Difference in: Whey, Soy, and Casein Protein?

In regards to whey vs. casein, the whole "speed" of absorption and their "time released" effects should be disregarded.


I buy casein because IMO it is better for baking.



Edit: For just stand alone shakes, the taste and mixability of Myofusion by Gaspari is an A++

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Also, the only reason you should feel the need to drink a protein shake is if you are not already getting an adequate amount of protein from whole foods. If you prefer to drink your protein rather than eat it, that's fine. 25g of protein from chicken is going to provide the same effect as 25g from whey. Just comes down to personal preference.

Whey and Casein Protein are both milk proteins, so if you have milk allergies, you should avoid them. Both are complete proteins so they provide all the essential amino acids that the body can't make. Soy is a plant protein that is the only complete plant protein. Basically, soy is the only plant based protein that gives you all of your essential amino acids at one time. Other plant proteins have to be combined to get all the essential amino acids. Some people will have problems with soy, too, not just from allergies but because they are sensitive to the plant estrogens in soy. Women who've had issues with estrogen based cancers should avoid it, but menopausal women who haven't had any risk factors for those cancers may benefit from the hormone replacement type effect. In moderation, soy is fine but if you consume a lot of it (like bodybuilders consume a lot of protein powder), some people believe it can lead to feminine characteristics in men. There's not enough research for me to make a decision on that at this point, but I avoid it because I've had a breast lump removed and I'm not taking any chances.

As for the speed of absorption, that's kind of misleading. The actual scale is the Biological Value scale, which measures how efficiently different proteins are used to form body tissues as opposed to being used for energy (broken down and converted to glucose for muscle use or stored as fat). Ideally, the majority of your protein should be used for repairing damaged tissues (all tissue repair and turnover, not just the damage to muscle from weight lifting) and building muscle. Whey Isolate is the most biologically available and scores a 100 on the BV scale because it is the easiest for the body to use for tissue growth and repair. 100 is the best and lower scores are not as available for tissue growth and repair. They still provide all the amino's but lower BV numbers are more easily used for energy immediately or energy storage and not so much for tissue growth and repair. Milk, which has a combination of whey and casein protein, has a 91 on the BV scale. Casein ranks as an 80, as does beef. Chicken is a 79. Soy is a 74. So, what does that mean for supplementing with protein? It depends on your specific goals.

If you are specifically trying to maintain muscle or build muscle and are consuming a low calorie diet or are in calorie deficit, whey isolate is the best because it is less likely to be used by the body for energy so you can still maintain muscle mass or even grow muscle mass. If you are more worried about weight loss and don't care if it is muscle loss, any of them are fine but know that some of the loss will be muscle and some of your protein will be used for energy instead of body fat being used for that energy. But honestly, it's not much if any different then if you are getting your protein from beef, chicken, etc., so I wouldn't worry about it if you are just looking at weight loss.