How Is Whey Protein Powder Made?
Protein is important for fitness, weight loss, and good physical health in general. It is essential for building and repairing muscles and creating a leaner, stronger body.
Protein powder is a quick and easy way to increase your protein intake. One of the most common types is whey protein powder. Let’s take a look at where whey protein comes from and how the powder is made.
What Is Whey Protein Powder?
Whey protein is a by-product of the cheesemaking process. This liquid is turned into a powder that is convenient to store and consume, making it easy to digest and be absorbed into the bloodstream. These advantages make whey protein powder a popular and affordable way to aid with muscle recovery following training.
There are a few different forms of whey protein powder: concentrate, isolate, hydrolysate, and native. All forms contain a high concentration of branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), the building blocks of protein. Because whey protein powder is rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream, the BCAAs can quickly rebuild and repair muscle tissue.
There are few differences in how these types of whey protein powders are produced. Isolate whey protein is made from whole milk and then processed to remove fat and lactose. Another form, native whey protein, is extracted directly from skimmed milk.
The production process, however, is generally the same for all forms.
The Whey Protein Production Process
Whey protein is a milk-based product, and so making whey protein powder starts with the cow. After the cow is milked, the raw milk is cooled to 4 degrees Celsius and transported to a cheesemaking facility.
The milk is then pasteurised, which involves heating it to 72 or 73 degrees Celsius to kill unwanted bacteria, and is then re-cooled. Cow milk contains two types of protein: casein (80%) and whey (20%). When the milk is heated, it splits into curds and whey. The whey, which at this point is in liquid form, is drained off and the curds are used to make cheese.
The liquid whey contains some protein, fat, carbohydrates, and lactose, and has to go through a multi-step filtering and drying process to become powder. In the next part of the process, the whey protein is spray-dried and micro-filtered to remove unwanted components and turn it into a powder.
For whey protein isolate, it is ultra-filtered to remove virtually all fat and lactose. The powder is then blended, and flavouring is added to create the whey protein powder you can buy in a shop.
Are All Whey Protein Powders The Same?
As mentioned, there are different forms of whey protein powder, resulting from slightly different production processes. Some types of whey protein powder have more protein than others, depending on the source of the protein. For example, whey protein that is exclusively derived from milk is very high in protein content. However, some manufacturers combine this with protein made from other sources, such as soy, in order to reduce costs — and this lowers the protein content.
There is also a difference between organic and non-organic whey protein powder. The milk used to make the whey can come from cows feeding on natural grass, or from cows grazing on chemical-fuelled crops. Although there is little evidence that organic whey is higher in protein or other nutritional benefits than non-organic whey, there are other considerations that may make organic whey the better choice. Specifically, the use of chemicals and pesticides in agriculture is harmful to the environment, so organic whey is a much more eco-friendly option.
