Hey Guys, I realise it may be a bit long winded but seeing this post I put togeter my thoughts on proteins. may be helpful for many first times especially.
Looking for proteins can be quite difficult, generally speaking the larger the picture, or cartoon on the front, the harder it is to tell whether you are getting a quality product. The following is my advice when looking for a protein and what to look out for.
Ingredients (Protein Used) –
This is the most important factor when looking at proteins. Usually people look for whey proteins, with Whey Protein Isolate being the first choice and Whey Protein Concentrate being further down the list.
Sure Whey Protein Isolate is a better protein, but in terms of value for money WPC can’t be beaten. In terms of protein per dollar, WPC kills WPI, sure it is 10-12% less pure but as it is generally over 30% or more cheaper than WPI, for those on a budget you will grow more muscle for every dollar spent on WPC than WPI.
The negatives of WPC? Well, WPI has less lactose, mixes better, tastes better and has less fats and carbs. If these are an issue to you, then WPI is the better choice, also if you money isn’t an issue and you want the better product, then WPI again is the go.
There are other options now which make the choices a bit harder. Hydrolysed WPI has become all the rage recently, the advantages here is that as it is absorbed faster than regular WPI so should mean some advantages around training time, however this would also mean it is less suitable for other times.
As it is more expensive, we also have to consider the benefits compared to having a cheaper protein and more of it as a comparison.
On the other end of the scale you have caseins (Micellar Casein, Calcium Caseinate) which are absorbed very slowly. These are fantastic as they help to prolong hunger and reduce catabolism muscle wastage, so are great at times when regular meals aren’t possible – think just before bed or if you work a job where multiple small meals are difficult.
All of this advice is fine if you are buying a single protein, however most branded proteins contain combinations. Some are good, not so good, here it is important to know what your needs are (weight loss, sustained release, immediate absorption) and match these with the proteins in the product.
It also pays to look at the order that these are included in the ingredient list too (ingredients appear at the order that they are included) and then the nutritional panel to try to gauge how much of each protein is in the product.
This is tricky, bit I’ll explain later how to do this.
Origin, where is it made?
Depending on who you believe, where a protein comes from may make significant differences to its quality. Not too much in terms of nutritional value, rather its toxicology profile and what the cows have been fed.
If you are concerned about hormones and other such nasties, proteins derived from N.Z and Australia are the one’s to go for.
Now, noticed I said ‘derived from”. Where a finished product is made often bears no relation to where the protein is sourced from. Generally, products from the U.S use U.S sourced whey, however many products made in Australia use whey from the U.S too.
Basically, in Australia and N.Z the general practise is to have all grass fed cows (rather than grain fed in the U.S) and in Australia and N.Z most dairies have very strict policies against GM modified feed, hormones and anything else used.
In the U.S cows are grain fed and there are far less restrictions on hormone use. Will this affect the finished product? Again, this depends on who you talk to.
Do bear in mind that any whey which comes into Australia (regardless of where it comes form) must pass very strict quality standards, veterinary and other health certificates must match exact batches as Australian Quarantine regulate this very heavily.
If you are an absolute health nut though, using a protein which uses N.Z or Australian derived whey would be the safer choice.
Fillers and other additives –
Generally few proteins contain what I would constitute as “fillers”. A filler is an ingredient which is included to bulk up the product while enhancing flavour or mixability while reducing the cost of manufacture.
Good examples of fillers would be maltodextrin, dexrtrose, skim milk powder, soy protein, wheat protein and so on.
Maltodextrin and Dextrose are carbohydrates which are great in bulking proteins (which are generally a lot cheaper) however these shouldn’t be in any “pure” protein.’
If you see ingredients such as soy, skim milk or wheat protein, I’d walk away, these is absolutely no excuse for these to be in a decent protein powder.
They are very low quality forms of protein, only added to reduce cost to the manufacturer.
Other additive such as xantham gum, guar gum are used to thicken a protein, while emulsifiers are often added to help mixability. If it is important that your protein tastes like a creamy milkshake and has a certain texture than you may be happy that these are on your shake, however if purity is your main concern, then they are best avoided.
What about Taste?
Taste is the hardest factor to quantify as it is just so personal. I have heard the same proteins being described as “far too sweet” and “very bland” which are obviously descriptions on the opposite end of the scales.
The only way to gauge your personal preference to taste is to try different brands.
If you are buying a WPI this isn’t such an issue.
With WPI being so neutrally flavoured as a natural product, just a touch of sweetener and flavourer usually gets it pretty good.
WPC is a bit tricker as it has a distinctly more sour/hasrch taste, while not completely unpleasant does make it a bit tougher to flavour.
Blends are somewhere in between, however most blend son the market include more WPC than anything else.
Some companies use other additives to enhance taste, flavour modifiers, de acidifiers and so on. If tastes is a massive issue for you I would suggest using a product very high (or pure WPI) as a base. Otherwise, many of the U.S blends taste fantastic, however the negatives is that a lot has been added to make them taste like this.
You can always use raw proteins, which are completely unflavoured, however most people will not be happy with the taste of these, which is why flavoured proteins are so much more popular.
That said, bang for buck and nutritionally speaking, nothing beats an unflavoured protein!
Sweeteners –
This is a subject which has recently seen much debate. Years ago the default sweetener for proteins was Aspartame which is used in many diet soft drinks. Aspartame was used for no other reason apart form it is very strong and very cheap.
Aspartame has the worst safety profile of any artificial sweetener and it also unfortunately has a very artificial taste.
This product will rarely be found in Australian made proteins these days, however it is still available in many U.S made products.
Ace K is another popular sweetener which is usually used in combination with others. Again, safety profile isn’t the best, but it is popular as it is very cheap.
You will find this in quite a few proteins and other supps.
Sucralose has long been considered the best sweetener as it has a few benefits. Being 600 times sweeter than sugar, not a lot needs to be added, as it is made by modifying sucrose, its tastes is more like sugar compared with other sweeteners. Add to that it has the best safety profile, it is no surprise why it has become so popular.
What about natural sweeteners?
Obviously the best case scenario would see a natural sweetener being used. The reason why dextrose, sucrose, fructose isn’t used as these would dramatically raise carbohydrate levels, when the idea of a decent protein is to be as low carbohydrate as possible.
Sure, you can have a product with natural sugar added, but be prepared for it to be at least 30% carbohydrates.
A recent alternative is the use of Stevia. Stevia is a plant based extract which is 300 times sweeter than sugar while being natural. Being very close to calorie free it appears the perfect choice, however its taste profile isn’t as good as sucralose and there are some concerns about side effects according to some research (mainly around virility). That said, if you are after the best natural choice than this would be it.
Interpreting the Nutritional Panel.
This part if my favourite. I reckon the big companies must be campaigning to get rid of this annoying part of the label! I can hear the conversations now. ‘You mean, we actually have to truthfully list the nutritional values”?
If there is a part of the labels where the B.S stops it is the nutritional panel. In blended proteins, few companies will tell you how much WPI vs WPC and so on is used, yet looking at the nutritional panel will help you to determine this, as well as the inclusion of any fillers.
As a general rule, keep in mind that raw WPI is about 90% protein and raw WPC is about 80% protein. Given that flavouring is included anywhere at 1 – 8%, the higher the final protein ratio, the closer you will have to a “pure” protein.
If you have a WPI which is close or at 90% purity, it is likely very little flavouring has been used and few (if any) other fillers. The same goes for WPC when around 80%.
Blends are a bit harder to interpret but you can bet that if a protein blends final protein ratio come sin at less than 80% then the large majority of protein used is WPC.
While this isn’t a bad thing necessarily, best ensure you aren’t paying a premium for a product which is 90% WPC with a bit of WPI thrown in to dress up the label.
Flavourers and the amount added will also have an impact on fats and carbohydrates. The more flavourer added the higher these levels will get. Chocolate flavours always put a dent on carbs and fats simply as to get a decent tasting product cocoa must be used in reasonable quantities.
One side effect of Coca is that it does contain a bit of fat and carbs, which is why Choc proteins are always down a bit nutritionally.
So how do I know if a product is any good?
When I look at a protein the first thing I do is disregard the big guy on the front , ignore all the flashy text and promises about massive muscle growth and head for two areas. The first is the ingredient list, the second is the nutritional panel.
Now, depending on what you base your choice on, you may look for different ingredients. If it is the best protein you are after look for WPI, Hydro WPI and so on. Some manufacturers mention the kind of WPI used (which comes down to how the product was made). Generally speaking the preference is for cross and ultra filtered wheys, with ion exchange whey’s being a bit harsher and a bit worse in a nutritional sense due to being “denatured” ( a lot of heat used in the manufacturing process which affect their structure).
WPC would be the next to look out for, basically you want to see proteins in the list with as few additives as possible.
If the list is endless with many ingredients which don’t appear to be proteins, it is likely the product has all kinds of additives to affect flavour and mixability. Sure, it may taste like a milkshake but the chemical concoction may not be doing great things for your body!
Again it depends on what you are after.
Hopefully with this information you will be better armed to find not only a good protein, but one which offers value for money and matches your needs in terms of a preference for a particular taste or nutritional quality.
