Protein powders

These are one of the most popular products currently on the market and arguably for good reason. An adequate protein intake, as you have learned, leads to almost innumerable benefits compared an inadequate one and protein powders can play a role in allowing you to get all you need.

The most common form of protein powder is whey protein, with other milk based products, egg, soy and vegan alternatives making up the rest of the market. In order to choose between the various options, it can be worth considering the Biological Value (BV) of the powders. BV is a measure of the proportion of absorbed protein from a given source which is incorporated into bodily proteins, measured by comparing the amount of nitrogen (which you will remember is a part of amino acid structure but not the structure of monosaccharides or fatty acids) in the protein, with the amount of nitrogen excreted after consumption in a fasted state, to work out the amount of nitrogen retained. If nitrogen has been excreted then amino acids have been broken down to make something else, whereas retained nitrogen implies retained amino acids. The percentage of stored amino acids is then used to create a score.

This is an imperfect scale (the measurements are not 100% accurate, and the BV would likely change from person to person, and even within the same person after eating other things they become altered at different overall protein intakes) but it’s a practically useful metric for determining which protein powder is likely to provide the most nutritional benefit.

Egg protein (from whole egg) is typically used as a baseline as it has a very high level of essential amino acids, and almost all of its nitrogen is retained. This makes it the perfect score of 100 against which other proteins can be compared. Below is the BV of the most commonly used protein powders:

• Whey protein concentrate: 104
• Whey protein isolate: 159
• Egg protein powder: 100
• Rice protein: 83
• Casein: 77
• Pea protein: 65
• Soy concentrate: 73
• Milk protein: 91

As you can see, whey-based protein powders win, followed by egg, milk and then the others. Worthy of note, however, are a few key facts:

• Whey isolate supersedes whey concentrate, but a judgement call must be made by the end user. Whey protein has a better than ‘perfect’ score and is relatively cheap compared to isolate. The difference between the two in terms of measurable results is going to be negligible to zero, especially being that this is probably not to be your only protein source, and so it wouldn’t be wise to opt for whey isolate based on this number alone. Whey concentrate will be 60-80% protein by weight and very low lactose whereas whey isolate will be upwards of 90% and therefore even lower
• Rice and pea proteins are often combined as neither have a perfect amino acid profile which provides all of the essential amino acids in high amounts. The combination of the two would likely increase their BV rather than average it out, though at the time of writing this, it has not been tested
• Egg protein is a great option for those with dairy allergies, but who do not want to opt for a vegan protein which has an inferior amino acid profile and often a higher price point

These are, much like micronutrients, nothing more than convenient and affordable options in the search for an adequate intake of regular nutrients. None of them will have any meaningful impact over and above what would be provided by whole food protein sources, and in fact they lack many of the micronutrients provided by the latter. As such, protein powders should not be viewed as a supplement which will provide any benefits per se and nor should it be viewed as an alternative to whole food protein sources.

With that said, these products require no cooking or refrigeration, are relatively cheap and can be enjoyable, so they can be an option alongside an otherwise whole food diet. Consuming an adequate amount of protein throughout the day is key to optimal health and these powders can be considered a viable tool for achieving this.