What Is The Best Protein Powder for Building Lean Muscle: Whey, Casein or Egg?

Contributed by ProteinPowderShakes.org – “It’s all about the Protein!”.

What is the best protein powder for building muscle?  This is a common question, without a simple answer. The reality is that there is not a specific protein powder that’s the “best” for all purposes. Athletes and bodybuilders will usually benefit from using a variety of different protein powders. The key aim of this post is to help establish what sort of protein powder, or protein powder combination matches your particular needs.

The most popular kinds of protein powders utilized by athletes and bodybuilders are casein, whey and egg. Soy is also popular with the general public and vegetarians, but comes under scrutiny as far as muscle growth and exercise recovery is concerned because it helps to increase estrogen levels in the body. Estrogen, unlike testosterone, is not great for muscle development, so we won’t discuss it in more detail here. Lets take a look at these protein powders more closely to see how they can serve our training programs and fit into our diets.

Note from Regev: Don’t skip my guide for homemade meal replacement shakes

What is The Best Protein Powder for Building Lean Muscle ?

Let’s give ‘em all a look -

Casein Protein Powder

Casein protein powder isn’t as well-known as whey protein powder, and has a lower biological value, scoring 77 points. The biological value of a protein determines how efficiently it turns into muscle tissue and other tissues in the body. The higher the score, the better that protein is at building muscle. However, do not let this information turn you away from using casein protein since it is still a beneficial addition to your muscle-building nutrient arsenal. Here are some  key benefits of casein protein powder:

• High in glutamine – Of all these protein powders, casein provides the greatest quantities of glutamine, an essential amino acid that is shown to help prevent muscle break down (catabolism) and also boost the immune system (See note below).
• Extended absorption – Due to the fact casein protein powder moves more slowly through the digestive system compared to other protein powders, it’s likely the body will absorb and make use of it’s proteins more efficiently – over time. The best times to use casein protein is before bedtime or at any point during the day whenever there’s an extended period of time before the next meal.

Note from Regev: I’d be thinking twice before consuming casein or any dairy product. Casein has been shown over and over to cause some major health issues.

Egg Protein Powder

We digest egg protein powder at a pace somewhere between rapid absorbing whey protein powder, and the slower absorbing casein proteins.  It’s a protein source that may be taken with any kind of meal, or as a meal in itself since it mixes with other foods very well from a digestive point of view.

Given that eggs are among the best of muscle-building foods, we would expect to see some great reviews about egg powder. However, this is not the case.  Egg protein powder can be a great thing for building muscle, but we may be served better by eating boiled eggs, rather than spending the money for egg protein powder. Besides the cost, egg protein powder has a lower biological value of 88 compared to whole eggs that score 100.  All the same, egg protein powder is still great for building muscle. Some benefits of egg protein powder are:

• Great choice for people with allergies – Some people are allergic to the lactose in casein and whey and some people have a tough time digesting soy. High biological value – 88 points on the BV scale is still one of the highest scores. The amino acids in egg protein are very effective for muscle growth.
• Low calorie content – Egg protein powder is made only with egg whites and contains almost no carbohydrates or fat.

Some of the best times to use egg protein powder is for topping up the protein content of meals.  It’s also a very “clean” food, making it great for helping to cut down on body fat.

Note from Regev: Whenever possible, always opt for organic pasture-raised eggs instead. Always better than a processed alternative.

Whey Protein Powder

Whey protein powder is by far the most popular type of protein powder consumed. Whey protein is big business. The fundamental reason for this popularity among body builders and athletes is the fact that it is the protein source with the highest biological value of all, ranging from 104 to 160 depending on the product.

Whole eggs take second place with a score of 100. Whey protein concentrate powder is the lowest scoring form of whey since it is the least pure type, meaning it contains low levels of fat and carbohydrates. Whey protein isolate is the high scorer because it undergoes additional processing to lower fat and carbohydrate levels or to completely remove them. However, the isolates are often as much as twice as expensive as the concentrates. The key benefits of whey protein are

• Highest biological value – Whey protein powder is the best protein powder in terms of biological value, it’s off the chart! It’s amino acid profile is superior to all other protein sources.
• Rapid absorption – Whey protein powder is digested, absorbed ans assimilated into muscle cells faster than any other protein.
• High in BCAAs – BCAA’s (branched chain amino acids) are three specific essential amino acids that are key to muscle growth. One third of all skeletal muscle tissue is made up of BCAA’s.

The best time to use whey protein powder is prior to and after workouts. Because it is light on the digestion you take it a little while before a workout without feeling uncomfortable and knowing that the whey is giving muscle tissue some extra energy for the workout. After the workout whey provides muscle tissue with the protein it is starving for, fast.

Conclusion: Which Protein Powder is Best ?

There is essentially no best protein powder. Casein, whey, and egg protein powders all have unique qualities, and really should be used at different time for the best muscle growth gains. As supplements are not necessarily cheap, and it may not be possible to buy such a variety of them, then whey protein powder is probably the best whey (; to go if you want to use just one. Also worthy of mentioning, the above information is viable for both men and women, for both weight loss and muscle gain goals.

Got some experience with any each of them? What is the best tasting protein powder in your opinion? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Contributed by ProteinPowderShakes.org – “It’s all about the Protein!”, a source for anyone looking to buy a protein powder.

Note from Regev: I never consume processed foods of any kind. In case you’re looking for a more natural solution – take a look at my extensive guide for preparing homemade meal replacement shakes. You’ll love it!