Proprietary Blends and Why Protein Powder isn't Necessary

I wanted to expand on my previous post a bit which was on which protein powder to buy. I wanted to also mention proprietary blends and also whether or not protein powder was necessary.

You will often see proprietary blends in supplements, they are a bunch of ingredients, in which the specific amount of each ingredient is not listed but only the amount as a whole. The problem with this is that you don't how much of each specific ingredient you are taking.

This becomes a problem in terms of effective dosing as if a research study has shown that you need 5g of ingredient X for it's full benefit but the amount is not stated in a proprietary blend you have no idea if you need additional supplementation or not. In terms of athletes where substances in certain amounts might be off limits for competition, such as caffeine, a proprietary blend containing caffeine will become a problem. The athlete may fail a drug test if he has no idea just how much caffeine he has consumed.

Supplement companies tend to use proprietary blends in order to cut corners and not let the consumer know exactly what is in their product. The reason why they do this always comes down to saving money and making more profit and an inferior product is the result.

Since the previous post was on which protein powder to buy I also wanted to mention that protein powder is not necessary to buy, you shouldn't feel pressured into doing so just because everyone else does. If you are hitting your daily target of protein then there is no additional benefit to consuming even more protein through a protein shake.

The number one benefit that a protein shake provides is convenience i.e. if you are pushed for time or you are busy that day and are always on the move then a protein shake can come in handy. Protein shakes are also great tasting so you can always drink it for fun as well. But strictly speaking they are not necessary so don't feel the need to spend money on them you can still reach your fitness goals without it.

Which Protein Powder To Buy?

There are so many different protein powders available nowadays it's so hard to choose which one to buy. Casein protein? Beef protein? Egg? Whey? Soy? And that's just the different sources of protein which is then divided into further categories such as weight gainers, post workout, pre workout.

It all sounds very confusing especially when supplement companies further try and confuse you with some pseudo science in order to manipulate you into thinking one is better than the other. It seems that there really isn't much difference between all of them when it comes to building muscle, at least in studies. When you consider them within the context of a well balanced diet, where you get your protein from multiple sources, then the protein powder you choose isn't really going to make a difference at all.

I can across a very informative website about protein called proteinfaq.com and they had a great article comparing the cheapest protein powder. It really was an eye opener for me on some of the tricks that supplement companies play to make their protein powder even cheaper.

I actually used to buy one of the brands that was spoken about as it was so cheap but after reading the article I won't anymore. Basically the article spoke about amino spiking and how some companies will add incomplete amino acids such as Taurine to artificially increase the amount of protein stated on the label. They do this as these ingredients are really cheap however it's not a complete protein. So essentially you are not getting what you pay for.

I'll definitely start checking the supplement labels from now on and i'll be on the lookout so I don't fall for these tactics again.