9 Most Popular & Best Whey Protein Powders

Best Whey Protein is in human mother's milk.

Protein is the second most important component in the human body after water.

When your intake of proteins is less than the needs of your body it is stated as protein deficiency. About a billion people worldwide suffer from protein deficiency.  The problem is even more of quality of protein than the quantity of protein. In developed countries where the problem should not be there, is still prevalent due to imbalanced diet. So protein deficiency is everywhere, urban or rural, child or old, male or female. 

While the recommended daily protein intake stands at 60-90 grams, some of us usually consume only about 10-30 grams. Minimum per day consumption should be 0.8 gm to 1.00 gm per kg body weight. For athletes and bodybuilders, it can even go up to 2 gm per kg body weight for the extra strength and strong muscles that they need. Please check your daily protein requirement here.

Our regular food is such that it just cannot give us the required proteins especially if you are a vegetarian. I did a one month study on myself while trying to develop six-pack abs.

Requirement & Sources of Protein

I was having a regular 2 bread slices-butter (6+2 = 8 gm Protein) in breakfast, 3 pc flat bread – vegetable curry-lentils (9+2+7 = 18 gm) in the afternoon and again rice-chicken-lentils (9+12+7 = 28 gm) for dinner.

A total of 54 gm per day if my dal consumption was 100 gms by weight when raw.  My weight is 65kg against this.  

The only way to increase this is to add some of these in my diet every day. Curd(11gm), eggs(6 gm), salmon(20 gm), chicken(27gm), turkey(29 gm), almonds(21gm), peanuts(26gm), flaxseeds(18 gm), tofu(8 gm) or edamame(11gm) every day in my diet. 

For vegetarians, the options are only 6 and for vegans 5.  So if I am a vegetarian I will have to double my intake of lentils both the times and include one of the above.  Of course, there are various other protein-rich foods in the market like Soya, cottage cheese etc. 

But still is it easy to increase my consumption to that level on a regular basis.  And that should be my normal consumption.  If I am more active than normal, a health enthusiast, I will have to increase this further, maybe double the quantity depending on how much of a health enthusiast I am.

If instead, I add whey protein to my diet it makes matters much easier.  But what is whey?  Till date, it is looked upon as a suspicious substance in our country.  Some people still ask, are there steroids in it?

Actually whey is simply the leftover water when we make cottage cheese at home, which most of us do.  Another example is the water on top of the curd when we curdle it at home.

Is Whey Dairy?

Yes, Whey is specifically a part of mammal milk. Cow milk has 20% whey in it.  To give you a perspective human mother’s milk has 60% whey in it.

So is it bad for health or does it have any side effects or does it have any chemicals in it?  Yes, it is bad if you are lactose intolerant. People who are lactose intolerant cannot drink milk also. It upsets their stomach. Does that mean milk is bad? Yes if you have a kidney or liver problem already then it is better to go according to doctor's advice.

The only difference is that the whey protein available in the market is dried and processed and in certain cases, extra ingredients added for flavour or for a particular segment like women.

What is Whey Protein Isolate?  

Generally, there are three types of whey protein available in the market. Their main difference is in the way they have been processed.

• Concentrate: About 70 – 80% protein. Contains some lactose (milk sugar) and fat and has the best flavour.
• Isolate: 90% protein or higher.  Contains less lactose and fat and lacks a lot of the beneficial nutrients found in whey protein concentrate.
• Hydrolysate: This type has been pre-digested so that it gets absorbed faster. It causes a 28–43% greater spike in insulin levels than isolate.

Whey protein concentrate seems to be the overall best option.

Whey protein concentrate (WPC) is made through a filtration process that allows low molecular weight components like lactose and minerals to pass through the filter while retaining the high molecular weight proteins.  These are further concentrated by evaporation.  WPC can have 30 to 75% protein in it.

To isolate the protein to higher concentrations than typical WPC, it is sent through additional filtering loops to remove lactose, fat, and undesired minerals.  Due to this Whey Protein Isolate has higher protein density than WPC by 10 to 15%

So if someone is lactose intolerant then doctors usually prescribe WPI.

Whey Protein and Weight Loss

In studies that compared both forms of whey protein, both were shown to produce significant gains in skeletal muscle mass and strength and lose significant amounts of body fat.  It’s by far the most satiating macronutrient.

Protein can boost energy expenditure by 80–100, and make people automatically eat up to 441 fewer calories per day. In one study, eating 25% of the daily calories in protein cut cravings by 60% and reduced the desire for late-time snacking by half.

Studies have shown that replacing other sources of calories with whey protein, combined with weight lifting, can cause weight loss of about 3.5 kg while increasing lean muscle mass. Of course, the time taken for this will also depend on other factors like lifestyle habits.

If you're trying to lose weight, a whey protein supplement can help you both lose weight and hold on to your muscle

Best Whey protein for Women

Protein is a building block for the body and regardless of gender we all have, and need those building blocks and these cannot be targeted towards men and women separately.  We all need different amounts of protein – this isn’t related to your gender, but your weight, and fitness regime. 

Some protein drinks and powders marketed towards women, may contain specifically added vitamins such as folic acid, and iron.

Whey protein can be taken at any time during the day though the most suitable time is after the workout.  Drinking a shake of whey mixed with cold water or milk within 30 minutes of finishing your training session will initiate the recovery process by flooding your bloodstream with amino acids, which are quickly shuttled into your muscle cells where they can be laid down as new muscle tissue.

The market is flooded with various whey protein products.  One has to be very careful while buying these.  Most of these are imported or imported and packed here.  Some are sold loose too.  So better buy factory sealed packs only.  Loose packs can be adulterated and old powder can also be sold as loose.

There are various Indian brands also.  Please check the packing properly before buying. Most important to know is, per scoop how much protein is there, the packaging date and the expiry date.

Best Whey Protein Products

So the biggest learning is having extra protein supplements can still make you lose weight or rather it does help in losing weight.

There is no best for women product in whey proteins. Only by adding certain other supplements companies make it slightly more beneficial for women.

My favourite of all the products mentioned above is still ON (Optimum Nutrition) Gold Standard 100% whey protein.

Disclaimer – No content on this site should be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or another qualified clinician.