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When it comes to dietary supplements, protein powders and meal replacement powders are the grandfathers of the bunch. This is where it all started, so to speak. Protein powders have been around as a popular bodybuilding supplement for decades. The problem was – that most of them were just crude concoctions of milk or egg proteins that tasted like sawdust swept up off the cutting room floor (yum yum).
As it stands now, however, the bodybuilders are still gulping this stuff down, but so are 90-pound weaklings, soccer moms and Sumo wrestlers. The best news of all is that some of the products are actually quite tasty (compared to where they started a few years ago). While we didn’t subject the following products to any rigorous taste testing (as we did with our review of energy bars), we DO provide a nice overview of some of the popular products on the market.
Before getting into the details about each product, let’s start off with a basic protein primer. First, it’s important to realize that above and beyond the products we have on our list, you can expect to find dozens of other products on the shelf. This is just about the hugest category (next to weight loss products) in the supplement world, so don’t expect us to ever review ALL of the products. Instead, use the information below to help you chose the right protein supplement for you - whether it’s a bar, shake, cookie, meal replacement, whatever. Are all proteins the same?
Let’s start at the most logical place – the beginning. In the beginning, the nutrition commandments clearly stated that “thou shalt not bother to compare different types of protein in thy protein shake.” As the godless scientists continued their research, however, they discovered that this commandment was mistaken and that YES indeed, there WERE differences between the various proteins. The supplement manufacturers looked upon this research and “proclaimed it good” (the direct quote, I believe was something closer to, “Thar’s gold in them thar hills!”). The result is a dizzying array of protein blends, concentrates and isolates – all with their own claims of superiority over one another on various points.
For example, proponents of egg-derived protein claim that it has the most “complete” amino acid profile. The folks in the milk protein camp have developed new ways to isolate and concentrate the protein portion of milk (known as whey) so they can claim high levels of glutamine and other immune-stimulating compounds. The soy protein people try to focus your attention less on the amino acid profile (because soy is low in some sulfur-containing amino acids) and more on the benefits of soy for preventing heart disease. So how to choose?
OK, all the protein chemists in the room, please stand up. Now leave. Thank you. Now that they’re gone, we can get down to the real issue at hand – which protein to include in your dietary regimen. Drum roll please. The winner, hands down, is a balanced intake of each of the main types of proteins. A cop out answer you say? Not so – here’s why.
If your goal for choking down your protein mix is to reduce fat and gain muscle, then there is certainly NO DIFFERENCE between protein sources. Yes, there may be slight differences between amino acid profiles and minute variations in other components of the protein blend, so having a bit of each type of protein will keep you covered. Try, as best you can, to ignore the proclamations of these companies spouting off about their “high molecular value,” “isolated whey fractions containing x fraction and y fraction,” “predigested whey,” “clinically proven protein blend”…yadda, yadda, yadda. Don’t let the fancy wording influence you.
The bottom line is this: there is no clinical human research that shows one protein source is any better than another in increasing your muscle mass or reducing the width of that spare tire. There is plenty of ‘theoretical’ and ‘In Vitro’ evidence that is thrown around to suggest to you that protein A is better than protein B – but the bottom-line is that it’s mostly a bunch of guesswork. It still amazes us that in this multi-million dollar market no one has been able to prove that the expensive Whey Ion Exchange Isolates with low molecular value and protein fractions are any better at increasing your muscle than the standard Whey Protein concentrate (or eating eggs for that matter). Spend your money wisely!! What about all that other stuff?
Aside from the actual protein content of your mix, many manufacturers include a varying amount of other ingredients – some of which may be helpful in bulking YOU up and some of which may just be there to “bulk up” the label. When reading labels, you should be aware that ingredients are listed by weight in descending order – meaning that the items listed first are there because there is more of them. As you go through the list of ingredients, you’re getting less and less of each ingredient. In many cases, a manufacturer will list their proprietary blend of ingredients as a group in order to keep the integrity of their “secret” formula intact. In this case, the weight of the entire blend is listed on the ingredient deck making it look very secretive, important, and highly advanced compared to the standard listing.
Here’s an example: Other Ingredients: Joe Nitro-Muscles Proprietary Precision Protein Blend – 26 grams (Whey Protein Concentrate, Whey Protein Isolate, Whey Protein Hydrolysate, Soy Isolate), Natural and Artificial colors, Taurine, Glutamine, Xanthan gum. I know you’re thinking, “Wow, this Joe Muscles Proprietary Blend must be really special – look at all those scientific sounding names.” After this label is deciphered by the code-crackers here at
SupplementWatch, however, our spies tell us what the product REALLY contains. Joe Nitro-Muscles Precision Protein Blend could potentially have the following weights in the product (and probably does) Other Ingredients: Joe Nitro-Muscles Precision Proprietary Protein Blend – 26 grams Whey Protein Concentrate (25g) Whey Protein Isolate (0.33g) Whey Protein Hydrolysate (0.33g) Soy Isolate (0.33g) Natural and Artificial colors (0.28g) Taurine (0.25g) Glutamine (0.1g) Xanthan gum (0.05g)
As you can see from this example, even though this product looks like a high tech protein blend which you should pay lots of $$’s for, it is still 99% Whey Protein Concentrate (the cheap stuff). Since, in most cases, you really have no way of telling how much of the ingredients are really in the product, we suggest assuming that the ingredient listed first is 95%+ of the product, and make your comparison that way. One more point! That long list of Amino acids you find on some labels are inherent to virtually ANY protein source used for protein powders – so don’t strain your eyes trying to compare the amino acid profiles between competing products.
Which Product to Buy?
Well, this is probably the main question that you came here for in the first place, right? Now you know from the above discussion that, despite all the marketing hubbub, there just isn’t any good clinical data to suggest significant advantages of one protein source over another as a dietary supplement. As such, a good rule of thumb is to choose the product with the best value based on grams of protein per penny. True, some of the added ingredients may be beneficial to some degree, so it will be up to your own discretion to put up the extra cash if you want all the bells and whistles.
As it stands now, however, the bodybuilders are still gulping this stuff down, but so are 90-pound weaklings, soccer moms and Sumo wrestlers. The best news of all is that some of the products are actually quite tasty (compared to where they started a few years ago). While we didn’t subject the following products to any rigorous taste testing (as we did with our review of energy bars), we DO provide a nice overview of some of the popular products on the market.
Before getting into the details about each product, let’s start off with a basic protein primer. First, it’s important to realize that above and beyond the products we have on our list, you can expect to find dozens of other products on the shelf. This is just about the hugest category (next to weight loss products) in the supplement world, so don’t expect us to ever review ALL of the products. Instead, use the information below to help you chose the right protein supplement for you - whether it’s a bar, shake, cookie, meal replacement, whatever. Are all proteins the same?
Let’s start at the most logical place – the beginning. In the beginning, the nutrition commandments clearly stated that “thou shalt not bother to compare different types of protein in thy protein shake.” As the godless scientists continued their research, however, they discovered that this commandment was mistaken and that YES indeed, there WERE differences between the various proteins. The supplement manufacturers looked upon this research and “proclaimed it good” (the direct quote, I believe was something closer to, “Thar’s gold in them thar hills!”). The result is a dizzying array of protein blends, concentrates and isolates – all with their own claims of superiority over one another on various points.
For example, proponents of egg-derived protein claim that it has the most “complete” amino acid profile. The folks in the milk protein camp have developed new ways to isolate and concentrate the protein portion of milk (known as whey) so they can claim high levels of glutamine and other immune-stimulating compounds. The soy protein people try to focus your attention less on the amino acid profile (because soy is low in some sulfur-containing amino acids) and more on the benefits of soy for preventing heart disease. So how to choose?
OK, all the protein chemists in the room, please stand up. Now leave. Thank you. Now that they’re gone, we can get down to the real issue at hand – which protein to include in your dietary regimen. Drum roll please. The winner, hands down, is a balanced intake of each of the main types of proteins. A cop out answer you say? Not so – here’s why.
If your goal for choking down your protein mix is to reduce fat and gain muscle, then there is certainly NO DIFFERENCE between protein sources. Yes, there may be slight differences between amino acid profiles and minute variations in other components of the protein blend, so having a bit of each type of protein will keep you covered. Try, as best you can, to ignore the proclamations of these companies spouting off about their “high molecular value,” “isolated whey fractions containing x fraction and y fraction,” “predigested whey,” “clinically proven protein blend”…yadda, yadda, yadda. Don’t let the fancy wording influence you.
The bottom line is this: there is no clinical human research that shows one protein source is any better than another in increasing your muscle mass or reducing the width of that spare tire. There is plenty of ‘theoretical’ and ‘In Vitro’ evidence that is thrown around to suggest to you that protein A is better than protein B – but the bottom-line is that it’s mostly a bunch of guesswork. It still amazes us that in this multi-million dollar market no one has been able to prove that the expensive Whey Ion Exchange Isolates with low molecular value and protein fractions are any better at increasing your muscle than the standard Whey Protein concentrate (or eating eggs for that matter). Spend your money wisely!! What about all that other stuff?
Aside from the actual protein content of your mix, many manufacturers include a varying amount of other ingredients – some of which may be helpful in bulking YOU up and some of which may just be there to “bulk up” the label. When reading labels, you should be aware that ingredients are listed by weight in descending order – meaning that the items listed first are there because there is more of them. As you go through the list of ingredients, you’re getting less and less of each ingredient. In many cases, a manufacturer will list their proprietary blend of ingredients as a group in order to keep the integrity of their “secret” formula intact. In this case, the weight of the entire blend is listed on the ingredient deck making it look very secretive, important, and highly advanced compared to the standard listing.
Here’s an example: Other Ingredients: Joe Nitro-Muscles Proprietary Precision Protein Blend – 26 grams (Whey Protein Concentrate, Whey Protein Isolate, Whey Protein Hydrolysate, Soy Isolate), Natural and Artificial colors, Taurine, Glutamine, Xanthan gum. I know you’re thinking, “Wow, this Joe Muscles Proprietary Blend must be really special – look at all those scientific sounding names.” After this label is deciphered by the code-crackers here at
SupplementWatch, however, our spies tell us what the product REALLY contains. Joe Nitro-Muscles Precision Protein Blend could potentially have the following weights in the product (and probably does) Other Ingredients: Joe Nitro-Muscles Precision Proprietary Protein Blend – 26 grams Whey Protein Concentrate (25g) Whey Protein Isolate (0.33g) Whey Protein Hydrolysate (0.33g) Soy Isolate (0.33g) Natural and Artificial colors (0.28g) Taurine (0.25g) Glutamine (0.1g) Xanthan gum (0.05g)
As you can see from this example, even though this product looks like a high tech protein blend which you should pay lots of $$’s for, it is still 99% Whey Protein Concentrate (the cheap stuff). Since, in most cases, you really have no way of telling how much of the ingredients are really in the product, we suggest assuming that the ingredient listed first is 95%+ of the product, and make your comparison that way. One more point! That long list of Amino acids you find on some labels are inherent to virtually ANY protein source used for protein powders – so don’t strain your eyes trying to compare the amino acid profiles between competing products.
Which Product to Buy?
Well, this is probably the main question that you came here for in the first place, right? Now you know from the above discussion that, despite all the marketing hubbub, there just isn’t any good clinical data to suggest significant advantages of one protein source over another as a dietary supplement. As such, a good rule of thumb is to choose the product with the best value based on grams of protein per penny. True, some of the added ingredients may be beneficial to some degree, so it will be up to your own discretion to put up the extra cash if you want all the bells and whistles.
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