Lab results- Low prealbumin level 3rd time in a row despite getting over 120 grams of protein a...

Hi all-

I just got my one year lab results back. My prealbumin level is 11.9 (normal 20-40), slightly higher than three months ago but still low. (My albumin level is within the normal range.) My doctor said that she is puzzled why it is low when my protein consumption is so high. Once again she recommended not drinking protein shakes, but getting protein from food. Doing that would drastically cut my protein consumption. I drink 3 or even 4 protein shakes a day (Syntrax Mint Cookie with Almond milk), have one greek yogurt a day, plus meat based meals.

Has anyone found that protein levels are influenced by eating vs protein shakes? Has anyone ever found a way to correct your protein level? I am concerned now. I have never lost one strand of hair or other symptoms of protein deficiency. Any advice or insight would be appreciated!

Are you having the labs drawn as a fasting test?  Mine always are because my labs include the cholesterol tests, so I always have them drawn first thing in the morning before I eat or drink anything.

Are your other protein numbers okay?  My surgeon's nurse manager isn't too concerned about my prealbumin because of the fasting component.

My understanding is that prealbumin measures your recent protein intake.

I was fasting for 10 hours before the test.

That may very well be it, then.  My fasting prealbumin has been a point or two below range in each of my labs.

I'm not a doctor, of course, but as I said I was told that the prealbumin being low after a fasting test wasn't of concern because my other protein numbers have been within range and because I routinely get over 100g of protein daily.

Interesting....my doctor seemed to indicate that this was unusual. Doesn't everyone fast before their lab work?  I need to do some more research to understand this.....

My pre-albumin is fine but my actual protein levels are low and have been since surgery. My doctors (surgeon and PCP) are puzzled but not too concerned because they say that I have no other signs of a protein deficiency. They think this just may be normal for me.

As for fasting before tests, some people do and some don't. Some tests are made to be done fasting and some are better not. But if you get them all done at once, you can't optimize them all and some have to suffer. Most of the time everything is in range and it only makes a slight difference anyway. However, if something is out of range, sometimes the doc will have you redo just that test and optimize just for it.

For example, the last time I had lab work done, I didn't fast and had an energy bar for breakfast. My blood sugar level was sky high! So I had those redone and this time I fasted and they were fine. (I won't make THAT mistake again!) 

No one has told me not to do shakes, but if they did, I would question that. Dairy and eggs are the most bio-available forms of protein. And protein shakes are made from whey... which is a milk protein... so it's more bio-available than anything else except an egg.

So I would ask them why would it be better for your labs to eat meat or beans than drink milk? The only answer I would probably accept is that I get maybe 50% of my protein from dairy and maybe it would be better to mix it up a bit and see if that changes anything. Any other answer I would consider to be anti-shake bias -- or at least I have seen no answer up until now that wasn't anti-shake bias. I suppose there could be one I haven't thought of.