August 8, 2022-September 30, 2022
5:19pm
The best feeling in the world is a hard
workout, a shower, and a protein shake.
~Mirko Cro Cop
Milk is recognized as the best source of protein both for its nutritional quality and for its excellent digestion power. It is made up of two main proteins: Casein & Whey.
[Casein 80%, Whey 20%]
Whey protein, in its powdered form, has been consumed for decades by athletes and bodybuilders because of its ability to contribute to muscle growth. Casein can help maintain those muscles.
Lately, more people are adding these to their regular diet because of their many benefits.
Although they both come from Milk, their properties are quite different, making them complementary to each other. Let’s see how that works.
[Kinski Vision]
The most popular protein powder in the world is Whey protein. Whey has the highest percentage of branched-chain amino acids [BCAAs], including Leucine, one of the essential amino acids. Leucine promotes the healing of bones, skin, and muscle tissue and is the one that sparks Muscle Protein Synthesis (MPS), and consequently muscle growth.
Whey is a normal byproduct of cheesemaking, it is the watery portion of milk that is left when the milk solids come together and are pressed into their cheese form.
Whey is produced by filtering and dehydrating to make it into a powder which is free of fat and lactose, but high in protein.
These extraction and purification processes have evolved to new methods that include ultrafiltration, microfiltration, and ion exchange chromatography to isolate the whey protein. Ultrafiltration, for example, uses membranes with microscopic holes that let only the water, lactose, and mineral salts through. These nonchemical filtration systems used to produce milk protein isolates allow protein to remain in their native state, almost completely intact.
Casein protein is more popular in its concentrated form which is known as Micellar casein. Micellar casein is the purest casein protein available. Thanks to the evolution in technological processes in micro-filtration, which is performed without the use of chemical agents, it is possible to obtain an almost 100% pure product, low in fat & lactose.
Like Whey, Casein is a complete protein which provides all the essential amino acids that your body needs for growth and repair and has been shown to increase muscle mass and strength when combined with resistance training.
Because of its cell structure, casein protein becomes firmer when it reaches the stomach and remains there for an extended period of time, during which you don’t feel hungry. These causes the amino acids to be released at a slower rate, so it keeps promoting muscle growth and repair over a longer period of time.
When we haven’t eaten for some time, the body has to steal the protein from our own muscles, a process called muscle protein breakdown. Which is why it is ideal to consume casein protein before going to bed, Amino Acids keep being sent to your muscle cells, reducing muscle breakdown which results in longer term muscle mass gain.
Milk Protein (Casein + Whey)
Both casein and whey protein can supplement your workout and include all the amino acids that you need. And in a way, they complement each other. Casein is better at preventing muscle breakdown, while whey is better at building muscle.
Which is why it seems like a good idea to consume both.
A Milk Protein concentrate includes 80% casein and 20% whey.
It is a complete dairy protein, much like real milk. But unlike milk, it has had most of the lactose and the fat removed. So, you get a concentration of the nutritional benefits of milk without the lactose and the fat.
Whey by itself is not exactly tasty, so most protein drinks, bars, and even powdered whey, contain added sweeteners to make it better tasting, spoiling it for those of us who don’t want the added sugars or chemicals.
After looking into lots of options, I recommend Total Milk Protein by Smart 138 or any of the ProMix products.
Look in the description below for links to these super clean products.
Credits
Other Benefits of Milk Protein
Increases bone density
Slows Bone breakdown
Reduces risk of heart disease and stroke
Enhances immune function
Protects against free radical damage
Can help with weight loss
Licenses:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Production_of_cheese_1.jpg
No machine-readable author provided. MatthiasKabel assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons
Whey
By Jason Riedy
Footnotes:
Prescription for Nutritional Healing, 4th Edition.
By Phyllis A. Balch, CNC