Whey is a great way to SUPPLEMENT your protein intake- but it's not meant to entirely replace real food. For many people time is a factor- not everyone has time to cook up half a dozen eggs after their workout, and whey protein is a great way to get your daily intake to where you want it. Of note, it's more important to look at protein intake on a daily level than to be worried greatly about any nutrient windows- just get your 1-2 grams of protein per GOAL body weight in daily and you'll be in the window. Here are some of our notes on the topic we pulled together for the Black Rifle Coffee Podcast with Evan Hafer and Brent Phillips.
- Making an educated choice
- Tons of money in sports nutrition and supplements (estimated that global sales in supplements will be approx $200 billion by 2025). With that in mind, advertising will be aggressive- learn to read through the bullshit!
- Isolate (~90% is protein) vs concentrate (~80% is protein)
- Serving size
- Generally 30g+ per serving, this should be one reasonable sized scope (if more scoops required for this amount, then consult the ingredients list (PSB))
- Ingredients (secondary ingredients (e.g. HMB, collagen, creatine etc), fillers, allergens, ?contaminants)
- Your budget
- For real demonstrable performance and health improvements, consistency is needed
- Therefore, probably better (if you have to) to go with a cheaper product that you can afford consistently, rather than an expensive one
- Flavour/palatability
- Surprisingly important (we all remember the nasty OG protein powders from back in the day)
- Consider varying to avoid getting bored
- Source
- i.e. organic, grass fed etc
- Some health/performance considerations, but there doesn’t appear to be much research to support tangible advantages from a nutritional perspective
- Obviously there might be ethical/preference considerations
- Informed Sport certified
- Is there a military equivalent in the US?
- Might be a consideration if you also compete in a tested sport
- Additional Reading
- Hoffman and Falvo 2004 - Which protein is besthttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3905294/
- Minj and Anand 2020 - Review on whey protein bioactivity and applicationshttps://www.mdpi.com/2624-862X/1/3/233
- Vasconcelos et al, 2020 - Interesting review exploring previously reported adverse effects from whey protein usehttps://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/103906/1/apnm-2020-0370.pdf
