Whey protein powder has topped the chart by a fair margin when it comes to protein powder sales. It is the number one choice for many athletes, body builders, dieters and even moderate exercisers. So whats the deal with whey protein powder and what exactly is it?
Whey protein powder is derived from milk. There are two different kinds of protein that make up the overall protein profile of milk – casein and whey. Casein is also a popular protein powder, but less so than whey. The reason whey protein powder is more popular is because of its high biological value (BV). Not all proteins are as effective at building muscle as others and there is an actual BV scoring chart that rates a proteins ability to build and strengthen muscle. Whey protein powder scores the highest and this is the fundamental reason it is the most popular protein supplement.
For a protein to score high on the BV chart it has to achieve several criteria.
1) The protein food source needs to be a complete protein. A complete protein contains all 8 essential amino acids that we must achieve from food. If just one of these 8 essential amino acids are missing from a food source it will limit the ability of the body to make muscle from that food. Whey protein powder contains all 8 amino acids plus a plethora of non-essential amino acids that are helpful.
2) There needs to be an adequate amount of all 8 essential amino acids. Even if a food source has great levels of 7 of the essential amino acids but is limited in the amount of the 8th that also lowers the BV value. However it is not as limiting as having zero content of the 8th amino acid. Whey protein powder is in excellent source of all 8.
3) Bio-availability is the 3rd and last criteria by which a protein’s muscle building abilities is judged. Bio-availability refers to the speed and efficiency a protein food source is digested and delivered to the muscles. Whey protein tops the chart on bio-availability because it contains an abundance of amino acids known as branched chain amino acids. These branched chain amino acids make up 3 of the 8 total essential amino acids. They are effective because unlike the other 5 essential amino acids they digest directly into the muscles for rebuilding and repair and 70% of muscle tissue is actually made up of these 3 branched chain amino acids. The other 5 essential amino acids need to be metabolized by the liver into different forms first. Some of which will be sent to the muscles and some that will be used for different functions.
So that pretty well sums up why whey protein is so popular. Another point to add is that there are two different kinds of whey protein powder on the market. Whey protein powder isolate and whey protein powder concentrate. Whey protein isolate is considered the best whey protein powder because it is a more pure form that is at least 90% pure whey. Whey protein concentrate is still very good put is less pure and usually average about 70-80% pure whey. The rest is made up of the carbohydrates and fat found in milk. To read more about this visit Protein, Amino Acids, BCAA’s, Muscle and Whey Protein Powder.
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