Protein Power
What's the difference between the various protein supplements on the market today as it relates to muscle gains? We help you take the guesswork out of your choices, with a closer look at four potent powders: whey, casein, soy and egg white.
By Michael Berg and Carey Rossi

Leading the Whey

Whey accounts for 20 percent of the protein found in milk. In the old days, whey was just a byproduct of the manufacture of cheese and was actually tossed out as part of the process. These days, thankfully, the true value of whey is well-known, especially in bodybuilding circles, and it has climbed the ladder to become the world’s top-selling protein supplement. Numerous studies have found that supplementing your work in the weight room with whey helps increase strength and fat-free mass.

Why is whey so powerful?

For one, it digests rather rapidly, making it valuable at those times when you need to get protein to your muscles quickly, such as after a workout. “Part of what you are trying to do is make sure that the [protein or amino acid] levels in the blood are going up so there is an availability to the muscle and other areas that need to build,” says Mike Saunders, Ph.D., Director of the Human Performance Laboratory at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

Secondly, whey is loaded with branched-chain amino acids, key building blocks of muscle tissue, and may even help open up blood flow during exercise by inhibiting an angiotensin-converting enzyme in the body that constricts blood vessels. Better flow means more nutrients where you need them, ready to start the repair and rebuilding process.

There are three key variations of whey in supplemental formulas: whey protein concentrate, whey protein isolate and whey protein hydrolysate. Concentrate is the best type for those on a budget — it’s not as processed, which means it’s not as pure as the other types (usually a whey concentrate powder is 75 percent to 85 percent protein, 15 percent to 25 percent carbs and fat), but on the plus side, whey peptide fractions aren’t filtered as stringently, and these offer some valuable health benefits.

Whey protein isolate goes through more filtration, such as a “cross-flow microfiltration” or an “ion exchange,” to provide purer whey, with less fat and carbohydrates (only 2 percent to 10 percent on average, with the rest being whey). Because of the lower carb and fat, isolate may be a better option for those who are focused on a fat-loss or lower-calorie diet.

Whey protein hydrolysate involves a manufacturing process called, appropriately enough, hydrolysis. The idea is to break down the longer protein “chains” into smaller fragments to ease digestibility. The faster the digestion, the quicker the aminos can get to work for you. It also lowers the allergenic properties of whey, says Roger Clemens, DrPH, adjunct professor of pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Southern California. Clemens, a fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists and the American College of Nutrition, says that, in addition, the process also “improves the wetness ability, so it goes into the solution better.” That means no clumps of powder in your shake.

The “Other” Milk Protein

Casein makes up 80 percent of the protein found in milk. Although dominant from that standpoint, for many years, it has been overshadowed by whey on the supplement front — arguably unfairly to a degree.

While whey should be in every serious bodybuilder’s supplement arsenal, casein protein deserves a spot in the battle plan, too, because it brings its own slew of benefits for muscle growth, including the ability to slow protein catabolism in the body and the resulting muscle breakdown. “Casein takes a little longer before you get a rise in the blood (levels), but you get a different, more of a sustained rise in the blood, compared to whey,” Saunders says.

Unlike whey, casein is insoluble, meaning it forms very small “globules” instead of dissolving in liquid, and thus takes longer to digest. However, mixing casein in milk or water will help reduce this effect. There are some key times when a slow-digesting, high-quality protein is a great thing to have at your disposal, notably after workouts and before bed. After training, in fact, a dose of whey and casein together gives your body short- and long-term fuel for its recovery efforts. (Also notable is casein’s higher concentration of glutamine, an amino acid that’s well-regarded for its beneficial effects on protein synthesis and immune function.)

“Just using common sense, combining whey and casein might be ideal,” Saunders says. “Consider milk. Most of the studies that have used it have had pretty good results, and maybe that’s because it’s the best of both worlds. The whey gives you the initial rise in acids, and the casein makes sure it (remains) sustained.”

Baylor University researchers can attest that this may be right on the money. They reported in the August 2006 issue of The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research that the combination of whey and casein protein promoted the greatest increases in fat-free mass after 10 weeks of heavy resistance training.

When shopping for a casein protein, know that, like whey, there are three common varieties: caseinates, hydrolyzed casein and micellar casein. The first, caseinate, is created by adding sodium, potassium or calcium to casein and is known as the most soluble form of casein, meaning it’s faster-digesting (although certainly not as speedy as whey). In hydrolyzed casein, like hydrolyzed whey, the amino-acid chains are shortened in an effort to further increase digestibility.

Meanwhile, micellar casein is separated from the other materials in milk through filtration, such as ultrafiltration or microfiltration. The processes make for a slower- digesting protein, and thus this type is commonly used in supplemental formulas specifically designed for before-bed use.

Speaking Up for Soy

For every firm supporter of soy in the wide-ranging field of bodybuilding and nutrition, there seems to be an ardent detractor. Is soy a secret weapon in the fight for more muscle mass, or might it be the ultimate undoing of all your efforts in the gym?

Based on solid scientific research — and what better to base a conclusion on? — soy is decidedly the former. Unlike most other plant-based proteins, soy is a “complete” protein, Clemens says. Which means it has all the vital amino acids you need for growth, including leucine, isoleucine, valine, glutamine and arginine.

Many studies point to soy’s effectiveness as a muscle builder. In a head-to-head comparison of soy and whey, Canadian researchers concluded in the June 2006 issue of International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism that both proteins increased lean muscle mass when combined with a resistance- training program. Another group of Canadian researchers found that strength gains were the same between athletes who supplemented with soy or milk proteins, according to a report published in the April 2005 Journal of the American College of Nutrition.

Add to that soy is a great alternative for bodybuilders who are lactose- intolerant or who are vegetarian. It is the only plant-based protein that is complete. “If you had to live on a single protein, could you do that with soy? The answer is yes,” Clemens says. “Could you do that with other plant- based proteins? The answer is no. There is a big difference.”

Soy is a good option first thing in the morning (because of its fast- acting nature), and before and after workouts, either by itself or as part of a blend with other protein varieties. It generally comes in two forms, soy concentrate — in which soybean flour or flakes are run through extraction and drying to remove some of the carbohydrates and fat — and soy isolate, which is an unadulterated form of soy protein.

Liquid Muscle

There’s little debate that egg white — also known as egg albumen, for you, er, eggheads out there — is one of the best proteins you can get. It’s loaded with the all-important branched-chain aminos and arginine, and the body has an easy time breaking egg protein down and making use of the nutrients it contains. (Indeed, perhaps Balboa wasn’t too far off the mark with his primitive concoction after all, at least in principle.)

In the past, eggs were often revered in regard to their Biological Value (BV), a measurement of how well a particular food can be absorbed and utilized by the body. They’ve actually been used as the “standard” against which other protein sources are measured on the BV scale, although now it has been established that whey’s value ranks above egg protein. Meanwhile, using the Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid score, which measures exactly how “complete” a protein source is, egg whites, whey, casein and soy all score a perfect 1.0, meaning all have a place in a bodybuilding nutritional regimen.

Egg whites contain many proteins, mostly ovalbumin, which makes up about 60 percent of the total protein; ovotransferrin, which makes up around 10 percent; and ovomucin, which comes in at around 5 percent.

As for digestion speed, egg white breaks down more slowly than whey but generally faster than casein. That gives it a bit of the beneficial properties of both, as far as increasing protein synthesis and as a guard against the body’s tendency to break down muscle tissue when in need of fuel. Thus, it might make for a good option between meals, and certainly before and after training bouts.

To incorporate egg whites into your diet, you can buy whole eggs and separate out the yolks, but there are two more convenient options: liquid egg whites, which you can pour into a dish and cook or mix directly into a shake if you wish (as it’s pasteurized to help prevent salmonella risk); and powder, also pasteurized, which mixes easily in water or milk.

“You’ll want to make sure that the egg protein powder is made with pasteurized egg whites,” Clemens says. “While salmonella is an issue, it’s more of a nutrition issue.” Eggs have a component called avidin that, unless put through a heat process, will not bind to the vitamin biotin. And biotin is important for a variety of different metabolic processes: If the two aren’t bound together, those metabolic processes don’t proceed too well, if at all. “If you want to make a choice of eating cooked or raw eggs, you want the cooked because you want to make the protein more digestible,” Clemens says. (Sorry, Rock!)

Team Effort

Hopefully by now you’ve clearly seen the underlying, common thread that runs through protein supplementation: No one protein is “best” for all circumstances. If you want to take advantage of all that protein supplementation has to offer in fast-tracking your training results, there are a number of different powders that have a place in your dietary strategy, notably the four we included here.

To help, check out “Your Protein Powder Daily Cheat Sheet” for a recap of what to take when. As for when to next pop in your Rocky DVD for some helpful preworkout motivation — that’s totally up to you.

“Protein supplements are biologically expensive,” says Roger Clemens, DrPH, adjunct professor of pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences at the University of Southern California. “You’ll want to make sure that you are adequately hydrated because you have to remove the nitrogen to add back more nitrogen (which is necessary for muscle stimulation). Muscles can’t work in a dehydrated environment.” Keep this in mind: For every gram of protein, you should consume 4 grams (or about 1.2 ounces) of water.

YOUR PROTEIN POWDER DAILY CHEAT SHEET

Whey
VARIETIES:Concentrate, isolate hydrolysate
BEST FOR: First meal, preworkout and postworkout
Casein
VARIETIES: Caseinates, hydrolyzed casein, micellar casein
BEST FOR: Postworkout, before bed
Soy
VARIETIES: Concentrate, isolate
BEST FOR: First meal, preworkout and postworkout
Egg White
VARIETIES: Liquid egg whites, powder
BEST FOR: Between meals, preworkout and postworkout