Unived Organic Pea Protein

Additionally, we have added natural digestive enzymes such as acid protease, neutral protease, alkaline protease, papain, and amylase.

Digestion

Digestion refers to the breakdown of food into smaller components that can be absorbed into the bloodstream. This digestion or catabolism is divided into two types – the mechanical digestion of food that occurs in the mouth when it is physically broken up into smaller pieces and the chemical digestion that occurs in the gastrointestinal tract when the food is broken down into small molecules by digestive enzymes.

Types of Macronutrients & Their Digestion:

We get energy from 3 main macronutrients and their digestions is very important. Below are details:

1. Carbohydrate is broken by α‐Amylase into simple sugar.
2. Fat is broken down by Lipase into Fatty acids and Glycerol.
3. Protein is broken down by Protease into Amino acids.

We will discuss in brief about Protein Digestion.

Protein

Every physical action – from stretching our hands to smiling – involves complex and multiple movements of muscles.Protein is one of the most important substances in your body. Your muscles, hair, eyes, organs, and many hormones and enzymes are primarily made out of protein. It also helps to repair and maintain your body tissues. However, not all protein is created equal, and there are things you can do to help your body use it more efficiently. Protein is a very large nutrient that’s made up of smaller substances called amino acids. There are 18 amino acids, but your body can only make 9 of them. The other 9 are called essential amino acids, and you can only get them through your diet. High-quality protein sources contain all nine of the essential amino acids. These are also called whole proteins or complete proteins.

Anatomically speaking, our muscles are formed from an intricate matrix of protein fibres. Every flex, every bench press, and every movement of our muscles is the result of these protein fibres working in synchronicity. These muscles fibres are in a high state of dynamic motion in athletes and active individuals, as they are being constantly broken down and rebuilt during exercise. Athletes and active individuals have higher requirements of protein, as the body needs the building blocks to recover from this muscle damage and initiate the process of building new muscle.

The sports nutrition research in the area of muscle recovery and growth is unequivocally in favour of protein supplementation, especially for individuals who want to improve lean muscle, and for athletes who undergo rigorous exercise[1].

After intense workouts, the body is starved for protein, and in the absence of additional protein intake, the body may start to leach protein away from muscle. Supplementation with a suitable protein source helps prevent this breakdown of muscle protein, enabling individuals to retain and build lean muscle mass. Additional protein intake is also key to comprehensive muscle recovery after endurance activities – studies have shown that protein aids in the repair of muscle damage induced by high intensity exercise[1]. Supplementation with a complete protein source rich in amino acids also promotes adaptations in muscles in response to training, and facilitates the replenishment of energy stores and glycogen in muscle post-exercise.

 Protein Digestion

Proteins are large polymers of amino acids joined by peptide bonds. The peptide bond is an amide linkage joining the amino group of one amino acid to the carboxyl group of another. There are 18 different amino acids found in proteins. They differ in the chemical nature of the “side chain”, R. When several amino acids are joined in this way, the result is a peptide. Protein digestion begins when you first start chewing. There are two enzymes in your saliva called amylase and lipase. They mostly break down carbohydrates and fats. Once a protein source reaches your stomach, hydrochloric acid and enzymes called proteases break it down into smaller chains of amino acids. Amino acids are joined together by peptides, which are broken by proteases. From your stomach, these smaller chains of amino acids move into your small intestine. As this happens, your pancreas releases enzymes and a bicarbonate buffer that reduces the acidity of digested food. This reduction allows more enzymes to work on further breaking down amino acid chains into individual amino acids.

Current Problem

Body builders & athletes need extra protein to cope up with body requirement. Our body is not equipped to naturally break down and optimise the large amounts of protein. Excess protein that goes undigested in the small intestines could move into the colon where bacteria will break it down, creating ammonia that is difficult to neutralise and may build up over time. And while the body can handle small amounts of ammonia, large amounts of protein can produce more ammonia than the body can handle on its own, leading to a compromised immune system and even cell damage. Some common symptoms associated with undigested protein include gas, bloating, and diarrhoea.

Need for Enzymes

The solution lies with enzymes that can break down food particles into an appropriate size for digestion. The problem is that enzymatic activity naturally decreases with age. Today’s diet is largely devoid of enzyme activity since enzymes are typically destroyed by food preparation and processing techniques that involve high temperature. Supplementation with enzymes is one way to meet the digestive demands of high protein.

Unived Organic Pea Protein with Natural Digestive Enzymes

Unived Organic Pea Protein is a scientifically formulated blend of organic pea protein isolate with natural digestive enzymes to make sure your protein is broken down into amino acids and it is available to your body for absorption.

1. Organic Pea protein isolate from yellow peas
2. Alpha – Amylase from Aspergillus which is a fungal source
3. Protease – Acid Protease from Aspergillus which is fungal source.
4. Protease – Neutral Protease & Alkaline Protease from Bacillus which is bacterial source.
5. Papain from Papaya which is a plant source.

What is Unique

• Complete Vegetarian and Vegan formulation.
• Plant based organic pea protein which is as effective as whey protein.
• Research based and scientific digestive enzyme blend.
• Digestive enzymes from bacterial, fungal and plant sources
• Digestive enzymes acting at different pH and which are temperature stable.
• Non animal source enzymes, animal source enzymes are obtained from pancreas of animals and are processed by slaughtering of animals.

Natural Enzymes in Unived Organic Pea Protein

Alpha – amylase

Amylase is a digestive enzyme that aids in the breakdown of carbohydrates by breaking the bonds between sugar molecules in polysaccharides through a hydrolysis reaction. Amylase can be classified into three types: alpha-amylase, beta-amylase, and gamma-amylase. The three types differ in how they hydrolyse the polysaccharide bonds. Beta & gamma amylase is not found in humans. So we will continue with Alpha – Amylase.

Alpha-Amylase in Saliva

Alpha-amylase is found in saliva. As soon as you eat starch, your saliva glands secrete this enzyme into your mouth. In fact, even the thought or smell of food can cause you to salivate. Alpha-amylase in saliva digests starch into pairs of glucose molecules, which are smaller, sweeter sugars. That’s why starchy carbohydrates taste sweeter the longer they are in your mouth. 

Alpha-Amylase from the Pancreas

Starches encounter alpha-amylase again when they reach the small intestine on their way through the digestive tract. The alpha-amylase is made by the pancreas and is secreted into the small intestine to finish digesting starches into pairs of glucose. These pairs are split into free glucose by another enzyme, and the glucose is absorbed by the small intestine to be used for energy.

Glycoprotein

Glycoproteins are proteins where the protein molecule is bound to sugar molecules, which means it is difficult to break down with protease enzymes alone. Instead, they must be treated additionally with amylases to break down the carbohydrates.

Benefits

• Pea protein is Glycoprotein.
• Source is Alpha amylase from fungi which provides benefit over bacterial amylase.
• It is stable at varied pH and temperature.
• Alpha amylase helps in breakdown of carbohydrate.
• It assists Protease in digestion of pea protein.

Protease

Proteases are proteolytic enzymes i.e. enzymes that break the peptide bonds in proteins and polypeptides to generate smaller peptide fragments and individual amino acids. They have numerous functions, one of which is to generate amino acids from protein in food for reutilisation. There are different types of proteolytic enzymes, which are classified according to sites at which they catalyse the cleavage of proteins. The two major groups are the exopeptidases, which target the terminal ends of proteins, and the endopeptidases, which target sites within proteins.

Acid Protease

A protein-digesting enzyme that exhibits maximum activity and stability in acid conditions (pH 2.0–5.0) and is inactivated at pH values above 5.0.The types that is useful for protein are those from Aspergillus, which resemble pepsin. Its site of action is Stomach. Gastrin stimulates parietal cells to secrete HCL. This HCL makes the stomach conditions acidic thus allowing pepsin to act.

Benefits

• It is a type of endopeptidase.
• Hydrolyses protein to small polypeptides and some free amino acids.
• Source is Acid protease from Fungi which provides benefit over Bacterial amylase.
• It will hydrolyse wide range of proteins preferentially in an exo-manner, thus producing noticeably shorter chain length peptides than conventional bacterial protease.
• It acts at acidic pH.
• It initiates the digestion of protein.
• It is similar to Pepsin or Aspartic protease which operate at acidic pH.
• Site of action is stomach.

Neutral Protease

Neutral protease is an extremely stable Zn-metalloendopeptidase.It is involved in the generation of beta- and alpha-amylases from the large amylase precursor. It closely resembles trypsin. It works at neutral pH of 7. It site of action is small intestine. It breaks down protein molecules in small polypeptides.

Benefits

• It is type of endopeptidase.
• Hydrolyses protein to small polypeptides.
• Source is Neutral Protease from bacteria.
• It acts at neutral pH.
• It is secondary step of digestion of protein.
• It is similar to Trypsin.
• Its site of action is small intestine. 

Alkaline Protease

Alkaline protease is serine endopeptidase. It is involved in the hydrolysing of peptide bonds. It works at alkaline pH of 8 to 12. It site of action is small intestine.

Benefits

• Hydrolysing of peptide bond.
• It also hydrolyse interior peptide bonds of protein molecules.
• Source is Alkaline Protease from bacteria.
• It acts at alkaline pH.
• It is secondary step of digestion of protein.
• It is similar to serine endopeptidase.
• Its site of action is small intestine

Papain

Papain is an endolytic plant cysteine protease enzyme which is isolated from papaya (Carica papaya) latex. It works at alkaline pH of 5 to 9. Papain shows extensive proteolytic activity towards proteins, short chain peptides, amino acid esters and amide links. It preferentially cleaves peptide bonds involving basic amino acids, particularly arginine, lysine and residues following phenylalanine.

Benefits

• Hydrolysing of proteins, short chain peptides and amino acids.
• It acts at acidic to neutral pH.
• It is cysteine endopeptidase.
• Its mode of action is on actual site.

Organic Pea Protein vs Whey Protein

Benefits of Organic Pea Protein

Balanced and Complete Amino Acid Profile

Amino acids are the fundamental building blocks of protein in the body, making them of one of the cornerstones of sports nutrition research[2]. Assimilation of amino acids by the body is first step towards repairing muscle damage and building new muscle after high volumes of exercise. Post-workout, positive levels of certain amino acids in the body directly influence the rate of protein anabolism and new muscle growth.

In human nutrition, amino acids are categorised as ‘Essential’ and ‘Non-essential’. Essential amino acids are hence named because they are not synthesised by the human body, and have to be ingested through food sources. Non-essential amino acids are synthesised by the body – however, physically active individuals need supplementation of non-essential amino acids because of their higher requirements. Additionally, 8 of the 11 non-essential amino acids – including Arginine and Glutamine which are key to sports nutrition – are referred to as ‘conditionally essential amino acids’. The synthesis of conditionally essential amino acids in the body is limited, especially after bouts of high exercise – making it imperative that a well-rounded sports nutrition regimen should include a source of non-essential amino acids[2].

As it is sourced from pea protein, Unived Organic Pea Protein is a complete source of all essential and non-essential amino acids. With each serving, Unived Organic Pea Protein offers a perfectly balanced amino acid profile consisting of Aspartic acid, Glutamic acid, Alanine, Arginine, Cystine, Glycine, Histidine, Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine, Methionine, Phenylalanine, Proline, Serine, Thereonine, Tyrosine, Valine and Tryptophan.

5.45g of Natural Occurring BCAAs per serving

Unived Organic Pea Protein is a rich source of BCAAs (Leucine, Isoleucine and Valine) which are of particular interest to athletes. Scientific evidence has shown that BCAAs promote muscle growth and repair after strenuous activities like resistance training. BCAAs also promote the energy metabolism as they are the only amino acids that are oxidised for energy during exercise – which means that the body does not have to sacrifice muscle mass for generating energy during exercise[3]. Further, studies have demonstrated that post-workout supplementation with BCAAs increases the release of human growth hormone (HGH) – creating a favourable environment in the muscles for protein anabolism and muscle growth[3]. Each serving of Unived Organic Pea Protein delivers 5.45g of BCAAs – to ensure that your workouts are optimally energised, and that your body’s resources are effectively utilised towards the goal of building lean muscle mass.

Arginine

Unived Organic Pea Protein powder supplies 8.8% of arginine per serving – the highest among all protein sources, including whey protein.

 Arginine content: a comparison between various protein sources

Arginine has received much focus in sports nutrition research because of its extensive role in muscle recovery and muscle performance. Studies have shown arginine to initiate protein synthesis and muscle growth after high-impact exercise[4]. Arginine is also a promoter of nitric oxide in the human body. Nitric oxide greatly increases blood flow and delivery of amino acids to muscles, which results in better muscle pumps and superior performance during high endurance training. This amino acid also reinforces the body’s immune system- which means better recovery after exercise, and protection against oxidative stress and inflammation resulting from aerobic exercise[4].

On the performance front, arginine has been shown to improve bench press performance and anaerobic capacity during high intensity training. With every serving of Unived Organic Pea Protein, your body benefits from the best possible arginine supplementation.Unived Organic Pea Protein equips your body to shield itself from the stress of high-impact exercise, and helps it achieve progressively better performances from workouts.

Glutamine

Glutamine is another amino acid that has a significant impact on muscle growth. Positive glutamine levels replenish the nitrogen balance in the body. In turn, a positive nitrogen balance helps maintain an anabolic state in the body leading to the growth of new muscle – rather than the burning of muscle tissue[5]. Intake of Unived Organic Pea Protein ensures that glutamine and nitrogen levels in the body remain conducive to the growth of new protein and lean muscle mass[5].

Additionally, Unived Organic Pea Protein is also a good source of the amino acid Lysine, which increases the absorption of calcium by muscles, and aids in muscle recovery.

High Digestibility

Unived Organic Pea Protein out-flexes whey-based supplements with its superior digestibility, and by eliminating common problems associated with the ingestion of animal-based proteins.

Digestibility is one of the most important benchmarks for determining the efficiency of a protein supplement. Animal protein is built differently, and in order for the human body to utilise the amino acids in animal protein, the body has to expend more energy into digesting it and breaking it down into amino acids[6]. As a completely plant-based supplement, Unived Organic Pea Protein has an extremely high digestibility of 98%, making it a rich source of highly bio-available and easily accessible amino acids.

Pea protein is also classified as an ‘Intermediate-Fast’ protein[6]. This means that once digested, pea protein is quickly assimilated by the body for protein synthesis, while ensuring that the muscles get a consistent and prolonged supply of amino acids. The intermediate-fast absorption rate combined with Unived Organic Pea Protein’s high digestibility gives your body all the resources it needs to repair post-exercise muscle damage, recover comprehensively, and build new muscle.

With Unived Organic Pea Protein powder, athletes can avoid the common digestive discomfort associated with whey-based proteins like flatulence and constipation. The lactose present in whey-based supplements is the most common cause of digestive distress – especially in lactose intolerant individuals who lack the enzyme necessary to break down the lactose sugar in whey protein. In the absence of this enzyme, lactose sugar is not digested properly, leading to abdominal pain and diarrhoea.

Even if lactose is removed from whey protein, digestive discomfort can persist with whey-based supplements. As whey is an animal-based protein, it contains very little fibre. The lack of dietary fibre can lead to constipation and irregular bowel movements, which can be rectified only by the consumption of high-fibre foods in addition to whey.

As a completely plant-based vegan protein, Unived Organic Pea Protein is naturally high in fibre in addition to being highly digestible. Unived Organic Pea Protein eliminates the common digestive side-effects associated with whey protein, and is completely gentle on your stomach – with no side effects.

PDCAAS Score

PDCAAS (Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score) is a standardised method to evaluate protein quality based on nutritional requirement in humans and their ability to digest protein[7]. On a scale of 0-1, pea protein has high PDCAAS score of 0.93 – which is equivalent to the PDCAAS score of sources of meat, eggs, and soy, and far superior to that of common vegetables found in the regular diet like spinach and broccoli. Unived Organic Pea Protein delivers high quality pea protein isolate that is equivalent in nutritional quality to traditional animal-based supplements, along with the superior digestibility of plant-based protein.

Heart Friendly

Along with being a rich source of unsaturated fatty acids, plant-based proteins like pea protein contain low levels of saturated fat, a factor which promotes HDL (“good cholesterol”) levels in the body.

As a 100% plant-sourced supplement, Unived Organic Pea Protein is 100% cholesterol free, and does not contribute to dietary cholesterol, unlike animal & dairy sources.

Hypoallergenic

Unived Organic Pea Protein is hypo-allergenic, making it a suitable and safe choice for people who are allergic to milk and whey products, those with lactose intolerance, those allergic to soy products, or for those athletes who avoid animal-derived products because of ethical reasons.

Purity

Unived Organic Pea Protein powder has a complete and perfectly balanced amino acid profile, without the addition of any synthetic amino acids. As plant-based protein involves significantly less industrial processing and carbon emissions, Unived Organic Pea Protein is an environmentally friendly protein.Unived Organic Pea Protein is also compassionate way for individuals to meet their protein requirements, as it contains no animal-derived ingredients, and is 100% vegan, GMO-free, and dairy-free.

Usage Guide

Weight Training Benefits

Unived Organic Pea Protein is effective if you want to gain lean muscles mass and decrease muscle damage. It helps enhance your energy and stamina, which aids you to workout for long hours at the gym. With 30 grams of pea protein isolate, it helps in the synthesis of muscle protein. This speeds up the muscle recovery process. Unived Organic Pea Protein also increases the supply of blood to the muscle tissues, which in turn increases the transport of nutrients to the muscles, aiding in the fast recovery of muscles. The balanced and complete amino acid profile of Unived Organic Pea Protein gets absorbed into the muscle cells quickly and provides you with the immense benefits of pea protein.

Endurance Athletes

Unived Organic Pea Protein is especially recommended for endurance athletes to maintain, repair, and grow lean muscle mass, as well as, support immune system function. Endurance athletes with low dietary protein increases recovery time between workouts, causes muscle weakness, and suppress the immune system. Protein deficiency will make your training obsolete leaving you susceptible to fatigue, muscle soreness, lethargy, and other severe disorders. Incorporating a high-quality protein supplement to your training arsenal, provides the essential and non-essential amino acids required to reduce tissue cannibalization. With the consumption of Unived Organic Pea Protein you will increase lean muscle mass, reduce muscle damage, improve endurance levels, and reduce recovery time without sacrificing your hard work during training.

Anyone, not just Vegans & Vegetarians

While Unived Organic Pea Protein powder is especially beneficial for athletes, it is also ideal for anyone looking to supplement their diet with a high-quality protein to meet their daily intake requirements.

Unived Organic Pea Protein provides plant-based vegan pea protein isolate that is superior to the protein found in common vegetables and it is a highly nutritious source for individuals with exclusionary diets like vegans and vegetarians, to ensure that they meet their recommended dietary intake of protein. Individuals with lactose intolerance and soy allergies can benefit from Unived Organic Pea Protein, as it is free of major allergens. Regular consumption of Unived Organic Pea Protein is beneficial for anyone who wants to raise the nutritional heft of their diet.

Intake Guidelines

The recommended dietary intake of protein depends on factors like weight, the level of physical activity, and the nutritional goal in mind. For e.g. the protein intake of an athlete training for a demanding sporting event will be greater than that of a sedentary individual. Unived Organic Pea Protein can be be consumed at any time of the day, the best time to have it within 45 minutes post workout. However, it can be had before exercising and before bed.

How much to take?

As a basic guideline, we recommend that adults should consume 1-1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight to meet their dietary requirements of protein.

Physically active adults and athletes should consume 1.5-1.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight to sustain their training and meet their elevated protein needs[9].

We recommend consuming a minimum of one serving of Unived Organic Pea Protein per day, although, you may take upto 3-4 servings if desired.

Nutrition Facts

Safety

Unived Organic Pea Protein strictly adheres to WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) guidelines, and does not contain any banned substances. However, please note that WADA does not offer any certification, or confirmation (written or otherwise) of the same.

Disclaimer

Note: Pea protein as such does not taste as great. One cannot compare this to Whey protein and/or expect any pea protein product to taste like Whey. If you are big on taste and cannot do without the regular high-sugar rich chocolate taste – then this product may not be for you. If you are looking for a superior product, a clean product, and are more concerned about getting your 30 grams of protein from a sustainable and clean source, and if you can accept a small compromise in taste – then this is just the product for you. It does NOT taste ‘bad’ – but it does take some getting used to.