20 years ago, protein powder was primarily used for post-workout shakes. Today, protein powder is an ingredient in a variety of shakes, bowls and smoothies, as well as recipes for cooking and baking. Protein powder has become a source of protein for much more than a post-workout shake after strength training.
There are now a variety of different protein powders on the market. In addition to the classic whey or whey protein and soy protein, which fortunately has largely disappeared from the market, there are protein powders made from beef, hemp, pumpkin, peas and rice.
In addition to whey or whey protein, rice protein is the protein powder that I primarily use and recommend at YPSI.
What is rice protein?
Rice Protein is a vegan protein powder made from rice by enzymatically separating the protein from the carbohydrates. Although rice is primarily a source of carbohydrates, it is still high in protein, depending on the part of the rice grain.
How is rice protein made?
The grain of rice can be divided into three primary parts.
The largest part is the so-called nutrient tissue. It consists mainly of carbohydrates. This tissue gives the rice its primary calories.
The rice germ is the second part of the rice grain. From this, the small plant develops when the seed germinates.
The third part consists of the outer layers of the grain: the rice bran with its rice protein.
The bran is therefore the “nutrient and protein store” of the rice grain.
Rice protein powder is produced from the rice bran using special filtration methods.
What is whey?
The term "whey" comes from English and means "whey". Whey is a part of milk that is left over from cheese making.
How is whey made?
Whey is a by-product of cheese and quark production, when casein is removed from the liquid milk by so-called ultrafiltration. The lactose and fat are removed from the whey by filtration. This whey protein mass is brought into powder form through a drying process, resulting in the so-called whey concentrate.
Whey protein is a complete protein as it contains all nine essential amino acids.
What is the difference between whey isolate and whey concentrate?
Both contain plenty of protein and all the essential amino acids. The difference between the two forms is the production process, which leads to a number of advantages.
The isolate is specially filtered so that the fat and carbohydrate content is slightly reduced and the protein content is slightly increased. A finished protein powder made from whey isolate including flavor and sweetener has about 41g protein, 1g carbohydrates and 1g fat per 50g portion.
The primary benefit is this higher protein to carbohydrate/fat ratio.
The primary disadvantage is that whey isolate is less creamy and very runny.
The concentrate is also specially filtered. Substances such as certain lipid components, lactoferrins and peptide fragments, some of which are removed during the manufacture of Islolat, remain in the concentrate. The finished protein powder made from whey concentrate including flavor and sweetener has about 38g protein, 5g carbohydrates and 1.5g fat per 50g portion.
The primary disadvantage of whey concentrate is a slightly higher carbohydrate content of about 4g per serving compared to whey isolate.
The primary advantage of whey concentrate is a larger spectrum of bioactive components and a much creamier texture.
That's why we decided to use a high-quality whey concentrate for the YPSI Weide Whey.
What are the benefits of whey?
The two most important advantages of a whey protein are the balanced amino acid profile and the resulting high biological value as well as the solubility and texture of a finished whey protein shake, which is similar to that of a milkshake.
What are the disadvantages of whey?
The major downside of whey protein is that it is a dairy product and dairy is one of the most common food allergens/intolerances. Many who have drunk a few hundred protein shakes from them find themselves reacting to whey. Whether in digestion, the skin or in well-being and performance.
Experience has shown that these effects increase the more frequently whey is consumed.
Of course, this also varies from whey protein to whey protein, especially whey protein powders with a long ingredient list of 8+ ingredients or an inferior quality whey offer a greater risk of such an intolerance.
What Are the Benefits of Rice Protein?
Statistically, the two most important advantages of a rice protein are its higher tolerability. Rice is hypoallergenic. And no dairy product. And the rice protein is the smallest hurdle in terms of taste compared to all other vegan protein powders. Anyone who has already tested some vegan protein powders knows what is meant here.
What are the disadvantages of rice protein?
The biggest disadvantage of rice protein, however, is the more pronounced taste of its own and the often sandy texture. Something that we have almost completely masked with our YPSI rice protein, in which we use coconut milk powder, among other things, which results in a creamy texture that is unusually great for vegan proteins.
Is Rice Protein a Lower Value Incomplete Protein?
One of the downsides that is often cited with rice protein is its unbalanced amino acid profile and resulting lower biological value.
However, what sounds conclusive in theory in isolation is hardly relevant in practice.
For regular protein consumption, like eating chicken 2-4 hours before your workout, drinking amino acids in water during your workout, then drinking the rice protein as a post-workout shake, and then eating fish or meat again 1-2 hours after, and consider solid protein sources, for example It takes 4 to 8 hours until they are completely digested and all amino acids and peptide chains are absorbed. This spread of protein sources and intake means that the amino acid profile is balanced and the biological value is therefore high.
What do I recommend in practice?
As mentioned in the introduction to the article, my primary use and recommendation is whey and rice protein. Changing both powders, usually shake for shake instead of pack for pack or month for month, is the most effective option for most people to use the advantages of both protein powders and to minimize the disadvantages - especially the tolerability.
There is also this study , among other things, which shows that with appropriate protein consumption, rice protein is in no way inferior to whey in terms of strength training and hypertrophy.
Tolerance and taste, paired with the highest quality of raw materials, are three decisive and often underestimated factors for the optimal selection of protein powder.
Based on that, choose which protein powder to use today.
Directly there is the YPSI Premium Rice Protein and here the YPSI Weide Whey
Image: A selection of protein powders from the YPSI Supplement line.