How to choose a whey protein powder?

**Walks into the store** - "How the hell do I choose which protein, and what the hell is the difference??" 

These are likely thoughts that might cross your mind the first time you seriously consider trying to buy a protein powder from a store or online. There are actually several important factors to consider in choosing your protein, and there are actually many differences between them. In this post I'll cover the basics of what you're looking for in a protein powder supp.

1. Look for "Informed Choice" or "NSF safe for sport" logo's on the bottle.

If you can't find either one of these, just put it back. The best, cleanest, and safest proteins all have this. These get tested thoroughly, and if you ever end up getting drug tested for a sport, nothing that is in the product will result in a positive test.  

2. Look at the Ingredients List: (Very Important)

Ingredients are listed in order from greatest amount to the least. So if your protein has anything else other than "protein" listed as the first ingredient, you know that there is a problem with this product. This is where you will check for what type of protein they use, or blend of proteins, if they use any creamers or fillers (don't want that), if they use artificial flavors or colors (don't want that), and if they put in other weird things, you would be surprised. You want the ingredients list to be as short as possible. 5 or 6 ingredients is a great product. A product with 30 ingredients is full of crap.

You typically want the first ingredient to be one of the following: (Hydrolyzed Whey Protein Isolate, Whey Protein Isolate) 
Avoid proteins that start with: (Whey Protein Concentrate, Calcium Caseinate) - lower quality proteins)

3. Look at Nutrition Facts Box: 

This also tells you very important information. Look at the serving size, which is listed in grams. Say the serving size is 50 Grams of powder. Next, look at Grams of Fat per serving, the Grams of Carbs per serving, and the Grams of Protein per serving. If your protein powder has a  50 gram serving size, and within that 50 gram serving, only 25 grams is actually protein, well what the hell is the rest?? Fats and carbs are extremely easy to find and eat on their own, so why buy a bottle of "protein" when only half of it is actually protein? Find a bottle that is 80 - 90+ % high quality protein. You want the carbs and the fat grams low, so that when you a buying a "protein", that's what you are actually buying. 

​Once you've gotten that far, you've evaluated your choice to a much higher degree than the average consumer. This is good. Those things by themselves are enough to make a good choice, but there are still a few more things I like to check...

4. Where is this companies headquarters, and where was this product manufactured?

I love it when a company is an American company and the product is manufactured at a GMP certified facility. This, when paired with NSF or Informed Choice, gives you the highest level of confidence in the quality of the product - that what is in the bottle is what is listed on the ingredients list. If you can not find where the company is headquartered, or there is no mention of where the product is manufactured, put it back. They are hiding something. There are some very clean products I am aware of coming out of Canada and certain European countries right now but my general suggestion is to look for American Made stuff that fits all the prior criteria. 

5. What is the Amino Acid Profile?

If the bottle you are holding posts the typical amino acid profile of a serving of the protein, go ahead and take a look at it and compare it to other amino acid profiles. You want to look for the ones with high levels of Leucine, Isoleucine, Valine, Glutamine, Arginine. If all other things are equal, and one bottle has 3,000 grams of leucine per serving and the other has 1,658 grams of leucine per serving, go with the one that has 3,000 grams of leucine! 

I always prefer when manufacturers list the amino acid profile on the bottle, but the majority of manufacturers do not provide the entire list. They may only say it has a certain level of BCAAs or a certain level of Leucine or Glutamine, which is the most important information you are looking for anyway. 

6. What manufacturing process was used? 

There are more and more ways Whey Protein is made. The main things you need to know is that liquid whey is essentially a byproduct of cheese manufacturing. Now some companies have made processes that extract the whey directly from the milk, which theoretically results in the highest quality because that extraction process is the most gentle and easy, so the protein is less "denatured" than what happens when it is derived as a byproduct of cheese manufacturing. 

So "Native" manufacturing processes, along with doing this with milk that is from cows that are grass fed and happy, is a great thing. This is also the most expensive method.

The next best method, is cross flow microfiltration. So if you see a product that says "cross flow microfiltration whey protein isolate" you can make the judgement that the quality of that protein is better than most. It is better than the one that says "whey protein isolate" without declaring the manufacturing process, and the one that says "ion exchange whey protein isolate / concentrate." 

​Ion exchange process is the cheapest and done at the highest temperature, which denatures the protein the most. 
Cold temp cross flow microfiltration is more expensive but results in a higher quality protein. 

Specific suggestions:
Dymatize Iso100 (no artifical colors or flavors version) (HQ in Dallas TX, Manufactured in GMP Faclities, Informed Choice Certified - Hydrolyzed Whey Isolate - (fastest absorbing whey protein there is) 

RivalUs Native Pro 100 (no artificial colors or flavors version) (HQ originally Halifax Nova Scotia, now Aurora Illinois since acquired by Nutrivo) (manufacturing done in U.S. in GMP Facilities) (Informed choice and NSF) (Native Whey protein Isolate)