Tips on buying protein powder

This is how protein shakes work

Muscles do not sprout directly after consuming protein shakes and bars, nor does losing weight happen on its own. There is something more to this. To be more precise: hard training and the right diet.

However, protein powder can help to support and, if necessary, optimize a healthy diet and muscle building or muscle maintenance. Proteins contribute to building and maintaining muscle mass . Muscles and all cells are made of them. Therefore, an adequate supply of protein is an essential part of the diet of athletes, but also of non-athletes.

The daily protein requirement

• ​Athletes : about 1.5 to 2 grams per kilo of body weight
• Non – athletes : 0.8 grams per kilo of body weight
• In a diet : up to 2.5 grams per kilo of body weight

Anyone who, after determining their individual protein requirements, feels that they are not optimally covering them can consider protein powder as a dietary supplement.

The benefits of protein powder

• Protein intake without many additional carbohydrates and fats
• Helps with weight loss
• convenient because it is quick and easy to prepare
• can ward off food cravings with low calories
• also suitable for traveling
• Proteins support muscle building as well as the development of tissue and healing processes in the body
• Protein powder is also suitable for baking and can partially replace the flour

Protein is not just protein

There are many different sources of protein. For protein powder, the following are mainly used: milk, whey, egg, soy and less often rice, wheat and beef. Depending on where the protein comes from, it has different properties that you should know about in order to take advantage of them. With conventional protein powder made from whey protein, the whey is first finely microfiltered and then treated with cold and hot air until the liquid has been completely removed.

Fast vs Slow

Proteins are processed at different rates by our digestive system. Whey protein (whey) is the top performer for speed, followed by soy, egg and lastly casein (milk protein) . The “speed” of a protein is important in that it defines its purpose to some extent. In the morning or after training you need a fast protein, before going to bed you need a slow one.

biological value

Put simply, the biological value (BS) indicates how much of the protein supplied can be used by the body. This goes hand in hand with the similarity of the respective protein to the body’s own protein . The hen’s egg with a value of 100 was chosen as the reference value because it had the highest measured value at the time. There are proteins, especially blends, that score higher. To be precise, one then speaks of the Chemical Score (CS). Here is an overview of the biological values ​​of the proteins:

• Whey: 104
• No: 100
• Rind: 92
• Soybean: 85
• Casein: 77
• Travel: 66
• Wheat: 59

Good multi-component proteins (mixtures of different protein types) use the different amino acid balances to achieve particularly high chemical scores.

The question of taste

You can argue about the taste of protein, this also applies to protein powder. However, some tastes can be recorded quite objectively.

In general, whey and casein are the most suitable flavors. Whey dissolves much more easily and is the most non-intrusive. Casein has a thicker consistency and sometimes foams a bit.

Pure soy protein doesn’t taste very good. But you can also drink it in the “neutral” flavor, ie without sweeteners and flavors. In other flavors, some products are even quite tasty.

With egg protein, however, the taste of hops and malt is lost. It’s very bitter. A pure protein powder from egg is therefore only recommended for extremely hard-boiled people and bodybuilders in the competition phase who want to get the last bit of definition out. Egg protein is very good for this.

Multi-component products taste very different depending on their composition. Egg protein, for example, is usually only contained in a proportion that is justifiable in terms of taste.

Choosing the right protein powder – this is important to consider

Aside from choosing the right kind, there are some general things to consider with a protein powder.

High protein content

Protein powder should contain as much protein as possible . This seems self-evident, but unfortunately it is not the case with some products. No protein powder can do without carbohydrates and fats. You should also keep this in mind when dieting. The protein content can be found in the nutritional information of the product. With whey, values ​​around 80 grams and more per 100 grams of powder are good. With a casein it should already be 85 grams upwards.

Few additives

The ingredient lists of protein products are often long and not only confuse beginners. Common ingredients include sweeteners, flavors, emulsifiers, thickeners, and more. As a rule, these are not a problem, since these substances are also found in other foods and the body does not differentiate between artificially produced and natural sweeteners. Nevertheless, the smaller the list of ingredients, the better!

High quality of raw materials

Any product is only as good as the raw materials used to make it. This is extremely important, especially when it comes to food. Therefore, you should definitely pay attention to good quality and transparent origin of the raw materials. Unfortunately, this point is not so easy to assess for laypeople. If you stick to well-known manufacturers from the industry, you won’t do anything wrong. With less well-known manufacturers, you have to look at each individual case.

Complete amino acid balance

This point is more for experts. If you really want to put your protein powder to the test, take a look at the balance of amino acids in the product. Most manufacturers specify this. The amounts of the individual amino acids are partly determined by the type of protein in question. But you can close gaps in the balance by adding certain individual amino acids, which is sometimes done with good products. In order to assess how many of which amino acids should ideally be included, however, you have to deal with the matter in more detail.

We can recommend this protein powder

1. Total Protein from Morenutrition
   The protein powder from Morenutrition becomes wonderfully creamy with both milk and water. Due to its high casein content, it fills you up for a long time and is absorbed more slowly by the body. The flavors range from chocolate brownie to banana milk to cinnamon sugar cookie. A 1.5 kg can costs around 38 euros .
2. ESN Designer Whey
   One of the best known brands of protein powder is ESN. The whey is available in numerous flavor variations, dissolves well in the shaker and tastes delicious. A 1 kg bag is already available for around 20 euros .
3. Alpha Foods Vegan Protein
   The protein powder is vegan and consists of several types of protein, including pea, rice, soy and sunflower protein etc. The flavors range from vanilla to coconut and strawberry to blueberry. However, the vegan protein powder is a bit more expensive. So 600 g cost about 23 euros .

Summary

• When it comes to taste, there are big differences both between the varieties and between individual products. From “super delicious” to “hard to get down” everything is included.
• An important factor that partially determines the purpose of a strain is the rate at which the body processes the protein.
• Protein powder can be useful to optimize your own diet. But it is not necessary. When choosing the right powder, you have to consider the differences between the individual varieties.
• Another important aspect is the biological value, which indicates how much of a protein can be used by the body.
• General quality features of a protein powder are a high protein content, few additives, high quality raw materials and a complete amino acid balance.