Posted on 7th Mar 2010 @ 2:03 PM

How to really tell a true quality whey protein product

Finally CEL Lab-Series Whey by CEL Supplements is released on the 31^st March 2010.  This whey protein has been eagerly awaited and as one of the authorised stockists of this product Cheap Discount Supplements have been testing this whey for quite some time. 

The product consists of 73 servings and delivers a multi blend of 76 grams of whey protein isolate, hydrolysed whey and whey protein concentrate per 100 gram serving.  

We have compared Lab-Series whey to many of the UK industry leading whey proteins and in our opinion CEL LAB-SERIES Whey outperform the lot.  There was only one rival and this too is a stateside predominant manufacturer.

With branch chained amino acids and L-Glutamine added to CEL Lab-Series whey, this makes it a cost effective must for most athletes, serious trainers, professional bodybuilders or weekend warriors. 

Many whey proteins claim to be delivering 80 – sometimes 90 servings but the simplistic mathematical question is just how much quality protein you are getting for your buck?.

If a whey product is promoting 2 or three kind of whey’s but is offering a high serving count the probabilities are that the quality of whey being used is more of a whey concentrate than that of the more expensive whey’s such as isolate or hydrolysed and this is where you need to be attentive in your whey protein selection when choosing your whey protein.

Most companies will only ever give you a per 100 gram serving count breakdown in relation to disclosing just how much of what exact protein you are getting per serving, but the answer lies in the serving count itself.

Nutritional companies will aim at getting higher servings as (up until recent months) most consumers would have a tendency to think that more is best value and would therefore steer towards the serving department, but this I can assure you is not the case. 

Allow me to explain.

You have 2 Whey protein products and both claim to contain whey protein concentrate and whey protein isolate, both are priced the same yet one has 90 servings boasting 80 grams per serving and the other has 73 servings boasting 76 grams of protein per serving.  Which one would you choose?  90 Servings, right.

I would have done this too until I became serious about my training, and I am like most gym goers these days a little savvier than that. 

Do you know that whey protein concentrate is the cheapest form of whey?  And isolate is the most expensive? With hydrolysed whey being in the Donald trump budget league of whey.

This would bring me to my next question if both are priced the same, which one is offering me the best quality protein delivery? After all that is why we take protein, for high quality protein delivery.

The answer is simple, the 73 serving’s size tub wins hands down, and here is why.

If a whey product can offer you 90 servings but only delivers 80 grams of protein per serving, its FACT that the product contained within the larger serving tub is of far less quality than that of the other. Most likely containing more inexpensive whey concentrate’s than the expensive ISOLATE that they boast about containing alongside.

It’s simple maths really, 90 servings delivering 80 grams of protein per 100 Gram serving

73 Servings delivering 76 grams of protein per 100 gram serving

Lower count + almost same protein delivery = Higher quality protein delivery.

Not convinced yet? There is no law to disclose what percentage of the higher quality protein you have in your tub.

You can’t tell how much Isolate either product has? But the answer to that is YES you can, and it lies within the calorific content on the back you label.   

You may now find that the loyalty you have/had for your protein shifting after you do this.

Whey protein concentrate drives calories and saturated fats up, so if the smaller tub has a very low calorie count with almost the same amount of protein per serving this is the definitive answer to where the quality lies. 

I guarantee you that the higher serving product will have substantially more calories per serving indicating less quality whey, and more saturated fats indicating less quality whey concentrate.

I am not victimising whey protein concentrate, but it does annoy me when a company claims to have ISOLATE in their whey for example and dress the product up with marketing and fancy labels then blind side the athlete by topping it off with 90 servings. 

It’s time to break this fancy dress party up.

All of the telling factors on your label will point you to a great QUALITY whey protein product, and no manufacturer can lie about the label as this falls foul to label claim. 

Don’t get sucked in by the magazine marketing hype or servings count and remember the real reason why you take protein in the first place, to ascertain high quality protein intake.

There is only 2 products that we feel contain the best protein variations and protein delivery profiles on the UK market, and these are CEL Nutrition’s CEL LAB-SERIES Whey 73 Servings with 76 grams of protein per serving and Optimum Nutrition 100% Gold standard Whey with 80 Servings & 24g of protein per serving. 

Both offer around the same protein delivery per 100 gram serving with exceptional quality within.

So the next time you are told to demand perfection when choosing your whey protein, make sure that perfection is what you get, and remember that the truth lies in the serving count and ingredient profile on the back of the tub.  They may not tell you what percentage of the highest grade of protein is within any given product but with a little know how and some profiling cross referencing the answer is staring you clear in the face, all you have to do is apply some common sense.

It’s quality that matters. Not quantity.  Remember that.