Calculating Phe From Protein

Over the past week, I have hit the PKU-friendly-food jackpot. I have found so many things that Hadley can eat that are either low in phe or phe-free. The best part is that they have all been in local stores. Hooray for no outrageous shipping costs! 

However, not all low-protein foods are created equal. Just because the package says 0g protein does not mean that it is phe-free. Manufacturers are only required to put the estimated amount of protein on a package. Therefore, a product that claims to be 0g protein may actually contain up to 0.4g of protein (they were allowed to round down to 0). The same is true for a product claiming to have 1g protein. It may contain anywhere from 0.5g to 1.4g. This could mean a big difference in the amount of phe. 

Most, if not all, PKU families rely heavily on the book Low Protein Food List for PKU by Virginia Schuett. This book contains the phe content for a LOT of different foods, but not all. There have been times when I have found a potential food for Hadley in a store but it was not listed in the book. 

So how do we go about determining the phe in these new products? The first step is to call the company and request the exact protein found in the product. Most companies unfortunately do not have the phe amounts in their products, so the exact protein is the next best thing. 

Here is an example:

The package states that there is less than 1g of protein per serving. I called the Glutino company and they told me that the exact amount of protein is 0.9g per serving. Since 1g protein=50mg phe, I multiplied 0.9 by 50 to determine that there are 45mg of phe per 52g serving (or 0.87mg phe per gram of product). 

I contacted Virginia Schuett to make sure I was doing my calculations correctly. She said the multiplier may not always be 50, depending on the main ingredients found in the product. For the toaster pastries, the main source of phe is eggs. However, eggs are listed 8th out of 17 ingredients (ingredients are listed in order from highest to lowest prevalence), so there probably isn't very much in there; therefore, 50 would have been an appropriate multiplier for this product. 

Even with the added task of determining the amount of phe in Hadley's new foods, I am so thankful that she has more variety in her diet now. So far she enjoys all the new things she has been able to try!

Funny side note about these toaster pastries: I told Hadley it was a pop-tart but she thought I said "hop-tart" because she made it go "hop hop hop" across the table. She cracks me up. :)