How to assess the quality of a protein powder

The quality of a protein powder depends on several factors, including how you adapt your personal needs to the formula itself. It is increasingly difficult to make informed decisions regarding supplements, as you can end up confused by the technical language used on labels, making it almost impossible to determine the quality of a protein powder, right? In other cases, you may be attracted by appealing packaging that can nevertheless conceal a mediocre product that does not deliver what it promises. To avoid this, it is important to know the main characteristics found in a high-quality protein supplement. In short, you are never given a parameter with which to compare the quality of a protein powder, so we will provide some useful tips that you can use. In the sports nutrition jungle, you may come across protein products in a wide variety of colors, with formulas and logos that suggest a product’s quality. In addition, every manufacturer boasts about the quality of its products on different grounds, such as impressive raw-material logos, solubility, or flavor—but is that really the case?

The quality of a protein powder and its ingredients

It is important to read the ingredients shown in the product’s nutrition facts table carefully, because this allows you to determine whether the product is actually composed only of protein or also contains other unwanted elements. For example, the biological value (BV) and protein chemical score (PCS) are just two of the parameters that can indicate whether the protein you purchased meets certain standards.

The quality of a protein powder and the order

When reading the ingredients, the first active ingredient is the element present in the greatest amount in the product and perhaps the one that determines the quality of a protein powder. If the term whey protein concentrate (WPC) is present, you are looking at a protein that contains up to 70–80% protein, with reduced amounts of lactose and fat. In this case, although WPCs contain less protein than an isolate, a high-quality WPC contains all kinds of interesting compounds that are not found in isolates.

Advantages and disadvantages of WPCs

Good concentrates contain much higher levels of growth factors, such as IGF-1, TGF-1, and TGF-2,  various phospholipids, and various bioactive lipids, such as conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), and often contain higher levels of immunoglobulins and lactoferrin. The disadvantages of WPCs when determining the quality of a protein powder are that they have a slightly lower protein content than an isolate and contain higher levels of fat (although these fats may have beneficial effects) and higher levels of lactose. Therefore, a well-made WPC may be a superior option to an isolate, depending on your personal goals.

Advantages and disadvantages of WPIs

If you find “Whey Protein Isolate-ISO” (WPI) on the label, you are looking at a supplement that generally contains up to 90% protein, with minimal lactose and virtually 0 fat, which may provide an indication of the quality of a protein powder. The advantage of a good WPI is that it contains more protein and less fat, lactose, and ash compared with WPCs. However, whey is much more complicated than simple protein content, and the protein content itself is far from being the most important factor in deciding which whey to use.

The quality of a protein powder and ion exchange

For example, ion exchange has the highest protein levels of any isolate, although this does not make it the best option for an isolate, yet many companies still promote it as the Holy Grail of whey… but does it really work well? Ion exchange is carried out by taking a concentrate and passing it through what is called an “ion-exchange” column to obtain an “ion-exchange whey isolate.” It sounds good, but this method has drawbacks, since whey protein is a complex protein consisting of many peptide subfractions that have unique effects on health, immunity, etc., and some of these subfractions are found only in very small amounts. Due to the nature of the ion-exchange process, the most valuable and health-beneficial components are selectively depleted, and although the protein content increases, many of the most important subfractions are lost or significantly reduced. This is why ion-exchange isolates may not provide a comprehensive solution; however, they can serve as a protein food in a protein-based diet, which can also cause confusion when determining the quality of a protein powder.

Understanding the terminology

With the range of the latest processing techniques used to produce WPI or extract various subfractions, such as ultrafiltration (UF), cross-flow microfiltration (CFM), microfiltration (MF), reverse osmosis (RO), dynamic membrane filtration (DMF), ion-exchange chromatography (IEC), electro-ultrafiltration (UE), radial-flow chromatography (RFC), and nanofiltration (NF), manufacturers can now produce unique, high-quality whey proteins. Perhaps the most familiar microfiltered isolate is CFM, a processing method that uses low-temperature microfiltration techniques to enable the production of very high protein content (90%), a true testament to the quality of a protein powder. The preservation of important subfractions and extremely low fat and lactose content, with virtually no undenatured proteins, make it a “star” supplement. In addition, CFM is a natural, nonchemical process that uses high-tech ceramic filters, unlike ion exchange, which involves the use of hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide. Another benefit is that CFM whey isolate also contains high amounts of calcium and low amounts of sodium.

The quality of a “hydrolyzed” protein powder

If you read “hydrolyzed” (WPH) on the label, this basically means that the protein has been partially “broken down” into peptides of different lengths. And because the protein is already partially “broken down,” it is absorbed more quickly, which may have positive effects under certain circumstances and metabolic conditions. But it is also important to know how to determine whether the hydrolyzed protein is a concentrate or an isolate.

• In the first case, hydrolyzed whey protein concentrate is a protein with a protein content of no more than 80%
• In the second case, hydrolyzed whey protein isolate is a protein with a protein content close to 90% and a carbohydrate and fat content of almost 0.

The quality of a protein powder and its alterations

The protein content may be altered if, when reading through the ingredients, you find indications of certain amino acids in free form, such as glycine, alanine, lysine, glutamic acid, leucine, isoleucine, and valine. Although at first glance it may seem advantageous to have free-form amino acids in a protein product, these amino acids serve no purpose in a purely protein product with a structural function and, on the contrary, alter the biological value (BV) and chemical score (PCS) of the protein itself. Therefore, if your intention is to determine the quality of a protein powder, it is important that there are no free amino acids of any kind among the ingredients, as you may find them in products designed for other purposes.

The quality of a protein powder; its color and flavor

Another element for evaluating a product’s protein content is analyzing the color of flavored protein powder, since a tasty, good, and soluble protein is often confused with quality. But keep in mind that even sugar is soluble, and the addition of maltodextrins among the ingredients is often an example. Similarly, a strongly flavored protein will drastically reduce the product’s protein content. Therefore, when measuring the quality of a protein powder, you should select a pure product, unaltered by free-form amino acids and without a strong flavor, since these elements will only alter the quality of the product itself.

The quality of a protein powder and other elements

If you have noticed that at certain times of the day, often after drinking your protein shake, you feel a sensation of abdominal bloating, it may be due to a high intake of flavorings that your body does not tolerate. From every point of view, the quality of a protein powder is also related to the product not being overly flavored. Remember that if you want to reduce intestinal or digestive problems generally attributed to lactose content, you should stay away from products containing extraneous elements. Similarly, foods rich in sugar, especially artificial sweeteners and flavorings, cause rapid blood sugar spikes and insulin levels that make cells retain more sodium, increasing reabsorption in the kidneys and therefore water retention. Therefore, there are several obvious reasons to choose a protein with a low content of flavorings or, even better, flavorings that are 100% natural. In a broad market such as supplements, adding other elements will make the protein tastier, but not better, since it loses its function as a dietary or sports supplement. In the following video prepared by MASmusculo, we provide more precise information on how to determine the quality of a protein.