What is Whey? A Guide to Supplement Purchases
Whether you’re just getting into muscle building and workout routine, or you’re a self proclaimed veteran that’s been lifting for years, it’s always important to know exactly what you’re putting in your body when expecting to get something out of it. In a world of supplements and shakes that are all tested to make your lifting enhanced and better, build muscle quicker and leaner, it is important to understanding exactly what certain things mean before you ending up harming your body or working twice as hard for half the results. There are different reactions to different formulas, and they all need to react properly to the natural properties of your body’s chemical makeup.
Mostly everyone who’s ever been slightly health conscious or been to a gym just one time understands what it takes to build muscle. It’s a part of our natural dietary intake and required for great strength and health. Protein is the key ingredient to muscle development and repair. It’s usually found in meats like chicken or beef, but there are many other foods and substances that contain protein. Protein is important because it allows the gateway for your muscles to be openly fueled when working to break themselves down while in the gym or doing a workout routine. Then, the protein is there in the off-period to help rest and repair the muscles. Consider working out to be like a blister or a callous; you workout your muscles until they are broken down and hurt, then they health themselves up stronger than before by adding more muscle and density through protein repair, so that the ‘pain’ they experienced can be prevented in the future. This process is what builds muscle and increases maximum lifts in tight gym routines.
When you’re roaming around the supplement shop or looking through you fellow workout friend’s cabinets, you’ve probably seen the words “whey protein” thrown around a lot. But what exactly is whey protein? Whey is half of the protein makeup usually found in milk. There are two parts: Whey and Casein. When Whey is separated from the milk, it can be utilized on it’s own because of it’s collection of the 9 essential amino acids your body needs for energy and muscle building. It’s important to also understand the different types of whey protein and what they do. Their chemical processes can help you decide exactly when you should use them to build better, leaner muscle in your lifting time. Whey protein’s forms are:
– Concentrate: Very minimal levels of lactose and substrate carbohydrates that won’t be necessary for a strictly lifting routine. The percentage of pure protein concentrate in this state can vary, from a low end 30% to a high end 90%.
– Isolate: This is nearly 100% pure isolated protein, meaning that virtually all of the lactose and unwanted carbohydrate amenities have been separated and removed from the powder before it’s distributed.
– Hydrolysate: This is a sort of hybrid-protein state because it is a process which involves a type of ‘pre-digestion’ motion that performs a semi-hydrolysis before it is isolated. This is important because it is a step that your body will inevitably do as a part of the digestion and absorption process of the protein, so it saves your muscles some time and energy to get the protein they’re looking for.
There has been a lot of research conducted to find the furthered benefits of whey protein intake that stems beyond the use of just lifting after a whey intake. Scientists have made some links between the amino acid levels in whey proteins that are isolated and ingested, and the prevention of heart disease and diabetes. It’s been seen before in many tests that these acids help in the production of glutathione levels within the body, which have been proven to function as antioxidants which combat radical toxins that can be found in the blood and tissues of your body.
Because of the increased popularity that whey protein concentrates and isolates have had in the last decade amongst the lifting community, many more supplements and chemical powders are being regulated by the FDA before mass production. This doesn’t mean however that knock-off whey proteins won’t be sold, it just means they won’t be certified. If you’re looking for a pure whey substrate that has been approved and accounted for in production, there are stamps and seals of approval on the packaging which indicate that the FDA has had a hand in it’s regulation and production. There are many marketing ploys out there to bring the focus off of these minute details and just focus on the promise of whey protein in it’s finest form for ‘maximum results’ but it is important to not be fooled by these fake supplements.
If you’ve ever taken supplements or substrates to help benefit your workout, you know the level of research and shopping around it takes to get the correct product for your body. Sometimes many products aren’t up to the expectations they promise and can cause side effects or health issues. It is when these false advertisements or poorly manufactured products take a toll on someone’s well being that liability falls upon that company and they can be held accountable for the problems faced.