A decade ago those browsing the protein section of health food shops or sports centres would be one of two characters – those with big muscles, or those who aspired to build them.
Today, protein supplements have exploded into the world of general wellbeing, right where they belong.
Protein is one of the three main calorie-giving macronutrients along with carbohydrates and fats, it’s also the least-likely source of calories to trigger fat gain.
All of this means that counting grams of protein may be more effective for your goals.
So how does one consume enough protein to do this? By eating food, obviously.
But to get the most out of a fitness-boosting plan without consuming more calories from carbs and fats, you might want to add some protein supps to your regime.
Protein powder can be a valuable tool for building lean, healthy muscle. It could also be your secret weapon for fat loss.
What is protein powder?
Protein is what’s known as a macronutrient, meaning it’s one of the three essential nutrients external link here we need every day to live and stay healthy.
The other macronutrients besides internal link here protein are carbohydrates and fat.
Protein is full of the amino acids needed for muscle growth, which explains its popularity with those seeking to bulk up.
Protein powders are forms of edible protein which has been finely ground or milled to achieve a powder that can be mixed together with liquid (such as plant milk, dairy milk or water) to achieve a shake, or added to baked goods and even savoury foods.
The protein in protein powder can come from various sources, both plant and animal-based. These include whey and casein (made from milk), beef, egg, soy, hemp, rice and pea protein.
The history of protein
High-protein diets are nothing new: the ancient Greeks knew that athletes fared better on greater intakes of animal-based foods.
The earliest reliable recorded use of whey protein is from around 150AD with physician Galen of Pergamon, who reputedly honed his trade working on wrestlers, patching them up and building their strength to get them back in the arena.
Obviously, the whey he used back then wasn’t the powdered, flavoured versions we use today, but the liquid form produced by cheese-making.
Fast forward to the 19th century, and the first ‘modern’ bodybuilders such as Eugen Sandow – began consuming whey and other tailormade protein concoctions.
Although the advantages of quality protein foods were known from ancient times, nutrition is a young science – the term ‘protein’ was only coined by the Swiss chemist Jöns Jakob Berzelius in 1838.
Arguably, though, it wasn’t until the 1980s that protein supplements really took off, with the launch of Met-Rx by Dr Scott Connelly. Met-Rx came in two tubs, ‘Base’ and ‘Plus’, which the consumer mixed together.
Hot on the heels of Met-Rx came EAS by health and lifestyle guru Bill Phillips, and both Met-Rx and EAS put huge effort into aggressive marketing, transforming these powders from niche, hardcore bodybuilding products to serving a more mainstream health and fitness crowd.
The rise of Arnie and Sly Stallone in the media, of course, helped to smooth the acceptance of the bodybuilding lifestyle.
Around the same time, bodybuilding guru Dan Duchaine was talking about the advantages of whey proteins, seeding its domination of the supplement market.
What are the benefits of protein powder?
Eating and drinking things that contain protein powder can help you reach your recommended daily amount of protein, supporting fat loss, helping to build muscle and keeping you healthy.
Eating whole foods is always best for your body.
However, advantages of supplementing a whole foods diet with protein powder include:
You want to get more protein, but don’t want to take on lots of extra calories from whole food protein sources, for instance nuts
High quality sources of protein from foods can be expensive. Therefore, it can be more cost-effective to top up your protein intake with powder
If you have a smaller appetite but want to get more protein, drinking your protein in a shake or eating foods which are fortified with protein powder is easier than forcing yourself to eat larger amounts of food
How to use protein powder in other ways
The most well-known use of protein powder is by mixing it up in a shake. The most basic of protein shakes consist of a scoop of protein powder and water.Protein powder is almost always flavoured, as it can taste unpleasant on its own. To make your protein powder even more palatable, we suggest using a better-tasting liquid than water in your protein shake.
This could be anything from dairy milks, plant milks to fruit and vegetable juices.
Try our Nutritionist Emily Rollason‘s recipe for a breakfast smoothie packed with protein.
Related content: internal link here
How much protein should you use per day?
The optimum serving size is another potential issue. Most people will probably want to aim for around 25g to 40g of protein after training, with larger people (or those looking to gain more mass) going to the top end of this range.
That said, again it’s the big picture of your total daily intake that counts.
The NHS recommends a modest amount of protein for optimal health - 55.5g for men and 45g for women. This is based on 0.75g of protein per kilogram bodyweight per day for adults.However, those who are trying to gain muscle and bulk will require more protein to support their muscle-building.
People looking to up their protein intake for appetite control will also require more.
We’ve discussed the importance of protein in this article, and our TRI-PROTEIN uses a mixture of whey isolate, whey concentrate and casein protein meaning you digest our whey supplement at 3 different intervals. This means your muscles build, repair and recover more effectively using our protein complex, compared with single whey formulas.