What Is Whey Protein: A Fad Or The Top Protein?

On the most basic level, protein is a nutrient essential for life. To those looking to build muscle and strength, protein is a nutrient which needs extra attention. Many studies, as well as mountains of empirical evidence, show protein needs in strength training athletes can increase by between 100% – 250% from the RDA, and as such, taking in 1-2g of protein per pound of bodyweight is in fact necessary to maintain a positive nitrogen balance, and remain anabolic. So what is whey protein, and does it deserve the crown as the top protein source?

Whey protein is a by product of cheese making. Of course, it’d be rather unappetizing if it were simply served as-is, it’s processed – usually into a powder – and usually (though not always) flavored and sold as a sports supplement.

As a rule of thumb, for the athlete looking to increase muscle mass, protein should be taken in every 3 hours, and as such, getting enough protein from food alone is no easy task. It can be time consuming, and let’s face it, just hard going eating the amounts required. Whey protein supplements help to make that task much easier.

What is special about whey protein is that not only is it a complete protein – the best type for building muscle – but it’s also got other special properties too. First, it has an extremely high biological value (or BV, for short) which is the usability scale for protein. What this means is, when you take X amount of whey protein, compared with the same amount of another protein source, whey will generally be used far more by the muscles than the other source. Whey protein toppled whole egg – the previous king of protein on the BV scale.

Second, whey is also very, very quickly absorbed, which makes it the ideal type of protein to take after a workout, or for breakfast, when your body needs a quick intake of high quality protein the most.

Read our other whey protein articles to learn more about this excellent protein.