Protein powders and protein supplements are an important slice of the nutritional market, not just sports.

Many people use preparations with protein powders for example to lose weight, replacing the meal with a protein shake or a bar, to balance the glycemic load of sweets and savory baked preparations, also reducing calories. Furthermore, these products are often included in some dietary protocols, such as the Optavia diet, the SlimFast diet, etc.
In this article we will briefly see which ones to choose and why, if you are not very clear about the differences.

PROTEIN POWDER AND PROTEIN SUPPLEMENTS: WHICH TO CHOOSE

Neutral or flavored.

Let’s start here. In general, any type of protein blend you will choose, whether in powder form this will be neutral, that is almost without flavor, or flavored, for example with chocolate. When choosing flavored proteins, however, you must look at the list of ingredients, and in particular if there are thickeners and which sweetener is used. The most digestible are those sweetened with stevia or at least with sucralose.
If we suffer from colon problems, thickeners, excipients and sweeteners based on polyols are to be excluded.

Organic or non-organic.

Today it is also possible to have this difference between protein supplements, or to choose between organic ones, that is, whose ingredients come from organic or normal production systems. From my experience, organic ones are more digestible, regardless of the manufacturing process, and more soluble.

PROTEIN POWDER OF ANIMAL ORIGIN

• Milk proteins.

  Milk-derived proteins are divided into two types. There are proteins that are obtained from whey alone and are called whey. Those that derive from milk caseins, commonly called powdered caseins. The substantial difference is in the digestion times. Whey generally assimilate earlier, caseins are often taken in the evening, as they have longer digestion times.

• From the egg.

  Proteins can also be obtained from egg, and these are usually proteins from egg white. Like caseins, they are generally considered slow-release.

• Protein from meat.

  Also called bovine proteins, these proteins are perhaps the least used, in fact they are often chosen only by athletes or by those with allergies to eggs or caseins. I know you will turn up your nose but yes, these too can be flavored. Consider that they do not in fact taste of meat.

• Collagen peptides.

  These are proteins that derive from animal or marine collagen (in the latter case they can also be vegan, generally not), therefore not exactly complete from the point of view of amino acids. Therefore they should be used as a complement to the diet.

VEGAN PROTEIN POWDER

Vegan proteins are themselves of various types.
They can come from a single food, for example only from brown rice or only from a legume, such as soy or peas.

Or they can be the result of a mixture, and this is a very common type: for example proteins from cereals, seeds (such as pumpkin or flax) and legumes.

In general, that is, always without looking at the type of processing but only the main ingredient, these are less digestible and have an even more compact and earthy appearance. They melt with more difficulty. So it is good, if we are vegan, to try different types (for example isolated and not hydrolyzed) or try different blends. Those who are bad with soy proteins can, on the other hand, be very happy with mixed ones. Here you will find the best organic vegan protein powders.

PRODUCTS BASED ON PROTEIN POWDER

Products based on protein powders, such as creams, soups, bars or cookies, can be addressed to people with different needs. There are specific ones for diabetics, the elderly or bedridden people or for those who, having a chronic intestinal inflammatory problem, must follow an elementary diet.

In most cases, however, these products are used by athletes or those who want to lose weight. There is also protein pasta, protein bread and so on.

Still generally speaking, these products use not just one type of protein, but a blend. That is whey and soy proteins, which is the most frequent of all, or whey or casein and rice and soy proteins.
So when you buy one of these products, pay attention to which blend is used in the food list.