How to buy protein powder part 5! (Conclusion)

Ok, so let's wrap things up by first recapping what we know. When buying a protein powder we need to make sure our potential product meets the following criteria:

• No artificial flavours or preservatives


• No artificial sweeteners


• Not loaded with sugar or under 10 grams per scoop


• Not loaded with fat or under 3 grams per scoop (the lower the better)


• Not loaded with additional carbohydrates unless you're a competitive body builder and are looking to add mass and need additional calories. These protein formulas are called mass builders.

We also need to make sure our product has all the essential amino acids (There are 10 essential AA's) and in addition the product could also have some of the non essential amino acids which are still beneficial for the body. (There is also 10 non essential AA's for a total of 20 amino acids, 10 essential and 10 non essential)

To view the amino acid list read How to buy protein powder part 1!

Now another common thing we'll see on the protein bottle packaging is:

Ultra Filtration

Micro Filtration

Isolates

Concentrates

Ion Exchange

Do you wonder what they all mean? Do you shop based solely on price? Let's dig a little deeper.

Basically all of the above terms are different ways to separate the protein from it's source. So, for example, whey protein is filtered and processed to remove most of the lactose and fat, you might see, "micro filtration" or "ion exchange," those are simply methods of separating the fat and lactose from the protein. The end result is a more concentrated protein – either concentrate or isolate.

Sticking with our example the primary difference between isolate and concentrate is that the isolate is more pure. In other words, isolate contains more protein with less fat and lactose per serving. whey isolate usually contains between 90-94% protein while whey concentrate has a protein ratio of 70-85% but it's sometimes hard to get decent figures because most of the studies are done by supplement companies.

Ok, so which is better?

Well, If you are lactose intolerant and you have problems with gas and bloating, then the isolate might be a better choice but the disadvantage of isolate protein lies with the removal of valuable immune-boosting protein sub fractions such as alpha lactoglobulins and lactoferrins, removed in the filtering process.

However, whey protein concentrate is still an excellent source of protein and less expensive then isolate because of manufacturing.

It all kinda depends what your goals are. For strictly muscle building I like isolate, for healing, health and medicinal I would say concentrate.

No matter which process is used when manufacturing a protein powder supplement the protein must be processed under low temperature and/or low acid conditions as not to "denature" the
protein.

That's why you'll also see cold processing as a benefit to buy a particular protein.

What you'll also see on the shelf's in stores are protein blends usually containing whey and egg which I think is a good choice.

So throughout our little mini protein series, we covered whey, egg, veggie and soy protein.

My recommendations for men would be a protein blend (whey and egg) or whey protein.

My recommendations for women would be a soy blend or whey protein.

The key to anything though is variety it would also be beneficial to change your protein sources once in a while!

Make it a great day!

Chris

The why can't I lose weight expert!

http://www.chriswalkersfitness.com/