What are the best and most cost efficient protein supplements?

Hi Pete. I get my protein from myprotein.com - cheap, good mix n tastes spot on (strawberry). It can be found here http://www.myprotein.com/uk/products/total_protein

Andrew

In general, there's a reason why some protein products are cheaper than others.

When looking for a protein for most guys who want to improve their muscle size, recovery and strength, go for a whey protein.

Whey protein unquestionably causes the best muscle-building response (called protein synthesis) and also stops muscle protein breakdown.

A good whey protein will have 5 or less grams of carbs for every 20 grams of protein and about 2 grams of fat or less. Even lower carbs and fat are a good sign of quality. Sodium levels below 100mg (0.1 grams) is a good sign also.

However, quality whey protein is produced in a low-temperature and non-acidic process and the odds are, if your whey protein is much cheaper than others on the market, it has had its quality degraded by heat or acid. If you want the technical explanation, heat and acid "denatures" the protein, which changes the "quaternary structure" (basically, the shape of the protein chains) of the proteins and reduces their bioactivity (kind of like if you bend you house key...you ain't getting in the door).

Fortunately Peter, there is a solution. If you go to websites like TropicanaFitness.com, Monster or SupplementStore.com, you'll likely be able to find a quality whey protein product on sale. Most of these sites offer free delivery and deliver the next day if you get your order in before 2pm or so.

What are you views on Impact whey protein from MyProtein Mark? I've been using it for a while. Would this be the type of protein that has been denatured?

I think MyProtein specifically mentions its types of whey that are acid-treated. However, there are multiple ways of processing whey protein and progressively more expensive processes produce progressively higher-quality and less denatured protein.

I can't specifically evaluate the quality of the various proteins on the market but my experience is that there is a strong correlation between price and quality.