Whey Protein: The king of protein?

Key Points

Whey Protein is the fastest protein source to be digested, absorbed and utilised.
How are protein sources ranked? Which is best?
Whey protein is a very convenient, high-quality, easy digestible and versatile source of protein.
Getting the most out of whey protein, check out our high protein recipes.
Promax is the number 1 product of choice.

What Is Whey Protein?

“Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet, eating her curds and whey...” Remember the nursery rhyme? I don’t suppose little Miss Muffet was actually a muscle-bound gym goer, but nonetheless, curds and whey are the by-products made from milk used when producing cheese. In particular, whey protein is created from spray drying the coagulated milk, the separation fluid from the curds. This fluid is predominantly water but with a small amount of higher concentrated protein, which when dried and filtered, creates the whey powder that we know today. For more check out our guide to whey protein.

Why Is Whey Considered The King Of Protein?

Protein sources are ranked based on their amino acid profile, biological value (BV) and digestibility. As measured through nitrogen balance, BV compares protein sources against a known constant - in this case egg, which has a score of 100, meaning that the protein in egg is efficiently utilised by the body, in the absence of excreted nitrogen. For whey protein the BV is 104, ranking it as number 1. More recently, BV has been bolstered by using the digestibility of protein – the Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS). Unlike BV, that makes an assumption on digestibility by using ‘usability’, PDCAAS uses the known amino acid reference score and corrects it with the true faecal digestibility. Once again, whey comes out with a top score of 1.0, as do all dairy based proteins.

Common Sense over Science

Whether you use or even truly understand BV or PDCAAS, the reality is that whey protein is a very convenient, high-quality, easy digestible and versatile source of protein. Not the only source and your daily diet should contain a mixture of protein sources. Most of our foods, don’t just contain protein and the other nutrients – carbs, fat, vitamins and minerals, are also important. But whey protein although not necessarily naturally produced, is a great dietary inclusion. Whey protein doesn’t have to be used solely as a shake, although protein shakes are a no fuss convenient way to get some protein. Here’s a few other ways you could use whey protein.

Recipes using whey

You can make it as a shake, add it to food, cook with it. Whey might be considered more of a jack of all trades, but the big difference is that its good at all, rather than the master of none.

Finding the wood from the trees

It’s fair to say that at Maximuscle we love all things protein, but for us the one product that we believe should be in everyone’s kitchen, is Promax. Often over looked because it’s ‘only protein’, but that’s the exact reason why our signature product deserves some attention. Promax comes in 5 great flavours: Chocolate, Strawberry, Vanilla, Banana and Cookies & Cream. Every serving contains 25g of whey protein (our unique Biomax Whey True Protein). Low in sugar, fat and salt, with only 143 kcals. Promax naturally contains branched chain amino acids and glutamine. Hugely important to us, Promax has always been and remains registered on the Informed-Sport drug screening programme, making it a favourite amongst our ambassadors and athletes.

Author: Gareth Nicholas