About Whey Protein

By Glenda James


Regarding the matter of shedding pounds or building bulk, you'd most likely need to buy whey protein shake for meal replacement! All protein may not be made equivalent in terms of weight loss. Whey, or milk protein may offer individuals who need to thin down a slight edge over soy, another study shows. Whey protein supplementation as well as safety activity can help enhance muscle protein combination and promote the development of lean tissue mass.

Whey is one of the two major proteins found in milk (casein is the other) and is isolated from milk as a byproduct in the production of cheese and casein. Pure whey contains a large amount of the milk sugar lactose, as well as a variety of proteins, fat and cholesterol. Whey traditionally used to be considered a waste product and dumped on fields and into the nearest lake.

Fortunately whey was discovered to contain high quality proteins and so methods have been developed to remove as much of the undesirable lactose, fat and cholesterol as possible from the protein. Original methods developed included acid treatment and high temperature drying. This unfortunately destroyed much of the protein and ruined the quality of the protein extracted. New methods have been developed that can extract the protein from the whey while maintaining its quality. The most common methods today include ultra-filtration, micro-filtration, ion-exchange and cross flow micro-filtration.

Ultra-filtration and micro-filtration use a low temperature process where the proteins are physically separated by filters. The ion-exchange process removes the protein through an ion-exchange column that takes advantage of the specific electronic charges of the protein, fat and lactose contained in the whey and uses opposite charges to extract each individual component. Crossflow micro-filtration uses natural, nonchemical ceramic membranes to separate the undenatured whey protein from the fat and denatured protein.

All of these processes result in a high quality whey protein, low in fat and lactose. Always be sure to check the label for which method or methods have been used, as some of the cheaper proteins may use whey proteins that have been processed by cheaper acid treatment or high temperatures and contain high levels of undenatured proteins. Undenatured proteins are unusable by the body and result in the whey having a bitter taste when consumed. A good quality protein powder will always list in the ingredients panel or on the label whether it is microfilltered, ultrafiltered or ion-exchange. If it simply lists whey protein concentrate or isolate you can only assume that it contains a cheaper form of protein.




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