakes – 1.1+ grams per kilogram of body weight per day – might support improvements in functional capacity, lean body mass, and quality of life.

Keep in mind that heart patients should get as much protein as they can from foods like eggs, fish, legumes, meat, nuts, and seeds.

Meeting your protein needs this way can be challenging, however, especially for individuals with dietary restrictions.

If this is the case, adding protein powder to your diet is a great way to fill in gaps in your diet.

That said, not all protein powders are created equal.

What Is the Best Protein Powder for Heart Patients​?

Many protein powders contain ingredients that have been indirectly linked to poor outcomes for heart patients.

Among these potentially harmful ingredients are food additives and protein concentrates and isolates. 

Avoid Food Additives

Regularly consuming emulsifiers like lecithin, thickeners like carrageenan, artificial sweeteners like sucralose can alter the composition and function of your gut microbiome.

Over time, this can lead to gut dysbiosis, which can contribute to the development and progression of multiple cardiovascular diseases, including atherosclerosis, hypertension, heart failure, and heart attack.

Gut dysbiosis worsens cardiovascular disease by increasing harmful metabolites, reducing helpful short-chain fatty acids, and driving inflammation.

Here is a list of the most common food additives in protein supplements:

• acacia fiber
• acacia gum
• acesulfame potassium
• artificial flavors
• ascorbic acid
• aspartame
• calcium carbonate
• carrageenan
• cellulose gum
• dextrin
• dicalcium phosphate
• dipotassium phosphate
• erythritol
• gellan gum
• guar gum
• gum arabic
• inulin
• locust bean gum
• maltitol
• maltodextrin
• mono- and diglycerides
• ‘natural’ flavors
• rice bran extract
• rice dextrin
• rice hulls
• rosemary extract
• silica
• silicon dioxide
• sodium alginate
• soluble corn fiber
• sorbitol
• soy lecithin
• sucralose
• sunflower lecithin
• tocopherols
• tricalcium phosphate
• xanthan gum
• xylitol
• zinc oxide

Basically, if you could not find an ingredient in nature or make it at home, it is probably a food additive.

Avoid Protein Concentrates and Isolates

Heart patients should also avoid protein concentrates and isolates.

Most protein supplements are made from one or both of these ultra-processed protein sources, which have been mechanically and/or chemically stripped of everything but the protein.

This includes the enzymes, fiber, and other natural digestive aids that help you break them down.

You therefore do not digest them in the same way that you do whole foods, which could affect your gut health.

Specifically, studies have shown that regularly eating protein concentrates and isolates can disrupt your gut microbiome and cause the formation of toxic byproducts in your gut.

Prioritizing whole food protein sources when buying protein supplements​ is therefore never a bad idea for someone with a heart condition.

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Drink Wholesome Is the Best Protein Powder for Heart Patients​

Finding a protein powder free from food additives and protein concentrates and isolates is hard.

In fact, 99% of protein supplements contain one or more of these problematic ingredients, which is why we created Drink Wholesome.

We make the best protein powder for heart patients because we use a short list of simple ingredients.

Our Ingredients

egg whites

coconut

vanilla

monk fruit

NOT Our Ingredients

• acacia gum

• acesulfame potassium

• artificial flavors

• carrageenan

• erythritol

• guar gum

• inulin

• maltodextrin

• 'natural' flavors

• silica

• soy lecithin

• sucralose

• xanthan gum

• xylitol

Note that instead of using protein concentrates or isolates, we use whole food protein sources like egg whites and almonds, which are easier to digest and absorb.

It follows that our customers experience fewer gut-related health issues with our Protein Powder than with any other type of protein supplement.

Order Samples to see for yourself.