A friend asked me about protein powder.
Honestly, I have a very critical view of protein powder, especially casein.
Of course, my thoughts are similar for all protein powders.
But when comparing casein and whey, the first thing to consider is digestion time.
It’s true that casein digests slower than whey.
This can be an advantage or a disadvantage depending on the situation.
The important point is that it’s good to avoid digesting something all day long.
This affects overall health, performance, and even insulin resistance.
So, there’s nothing good about having casein digesting all night long.
Conversely, something that digests too quickly, like whey, can’t be good for the body either.
Because it places an extreme burden on the digestive process.
In the end, depending on how you use it, it can be a poison or a medicine.
The Truth About Casein: Leucine Content and the Shadow of Methionine
The second difference about casein that my friends often don’t know is its leucine content.
Leucine is the amino acid that most potently activates mTOR (mechanistic target of rapamycin) signaling.
In other words, it’s the core switch that activates muscle growth.
Isoleucine and valine are also important, but leucine is unquestionably in a league of its own.
So, if you were in the bodybuilding scene since the early 2000s, you’d remember everyone was crazy about taking high-dose leucine amino acids.
I don’t know if it’s still like that now, but there was a time when many friends desperately sought BCAA supplements with a high leucine ratio.
Why?
They instinctively knew that more leucine meant better growth, and scientific research actually proved this.
This is also why longevity researchers try to avoid leucine.
One of the most concerning components in meat is precisely leucine.
On the other hand, whey protein sends a stronger growth signal than casein.
Casein is high in methionine.
Methionine is an amino acid used to synthesize choline, which is important for the liver.
It’s abundant in meat, but especially for friends with polymorphisms in the MTHFR gene, meaning those with issues in the methylation process, high-dose methionine intake can cause problems.
This is because the body must convert methylamine to homocysteine, and then recycle it back to methionine using methyl donors.
However, if MTHFR enzyme function is impaired, high methionine levels increase the demand for methyl donors and hinder the body’s metabolic processes.
And it’s already been revealed that if methionine isn’t recycled well and the byproduct, homocysteine levels, rise, it is detrimental to cardiovascular health.
Protein Powder, Its Illusion
Ultimately, the effect of protein powder varies drastically depending on the user’s genetics, the rest of their diet, and how they utilize it.
But honestly, I think protein powder is a scam.
It’s a commercial illusion spread by the supplement industry.
This industry preys on people’s limited nutritional knowledge and their desire for health.
I started bodybuilding at 15, 16 and have used countless protein powders throughout my life.
But frankly speaking, I never saw any benefit in terms of strength or muscle mass.
Comparing the periods I used protein powder to the periods I consumed actual high-quality protein sources, i.e., meat or eggs, I actually grew much better and got stronger when eating real food.
The effect was especially overwhelming when I ate red meat.
Of course, red meat has many other nutritional factors besides protein, but the point is that since I was young, protein powder never added any special value to my growth.
There was a time when I drank whey protein right after training and casein before bed, thinking my body would stay strong without suffering from amino acid deficiency.
But in reality, it didn’t work that way.
On the contrary, I only increased insulin resistance and didn’t achieve the same level of growth or strength as when I ate real meat.
Look at actual professional bodybuilders; they hardly use any protein powder.
They eat meat.
Some friends eat up to 2.3kg of beef a day.
They consume massive amounts of meat and use very little protein powder.
Of course, they might pretend to sell protein powder because of sponsorships.
Are they not using protein powder to save money?
That’s a ridiculous statement.
Meat is much more expensive.
I’ve never calculated the average cost of getting protein from meat, but I think protein powder might be more expensive overall.
It’s definitely more expensive than eggs, and depending on the case for meat, it can be quite pricey.
Whey Protein: The Real Important Things Are Timing and Energy
The real reason is something else.
It’s because they think that’s especially true for whey protein powder.
Both casein and whey are proteins found in cheese.
But whey protein powder digests too quickly.
The supplement industry goes crazy saying you need fast-digesting protein after a workout.
They spout nonsense that otherwise your body will start burning muscle to get protein.
This is not true.
In fact, right after exercise, a powerful growth mTOR signal is activated in your body.
Your body isn’t trying to break down protein for energy or for other uses.
What’s more important is that after exercise, you need glucose, i.e., energy.
When you consume whey protein right after a workout, you are converting it into glucose.
The body has complex metabolic pathways.
I’m saying your body doesn’t think, “Ah, I’m hungry. I need a whey protein shake.”
Whether you drink a whey protein shake after training or not, you won’t feel a big difference.
On the contrary, when I didn’t eat anything right after training, I could generally lose more body fat.
But the best thing, whether before or after training, is to have a real meal.
A few scoops of powder won’t have a significant effect.
You might think that drinking a whey protein shake will send a signal to activate mTOR and give you IGF-1 through leucine.
But that also happens sufficiently through the meat you eat before training and the meat you get after training.
Basically, what I want to say is that protein shakes are a scam.
I think protein shakes are only useful for friends with a nutritionally deficient diet.
And in that case, you’re not on the optimal path for strength or muscle growth to begin with.
So eat real food.
As humans, as individuals interested in nutrition, we have rarely seen major health benefits from separating molecules from food and using them in isolated forms.
Whole foods have always yielded far better results than these isolated forms.
Related Resources
Links to core papers related to the content mentioned above are listed below.
Go check them out for yourself.
You need to see this kind of information with your own eyes for it to be real.
1. “Ingestion of a protein hydrolysate is accompanied by an accelerated postprandial rise in plasma amino acids compared with its intact protein.”
Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23388415/
2. “The effects of protein supplementation on muscle mass and strength gains from resistance training in healthy adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis”
Link: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28698222/
