"Edible albumin? That's like eating spoonfuls of seasoning" Seoul National University professor issues warning [Health Issue]

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\r\n[The Financial News] Experts are criticizing so-called "edible Albumin" supplements, which have recently been heavily advertised on TV home shopping channels and online, saying there is little scientific or nutritional basis for their claims.
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\r\nStroke specialist Professor Lee Seung-Hoon, Department of Neurology, Seoul National University Hospital, appeared in a video posted on the YouTube channel "Jisik Inside" on the 9th. Asked about "supplements that people diligently take but are actually ineffective," he pointed out, "From a scientific standpoint, protein supplements are the most absurd of all."
Lee said, "When you take protein-based supplements such as Albumin, Glutathione (GSH), or Collagen, they are broken down into amino acids," adding, "A representative component among these amino acids is glutamic acid. Glutamic acid is the same substance as monosodium glutamate (MSG), which many people believe is bad for health." He went on, "If you consume a lot of Albumin or Glutathione, it has essentially the same effect as eating spoonfuls of seasoning."
He continued, "Albumin suddenly became trendy these days, so I thought it was a joke. When patients asked me about it, I honestly thought they were kidding," and added, "But it turned out that such (Albumin supplements) really do exist." He stressed, "When you ingest Albumin, it is inevitably broken down, which is why it is formulated as an injectable in medical settings," and said, "If you are told to take protein in this way, it very clearly all gets broken down into something equivalent to seasoning that you end up consuming."
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\r\nLee explained, "Albumin is truly important. It is the most abundant component among the proteins in the body," noting, "The liver works hardest to produce Albumin." Albumin is a key factor in determining osmotic pressure, which draws water into the blood vessels. It also stores and transports amino acids that serve as raw material for building muscle. In healthy adults, the liver continuously produces about 10–15 grams of Albumin per day, so there is no need for additional supplementation.
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\r\nOn this issue, former Korean Medical Association (KMA) president Joo Su-ho also strongly criticized some doctors for promoting Albumin health products in a recent social networking service (SNS) thread. Joo stated, "The established consensus in the global medical community is that Albumin is medically beneficial only when given intravenously to a small number of patients with extremely poor nutritional status," and added, "If you inject Albumin into people with normal nutritional status, it is all excreted in the urine. Claiming that oral intake of Albumin is beneficial to health is a scam that exploits the authority of doctors to mislead the public."
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hsg@fnnews.com Reporter Han Seung-gon Reporter