How Is Protein Powder Made: From Pasture To Package

Have you ever ever thought of what protein powder is? Obviously, it’s “protein,” but what does that even mean? Where does it come from, and the way is protein powder made? These are only a number of of the questions this text will answer. This text is for you for those who’ve ever sat and wondered what you are mixing in your post-workout shake.

But let’s start with the fundamentals.

What Is Protein?

Protein is considered one of your three macronutrients, with the opposite two being fat and carbs. Of those three, protein holds a special place in nutrition because it plays probably the most significant role in constructing muscle.

It does this by triggering muscle protein synthesis and optimizing your body’s ability to construct muscle. It also comprises amino acids, that are the constructing blocks of muscle tissue and support muscle repair and recovery.

Mainly, protein helps your muscles grow.

What Is Protein Powder?

Firstly, you want to understand one thing: protein powder is “real” food.

There may be a variety of confusion about protein powder, with some even suggesting it isn’t “real food”—they claim it’s just “processed” food and even that it isn’t healthy for you. This misconception is probably going as a result of them not having read this text, so that they don’t understand how protein powder is made.

In fact, there’s loads of nuance on where you draw the road between processed food and unprocessed. Nonetheless, when you understand what protein powder is and the way it’s made, you will probably be surprised at how “real” it’s.

That said, protein powder is extracted from an actual food source. It’s then processed, filtered, and mixed with other compounds, leading to the protein powder and love.

This process can vary depending on the food source leading to many sorts of protein, akin to milk, peas, and soy. The market has evolved a lot that you could buy protein powder derived from steak and organs!

No matter where the protein got here from, a very powerful thing to recollect is it comes from food! Real food! Saying protein powder is not real food is akin to saying that an egg white omelet is not real. 

Now let’s get to the actual manufacturing process…

How Protein Powder Is Made

Unlike some would have you think, protein powder isn’t synthesized inside a lab like fake meat. 

As mentioned above, it’s derived from real food. As different protein powders come from real food, step one, getting the protein, will look different depending on the food source.

With that said, we’ll take a more in-depth, more detailed have a look at whey protein because it’s the most well-liked protein powder available on the market.

1. Milk Is Collected And Pasteurized.

Whey protein is derived from milk, and while it could come from any mammal’s milk, cow milk is most frequently used. Nonetheless, many do not understand that casein protein also comes from milk. Actually, only 20% of the protein present in cow milk is whey protein, while the opposite 80% is casein.

Consider that human milk is 70% whey; you will see how low that’s.¹ Nonetheless, it’s interesting to notice that a mother naturally provides her children with the next percentage of whey protein.

The very first thing that must occur is that the milk should be collected after which pasteurized. Pasteurization is a purifying process through which the milk is boiled at 70-80 ° C to kill any possible bacteria after which immediately cooled to 4° C.

Once the method is complete, the milk is able to have its protein extracted.

2. The Protein Is Isolated From The Food Source

To separate the whey protein from the opposite compounds in milk, a substance often called rennet is put into the milk, which causes these two proteins to separate into two substances: a watery substance and a coagulated substance.

The coagulated substance is the casein protein. That is taken and sent off to be processed as cheese but may be used to make casein protein powder. 

The water substance comprises whey protein. Nonetheless, it also comprises fats and carbs (lactose).

3. The Whey Protein Is Filtered

The liquid is then sent through a series of machines to filter out fats and carbs. This leads to a whey protein concentrate that is normally around 80-85% protein.

This process, and other filtration processes, could possibly be repeated to create whey isolate. When whey isolate vs concentrate you will see the protein percentage dramatically increases while the lactose content is reduced. Some manufacturers take this filtration process a step further to break the protein down into smaller peptides leading to hydrolyzed protein powder.

4. The Liquid Protein Is Dried And Flavored

Once the specified filtration occurs, the purified liquid whey is then dried, either using an enormous dryer machine or a process often called spray drying. These processes heat up and draw out the liquid, leading to a powder.

At this point, the protein powder is free from any coloring or flavors. As pure whey protein doesn’t have the best taste, it’s then sent off to produce other compounds added to it, akin to flavoring and coloring. These other compounds are then blended evenly, leading to the ultimate product.

This final powder form is then packaged and sent to enable you to placed on some mass. 

Take a look at the video below to look at how the manufacturing process works.

How Other Protein Powders Are Made

As mentioned above, the final idea is used to make most protein powders. The essential difference is the method used to isolate the protein. This means of isolating the protein can look very different depending on the food source.

We’ll briefly describe how these other protein powders are made.

Pea Protein

1. Yellow peas are harvested and cleaned to remove debris and impurities.
2. The cleaned peas are ground right into a coarse flour or powder.
3. The pea flour undergoes a means of extracting protein from the peas by mixing the pea flour with water to form a slurry.
4. The slurry is then centrifuged or filtered to separate the protein from the pea’s fiber and starch components.
5. Once separated, the protein within the liquid extract is precipitated out. This might be achieved through various methods, akin to adjusting the pH or adding enzymes or acids, which cause the protein to coagulate and separate from the liquid.
6. The precipitated pea protein is then dried to form a powder.

In search of one of the best options available on the market? Take a look at our post that covers the Best Pea Protein Powders.

Rice Protein

1. Brown rice is collected after which undergoes a milling process to remove the outer hull, leading to whole-grain brown rice.
2. The brown rice is treated with enzymes to interrupt down the carbohydrates and fibers, allowing the separation of the protein.
3. The mixture is then filtered to separate the protein from the remaining solids (fiber, starch, etc.).
4. Once separated, the protein within the liquid extract is precipitated out. This might be achieved by adjusting the pH or adding acids or other agents that cause the protein to coagulate and settle out of the answer.
5. The precipitated rice protein is then dried to remove moisture and form a powder.

Egg Protein Powder

1. Egg whites are first separated from the yolks.
2. The egg whites are filtered to remove traces of yolks and other impurities. This step ensures that the protein powder will predominantly be egg white protein.
3. The filtered egg whites are pasteurized to make sure they’re free from harmful bacteria and pathogens. Pasteurization involves heating the egg whites to a particular temperature after which rapidly cooling them just like the milk.
4. The pasteurized egg whites are then dried right into a powder form.
5. Once dried, the egg white protein powder undergoes testing for quality and purity. This includes checks for protein content, absence of contaminants, and adherence to safety standards.

Wish to see the highest options available today? Head over to our post that covers the Best Egg White Protein Powders available on the market. 

How Much Protein Should You Eat?

When discussing protein as an entire, not only protein powder, athletes should aim to devour around 1.6-2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. For instance, for those who weigh 100kg, you need to aim to eat around 200 grams every day.

This is way higher than the RDA (beneficial every day allowance) of 0.8 grams per kilogram. People against high-protein diets normally point to this number as proof that you simply needn’t eat a variety of protein. Nonetheless, it is important to grasp your RDA.

The RDA is an authoritative directive stipulating the every day intake of essential nutrients. Devised to fulfill the necessities of 97-98% of healthy individuals, it sets the standards for dietary adequacy based on age, sex, life stage, and physiological status.

Note that this number says 97-98% of the population. Due to this fact, a greater technique to have a look at the RDA is to take a look at the minimum amount most individuals have to support essential life functions. This includes the sedentary, elderly, and general population.

Nonetheless, as athletes are putting much greater stress on their muscles, they need more protein to assist support their muscles and optimize adaptations. It is the difference between consuming a minimal amount of protein and optimizing your protein intake.

We predict you need to optimize.

Below is a table from ResearchGate that illustrates protein intake recommendations for most of the people.

Is Protein Powder Healthy?

Considered one of the foremost reasons people ask where protein powder comes from is as a result of health concerns.

The first concern is the usage of artificial sweeteners in some brands. If you will have a difficulty with that, just you should definitely check the nutrition label of your protein powder. There are many protein powders that use natural sweeteners, akin to stevia.

While protein powder is taken into account healthy, this does not imply it needs to be your only source of protein.

How Much Protein Powder Should You Use?

Considered one of the foremost problems with getting all of your protein from powder is that you simply would miss out on all of the nutrients related to eating meat. Mainly, you could be coping with lots of the issues that vegans need to cope with.

The advantage of the possible issue above is that there is a simple fix: Get nearly all of your protein from whole food. Assuming you will have no medical or special circumstances, you need to stick with 1-2 servings of protein powder every day.

This may vary barely depending in your personal circumstances and every day needs. Still, under normal circumstances, there isn’t any reason to make use of greater than that other than being lazy or not knowing how you can cook!

That said, so long as you retain your protein powder intake to a minimum, protein powder is plenty healthy!

Now how much you need to devour, you need to know when is one of the best time to drink a protein shake for optimal results. 

Do You Need Protein Powder?

No.

Let’s be clear: You don’t want to complement your food regimen with protein powder, but there’s one caveat—you could have the option to get all of your protein through your food regimen.

I discussed above that 2.0 g/kg is the every day protein you want to construct muscle, this might be tough for those who’re not used to eating so much. For one, it’s only a great quantity. From my perspective, 200 grams of protein would require around 8 chicken breasts, depending on their size.

Getting this much might be difficult just because it could be incredibly filling . As well as, high protein meal prep can take time. This might be inconvenient, especially for those who need some fast food. Lastly, it could add as much as your wallet.

Considering those challenges, protein powder simply provides an efficient and cost-effective approach to meeting your protein needs.

Outro

As we specified by this text, making protein powder is fairly tame. We’re sure it’s kind of more complicated than it sounds, however it’s not fabricated in a lab through chemical reactions. Ultimately, it’s extracted from a food source, isolated, after which dried into powder. This protein powder is then mixed with flavoring, and that is that.

References

1. “Human Milk Proteins – an Overview | ScienceDirect Topics.” Www.sciencedirect.com, www.sciencedirect.com/topics/food-science/human-milk-proteins#:~:text=The%20level%20of%20total%20protein%20in%20milk%20is. Accessed 23 July 2024.