There is a lot going around right now about whether it’s better to eat meat or go on a vegan diet.

And there are many proponents of each, quite passionate, providing many different reasons why one is better than the other.

Unfortunately, they often contradict each other.

Some say meat causes an inflammatory response in the body, and can lead to weight gain or protein toxicity. That it’s bad for cardiovascular health and can raise cholesterol levels. And that it doesn’t contain fiber and other important vitamins and antioxidants.

Others say a pure vegan diet doesn’t provide all the nutrients present in meats such as b12 and other key vitamins, or iron, and that it leaves many people protein deficient due to lower levels of protein in plants, leading to lower strength and immune function.

But for each reason put forth as to why one is bad, someone else holds up an example to show how it isn’t true.

And, of course, there is also the moral aspect, which is personal to each individual.

But on a straight scientific basis, how is it that we do not have a definitive, agreed upon answer as to whether we should eat mostly meats or mostly plants?

And why is it that some people do better on meats, without reactions, and others on a plant-based diet?

Well, with all of our ability to test and watch the various reactions within the body at the cellular level, it would seem pretty easy to find out.

So let’s dive in and see if we can answer this question for you.

For the last few years a sort of battle has existed regarding protein.

Is meat or vegan protein better?

How much protein should I take? Is it too little or too much? Do people in general need more protein or less protein?

Beyond that, some say that meat proteins cause an inflammatory response in the body so we should get protein from plants.

Others say we need more animal protein, that it’s a superior protein source and provides key nutrients not available in plant proteins.

Some say too much protein is toxic and others say too little protein impacts our hormones, muscle, bones, mood, and immune system.

So how do we answer this?

Well, we don’t.

Because we’re asking the wrong questions.

And the reason we’re asking the wrong questions is because we’re starting from the wrong point of data.

Let's dive in.

How does PerfectAmino actually work? And what is it really doing in our bodies?

PerfectAmino is the perfect protein source. But there is a point there. It’s the perfect protein source. It isn’t protein in itself, but amino acids, the building blocks of protein.

When these amino acids are bonded together into chains, that’s when it becomes a protein.

That’s what any protein molecule you eat is — hundreds or thousands of different amino acids all bonded together into a long chain.

But PerfectAmino is different than other protein sources you’ve had. Very different.

In this article we cover how PerfectAmino has a near zero caloric impact on our body, and this is important.

When we work out and take 20 or 30 grams of whey or pea protein, or collagen powder, we think our bodies are getting 20-30 grams of protein or collagen.

But that's not true.

This is because protein and collagen aren't used by our bodies in the forms they arrive in.

Instead, they're broken down into their building blocks — the amino acids.

Amino acids are what our body actually needs, and are the only things of value in protein from our body's point of view.

But the ratio of amino acids present in different proteins determines how much actual useable protein we get from them and how much calories.

And this has a larger impact on our fitness goals than most people think.

We’ve upgraded PerfectAmino by adding nucleotides and nucleosides — the building blocks of nucleic acids: our DNA and RNA.

But we want to make sure you fully understand why we did this and how this works.

Because it was for a very exact reason. And it is very much an upgrade.

We know that the building blocks of protein and collagen are the essential amino acids.

Having all of the essential amino acids, and having each of them in the correct overall ratio, is necessary for complete protein synthesis, as well as protein synthesis without the caloric impact.

However, there is another aspect to this.

While these essential amino acids are the material used to synthesize new protein, the actual building blocks of protein and collagen, if we want perfect protein synthesis then we need to look at the process of synthesizing protein itself: how they are being made.

Because if the process is at all faulty, then even if we have the correct amino acids and correct amounts, we won't necessarily get correctly made proteins.

In fact, we can even have stopped creation of specific proteins. And that can affect us in any number of ways.

If you’re reading this page, it’s likely that you’ve seen our claims for PerfectAmino Essential Amino Acids; and that you may have a few questions about them.

The first claim is that not all proteins are equal. That different proteins, once digested and absorbed, provide our bodies with different amounts of usable protein, gram for gram. 

The second claim is that the idea that we receive 4 calories for every gram of protein we consume is a misconception. And that it indicates a broader lack of understanding of what calories are outside of the scientific community, and what they have to do with muscle gain, energy, and body fat. 

We’ll do our best to answer those claims here.

In the last article we covered how many companies selling natural sweeteners such as stevia and monk fruit, knowingly or unknowingly cut their product with artificial sweeteners by 60% or as much as 100%.

They can do this because the only way to tell for sure is to do very extensive chemical testing.

Yet these artificial sweeteners can pose real health risks, from heart trouble to gut trouble.

And they're in about 99% of non-sugar sweetened products today.

But if it takes thorough chemical analytical testing to be absolutely sure it's natural, and you probably don't have access to that, what can you do to know what's real or not?

Well, there are a few ways.

We recently upgraded the sweeteners in our PerfectAmino Powder and PerfectAmino Electrolytes.

And in doing so we found out something quite disturbing.

We already knew some sweeteners labeled “Pure” or “All Natural” were often cut with artificial sweeteners to a degree, and we have always had to watch this.

But what we found out when researching natural sweeteners for our new formulation, and the amount of them that actually aren’t what they say they are, was surprising and somewhat scary.

It turns out, about 99% of so-called natural sweeteners actually contain artificial sweeteners in amounts as much as 60%, 80%… or even 100%.

And we want to make sure you know about this, why it matters, and what to look out for.