Protein powders -- a "jock's" perspective

Please don't move this to "Foods" -- I posted here for a reason.

I was in my favourite natural foods market yesterday (for a natural foods market, they do have a lot of junk on the shelves...), and saw a bunch of different protein powders. 

What is the difference between:

Soy Isolate Protein

Whey Protein

Egg Protein

Hemp Protein

And who should/would use each type?  Are any of them counter-indicated for specific groups?

I'm no expert and I'm sure there's more info floating around online, but here's what I (think I) know:

Whey protein: you can find this as whey concentrate or whey isolate, I've been told the latter is superior. It's the fastest-absorbing protein (?) and therefore ideal for a post-workout shake, you might want to watch your whey intake immediately before bed as the body can store the energy as fat.

Soy protein isolate: some think it's the devil and abstain from using it because it contains estrogen, it's highly processed. I've been using 90% soy protein for a while now and I don't have breast cancer yet, that I know of anyway..

Egg protein/protein mixes: my understanding is some bodybuilders have a shake with mixed proteins before bed because of how slowly they are absorbed and they help keep the body anabolic through the night.

I'm not an expert but from my understanding (I don't have a source for any of this but might be able to find one):

Whey protein: Is derived from milk, it's cheap and fast absorbing meaning that it's best for pre and post workout.

Egg protein: I believe is a slower absorbing/digesting protein and (assuming that is correct) would be recommended to take before bed so your body can continue to absorb protein while your asleep (I've seen Casein protein recommended for this quit often).

Soy Protein: I'm not sure of the digestion rate, but I'd image it's popular with vegans (and maybe those who are lactose intolerant) since many other forms of protein are derived from animals.  The concerns that I've seen (and how concerned one should be varies greatly depending on who you ask) is that unfermented soy doesn't contain estrogen but does contain compounds that cause in increase in estrogen production in the body.

Hemp Protein: Makes you hungery and makes "Dude, where's my car" funny. I made that up, I have no idea about the pros/cons of Hemp protein.

Original Post by floggingsully:

clip...

Hemp Protein: Makes you hungery and makes "Dude, where's my car" funny. I made that up, I have no idea about the pros/cons of Hemp protein.

Nothing could make "Dude, where's my car" funny...

thanks

hey coach....I am def not an expert.....

that said....

my sis does figure competitions and that whole group of people recommend the whey protein over everything.....I guess it's 'cuz the whey is the easiest absorbed and it has the best 'kind' o protein for you.....so it's the best bang for your buck if you want protein for your workouts.....(so i guess the 'muscle bound' groups tend to use that....)

...I don't know much about the other two, although if the hemp stuff makes ya feel funny, I might have to try it! LOL

Hemp and Soy are mostly higher priced proteins for the limited market of people who do not wish to consume animal products. I recently read an article about the various properties of each of these proteins, but mostly the article announced that combinations of whey isolates and casein are still going to be your best bet. Whey is great for quick digestion, which you want during the day, especially around your workout. Casein is best at night, before bed, because of the slower rate of digestion. However, strangely enough, satiety levels are higher for whey than they are for casein, which seems strange... but drinking a whey shake is reported to make you feel full longer than drinking one based upon casein. I suppose it's just another reason to focus on whey proteins during the day. Powdered egg is much cheaper in bulk online that you will find in the health-food store, and can be used as a lower-cholesterol version of eggs that doesn't go bad. I haven't tried them for taste, but I don't really like the thought of eating powdered eggs, even in the form of a chocolate shake.

Here is a link I uncovered, although I couldn't find the original article that I think was in one of the newsletters from Vitamin Shoppe.

Thanks for the link -- interesting info

I use hemp protein powder.  Soybeans have more protein than hemp seeds, but the protein in hemp seeds is easier for the body to process.  It is a complete protein, with all of the amino acids.  I like having a vegan protein option, and I like supporting hemp farmers (no, not marijuana farmers) in their push to reestablish such a nutritionally and economically valuable crop.

Whey protein is not for the lactose intolerant.  I had a very bad reaction to it.

I'm also lactose intolerant, but I just started using 100% Gold Standard Natural Whey and haven't had any problems with it.  I did notice that the nutritional info label lists lactase as one of the ingredients, which would serve (supposedly) to counteract any lactose in the whey.

I make a post-workout shake with a cup of 1% Lactaid milk, a scoop of the protein powder, couple tablespoons of chocolate syrup (the "chocolate" flavor in the protein powder is very wimpy), a little blip of vanilla extract and a tiny pinch of sea salt, along with a handful of ice cubes.  The blender turns all of this into a frothy, fairly tasty concoction, and most importantly I do not feel a thing after I drink it, compared to the intense abdominal distress I would feel after drinking a glass of regular milk containing lactose.

This protein powder is the only brand I've tried, so I don't know how different they are from one another, really.

I'm lactose intolerant, but I had a shake with Whey Isolate, and don't seem to be having any distress.  I will say the bulk of my problems come from milk or ice cream.

Anyway, I was trying to find a way to up my protein without upping the fat/carb part of my meal plan.  I've tried a soy isolate (and then heard it was bad for women), didn't like it.  I found single serving packets of a few different types and wanted to get some considered opinions on the efficacy of the various types -- I'm tired of spending big bucks on special foods/supplements and then finding I can't stand the taste or that they are useless....

Thanks to everyone for their opinions.  BTW -- I did some searching on Hemp -- sounds like such a great product, apparently usable for tons of things, from biofuel to plastics -- but because of the connection with pot there is still great difficulty cultivating enough of it.  Of course I was reading a pro-hemp products newsletter at the time.  Anyway, Hemp is supposed to be a great complete protein.

 If you want extra results you might consider a

 leucine-fortified whey shake (Coburn JW, Housh DJ, Housh TJ, Malek MH, Beck TW, et al. (2006) Effects of Leucine and Whey Protein Supplementation During Eight Weeks of Unilateral Resistance Training. The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: Vol. 20, No. 2 pp. 284–291)

- but that's only if you can afford the extra expense of BCAA supplements or leucine isolate specifically; whey already has a considerable amount of leucine but as that study shows there's a possiblity that you might see extra results from adding in leucine.

 Though considering what prices supplement companies charge for the stuff I think I'll stick to just basic whey, I usually want a gun held on me when I'm being mugged.

Soy protein doesn't do as much as whey does in building muscles I believe, since whey is the athlete's protein of choice. Soy is the vegans/vegetarians protein of choice when you just need to get that extra protein in your body. I imagine hemp is like that too.

I have had egg protein powder before and it tends to be less caloric and more protein dense than whey. Well I use the trader darwin's egg and milk protein so it is not for the lactose intolerant. It has 100 calories (for 2 scoops), 23 grams of protein and 65 mg sodium. It also has a ton of vitamins and stuff. I'm going to go check out the rating of it. I have used their chocolate whey powder before and its more calories and about the same with protein. I'm sure there are better ones though, I'm not the guru of powders. They had a link at bodybuilding.com about them and I'll try to go find it.

Original Post by misspriss316:

Soy protein doesn't do as much as whey does in building muscles I believe, since whey is the athlete's protein of choice.

That is because whey protein has the essencial aminoacids, and soy protein does not, so its protein could not be absorved by the body, but you can get some aminoacid supplement with the soy protein, and that should do the trick IMHO.