Best Protein Powder Guide — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:00] if you've seen any of my supplement

[00:01] videos then you know i'm a big fan of

[00:03] protein powder because of its

[00:05] practicality and the various advantages

[00:07] and potential muscle building benefits

[00:09] they can provide but once you do decide

[00:11] that you're ready to invest in a protein

[00:13] powder it's important that you first get

[00:15] well informed of the various differences

[00:17] between the various types of protein

[00:18] powders out there as well as the things

[00:21] to look for and things to avoid when you

[00:22] compare different brands by the end of

[00:25] this video you'll know exactly what type

[00:27] of protein is right for you and how to

[00:29] separate the good from the not so good

[00:31] options out there

[00:32] first let's cover what type of protein

[00:34] powder may be best for you despite the

[00:36] overwhelming amount of different protein

[00:38] powders on the market research has made

[00:40] it clear that whey protein comes out on

[00:42] top this is because whey protein is both

[00:45] higher in leucine one of the most

[00:47] important amino acids for muscle growth

[00:49] and more effectively absorbed and used

[00:51] by the body when compared to various

[00:53] other protein powders and other protein

[00:55] sources in general

[00:57] casein protein does come in at a close

[00:59] second with a slightly less leucine and

[01:02] overall protein content but it is a much

[01:04] slower digesting protein than weight in

[01:06] theory this would mean that casein would

[01:08] be the more effective option to take as

[01:10] a pre-sleep meal so that we can

[01:12] stimulate protein synthesis overnight

[01:14] however recent research seems to suggest

[01:17] that any high quality protein such as

[01:18] whey would do the job just as

[01:20] effectively so whey seems to be the best

[01:23] option but whey protein can be further

[01:25] broken down into three different types

[01:28] weight concentrate whey isolate and whey

[01:30] hydrolysate the main differences here is

[01:33] that whey concentrate can range anywhere

[01:35] from 35 to 80 protein and typically

[01:38] contains the highest amount of lactose

[01:40] carbs and fats whereas whey isolates

[01:42] although typically a bit more costly

[01:45] have to go through an additional

[01:46] filtration process and are required to

[01:48] be at least 90 protein by weight and

[01:51] therefore have considerably less fats

[01:54] and carbs hydrolysates on the other hand

[01:57] are whey concentrates or isolates that

[01:59] have just been pre-digested to help with

[02:01] its absorption but have not been shown

[02:03] to be any more effective at increasing

[02:05] size or strength as the other two

[02:07] options yet is typically the most

[02:09] expensive option so essentially it's

[02:11] just like buying chicken whey

[02:13] concentrates can be thought of chicken

[02:14] thighs they deliver a good amount of

[02:16] protein but come with additional fat and

[02:18] calories whereas whey isolate can be

[02:21] thought of as chicken breast a bit more

[02:23] costly than thighs but pack a much

[02:25] higher protein content with less

[02:27] additional fat and calories whereas whey

[02:29] hydrolysate could be thought of as extra

[02:31] lean ground chicken breasts it goes

[02:33] through a bit more processing is

[02:35] typically the most expensive option yet

[02:38] it delivers the same amount of protein

[02:40] relative to calories fats and carbs as

[02:43] chicken breast does meaning that for the

[02:45] best bang for your buck for most people

[02:47] a good quality whey isolate protein is

[02:50] your best bet as it delivers the highest

[02:52] amount of protein and is slightly better

[02:54] for those who are lactose intolerant or

[02:55] just tend to have digestive issues in

[02:57] general

[02:58] now as for plant-based options this can

[03:01] be a good option if you do have

[03:02] intolerances or sensitivities to weight

[03:05] the problem with plant-based proteins

[03:07] though is that they tend to be deficient

[03:09] in certain essential amino acids and are

[03:12] less effective at promoting protein

[03:14] synthesis than whey is

[03:16] but research has shown that you can

[03:18] partially compensate for this by

[03:20] combining different plant-based protein

[03:22] sources for example p protein is low in

[03:25] the essential amino acid methionine

[03:27] whereas rice protein contains

[03:29] considerably more methionine but is

[03:31] lower in the essential amino acid lysine

[03:33] meaning that when you look for a

[03:35] plant-based protein powder one with a

[03:37] good blend of rice and pea protein would

[03:39] likely be the best option soy protein

[03:42] although subject to much controversy is

[03:44] another good plant-based option since it

[03:46] has a good amount of all the essential

[03:48] amino acids and is therefore something

[03:50] worth considering

[03:51] now after you've chosen the protein

[03:53] powder that best suits your needs the

[03:55] next step is learning how to separate

[03:57] the good brands from the not so good

[03:59] brands because unfortunately there's a

[04:01] lot of tricks that supplement companies

[04:03] can use to deceive you and to help us

[04:06] out with this is examine.com researcher

[04:08] bill willis who has done a considerable

[04:10] amount of research and work within this

[04:13] exact topic so bill the first thing that

[04:15] you recommend that we look out for is

[04:17] the use of something that's called

[04:18] proprietary blends would you mind just

[04:20] explaining a little bit more about what

[04:22] exactly that is and then what that means

[04:24] for us as a consumer

[04:26] sure yeah that's something you have to

[04:28] watch out for uh with any protein

[04:31] product the issue is that most whey

[04:33] proteins in particular are made of

[04:36] isolates and concentrates generally

[04:38] sometimes some protein hydrolysates and

[04:41] what you'll find is uh you know a

[04:44] proprietary blend on the listing label

[04:46] and in this blend uh the company doesn't

[04:49] really have to disclose

[04:51] uh the amount of anything that's in that

[04:53] blend so for instance uh if you look at

[04:55] the back of a label of whey protein

[04:57] powder

[04:58] and it's uh it's a blend of whey

[05:00] concentrate and isolate you know that's

[05:02] great concentrate can be good an

[05:05] effective source of protein as can

[05:06] isolate

[05:08] but the issue is is that the concentrate

[05:10] could be a really cheap low quality one

[05:14] and there could be just a tiny little

[05:16] trace amount of isolate so

[05:18] in that example let's say you an

[05:20] unscrupulous manufacturer put a

[05:22] proprietary blend in there because they

[05:24] got a delivery of some really cheap way

[05:27] concentrate that they got for a good

[05:29] price that was low quality

[05:31] in this case that weight concentrate

[05:33] could be you know as low as 25 or 30

[05:37] total protein now uh the the claims on

[05:41] the label in terms of the pro

[05:43] the total protein content may be met

[05:45] with that blend you know everything

[05:47] might be on the up and up there

[05:49] but what you can look out for is the is

[05:51] the serving size in particular is how

[05:54] much protein is present per serving

[05:56] relative to the serving size um so you

[05:59] take a look at the label and let's say

[06:01] you're you know you're dealing with whey

[06:02] protein and product a is in a 35 gram

[06:06] total serving let's say there's 20 grams

[06:09] of total protein that's going to be

[06:11] relatively low

[06:13] indicating a lower quality protein on

[06:16] the other hand let's say for that same

[06:17] 35 gram

[06:19] serving size another

[06:21] type of whey

[06:22] has maybe 25 or even up to 28 grams in

[06:26] that total 35 gram serving size that one

[06:29] would be higher quality and

[06:31] that's what you want to look out for you

[06:33] want to get the protein with the

[06:36] most

[06:37] total protein per serving

[06:39] those proteins are higher purity

[06:41] otherwise you'll be paying for less of

[06:43] what you really need in a protein and

[06:45] more of just the junk and the fillers as

[06:47] far as i know even if we do look at the

[06:49] protein content on the back of the label

[06:51] there's still another loophole that

[06:53] companies can actually use to deceive us

[06:55] and this was something that's called

[06:57] protein spiking

[06:59] yeah

[07:00] what exactly is protein spiking and

[07:02] again how can us as consumers avoid

[07:05] falling into this trap

[07:07] yeah that's uh that's a dirty trick um

[07:10] and how dirty it is i guess depends on

[07:12] what exactly they do

[07:15] so protein spiking uh is adding uh

[07:18] non-protein

[07:20] nitrogen-containing substances to the

[07:22] protein powder

[07:23] that will be measured as protein and the

[07:25] thing is that the fda

[07:27] tests just total nitrogen levels and

[07:29] it's a

[07:30] quick and dirty way to assess protein

[07:32] content

[07:33] now

[07:34] the manufacturer could add extra

[07:36] nitrogen containing

[07:38] agents in there that aren't protein

[07:40] creatine is commonly used or maybe a

[07:43] cheap free-form amino acid such as

[07:45] glutamine and again you'll see this in

[07:47] like a proprietary blend you might see

[07:49] whey isolate weight concentrate

[07:52] and then uh glutamine well you know you

[07:55] don't know exactly how much of which is

[07:57] in there and that's when they do it

[07:59] legally when they do it in illegally

[08:01] they're just going to throw any extra

[08:03] nitrogen containing substance in there

[08:06] and it's not going to be stated on the

[08:07] label

[08:08] the latter is as i mentioned just a

[08:11] little sneakier it's a little harder to

[08:12] detect i guess again what you could also

[08:16] do is just

[08:17] look at the ingredients label and avoid

[08:20] protein blends avoid

[08:22] like you mentioned

[08:23] amino acids glutamine or amino acid

[08:26] matrix matrices or amino acid blends as

[08:29] those are potential indications that the

[08:32] protein has actually been spiked

[08:35] yeah yeah actually you have to watch for

[08:36] that because a lot of times the these

[08:39] proprietary blends or especially like

[08:41] the amino acid matrix will will show up

[08:43] in their marketing like you'll you'll be

[08:45] thumbing through a fitness magazine and

[08:48] you know you'll see this big bright

[08:49] shiny uh bottle of protein and you know

[08:52] the superhero looking like

[08:55] people that are you know supposedly got

[08:57] their physique that way

[08:58] and uh you know proprietary amino acid

[09:01] matrix um they sort of use that it's

[09:04] hidden in plain sight in a way

[09:06] um the consumer links you know this this

[09:09] fancy term

[09:10] uh to the physique of the you know

[09:12] whoever they're getting to endorse the

[09:14] product and really that's where they're

[09:16] hiding you know the lack of protein

[09:18] quality on the label so you really have

[09:19] to watch out for that look for brands

[09:21] that fully disclose the amount of amino

[09:24] acid or the amino acid profile rather

[09:27] of their protein

[09:28] this helps indicate

[09:30] that they're fully transparent about the

[09:31] specific amino acid content of their

[09:34] product

[09:35] and are less likely to have spiked it

[09:39] the last and final thing to look out for

[09:41] is contamination third-party testing

[09:43] results from a 2018 analysis by the

[09:46] clean label project found that among 134

[09:50] tested protein powders the vast majority

[09:52] of them had detectable levels of heavy

[09:54] metals and plastic derivatives as a

[09:56] result of their ingredient sourcing and

[09:58] manufacturing practices

[10:00] now detectable does not mean dangerous

[10:03] but many of these protein powders did

[10:05] indeed have levels that surpass the

[10:07] acceptable levels which is something

[10:08] you'd obviously want to avoid and this

[10:10] is a common occurrence because

[10:12] supplement companies aren't required to

[10:14] test their products for contaminants and

[10:16] are instead left voluntarily to run

[10:19] those tests if they wish to pay the

[10:20] additional cost which as you'd expect

[10:23] many companies just don't do so to

[10:25] minimize your risk as a consumer simply

[10:28] do a little bit of digging around to see

[10:29] what their testing protocols are and

[10:32] specifically what they test for and

[10:34] looking for certifications such as nsf

[10:36] and gmp on their website are also good

[10:39] signs and indications that they take

[10:40] their quality control practices

[10:42] seriously so to sum the video up here

[10:45] are the main points to keep in mind and

[10:47] look out for when you purchase your

[10:48] protein if you're going to be investing

[10:50] in protein powder it's worth putting in

[10:52] that additional effort to ensure that

[10:54] what you're getting is a high quality

[10:56] product aligned with your specific goals

[10:59] for step-by-step program that applies

[11:01] the same level of science and detail to

[11:03] your workouts your nutrition and your

[11:05] supplementation so you can truly

[11:08] transform your body in the most

[11:09] efficient way possible and simply head

[11:11] on over to buildwithscience.com and take

[11:13] our analysis quiz to discover which

[11:15] program is best for you and your

[11:16] specific body and big thank you to bill

[11:19] willis from examine.com for his help

[11:21] today for those who are unfamiliar with

[11:23] examine.com it's just a free database of

[11:25] unbiased nutrition and supplement

[11:27] information that's led by a team of

[11:29] scientists and researchers if you want

[11:31] to learn more about any specific

[11:33] supplement and the current state of the

[11:34] research for that supplement then i

[11:36] highly recommend that you check out

[11:37] their site anyways that is it for today

[11:39] guys thank you so much for watching hope

[11:41] you enjoyed this one please don't forget

[11:43] to show your support by giving the video

[11:44] a like leaving a comment down below so

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[11:51] this all really does help me out and

[11:52] it's much appreciated see you guys next

[11:54] time

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