As you are all aware, CT, Tim Patterson, and Co. are hyping up a para-nutrition protocol that will probably be released as a package (similar to the V-Diet package) once CT’s “Super Program” comes out. For those who aren’t familiar with the protocol, the basic idea is to ramp up quickly-absorbing carbs and quickly-absorbing proteins before, during, and after your workout for maximal anabolic response (but as you can guess, there are specific Biotest products to accomplish this). Anaconda, touted as the king of para-workout nutrition, is comprised of casein hydrosylate, which, according to CT, is the fastest-absorbing protein out there. Surge Recovery is comprised of whey hydrosylate, another quickly-absorbing protein.
My question is: does the protein powder type really matter?
From Lyle MacDonald: (What are Calories? -
-good-sources-of-protein-speed-of-digestion-part-3.html)
[quote]I want to make a couple of quick comments about protein powders since, as usual, there is a lot of confusion, hype and outright lies being made about them. Quoting directly from The Protein Book:
Protein powders come in three primary forms which are isolates, concentrates and hydrolysates. Protein concentrates typically contain roughly 80% protein with 5-6% carbohydrate and fat while isolates may contain up to 90% protein. Hydrolysates are simply isolates or concentrates which have been pre-digested (digestion of protein is called hydrolysis) by subjecting them to specific enzymes. Practically speaking, you will typically pay the least for a protein concentrate, more for an isolate and the most for a protein hydrolysate. Because of the presence of free form amino acids in protein hydrolysates, they often have a more bitter taste than either concentrates or isolates.
In the last couple of years, there has been a real push by supplement companies for expensive (and often bitter tasting) hydrolysates based on the claim that they digest much more quickly than either isolates or concentrates and thus super-speed amino acids to just worked muscles.
Ignoring the question of whether faster is actually better (see below), there is the question of whether hydrolysates actually do digest significantly faster than protein isolates. Limited research is available and while one study showed that pea protein hydrolysate digested more quickly than other concentrates, this data canâ??t be applied to any protein except pea protein.
One study compared the digestion speed of whey and casein to their respective hydrolysates and the simple fact is that there was no significant difference in digestion speed. Quoting from the results:
The rate of gastric emptying for all solutions was found to fit an exponential pattern (r=0.92â??1).Solutions were emptied at similar rates, with half-times of (mean ± S.E.M.) 21.4±1.3, 19.3±2.2, 18.0±2.5 and 19.4±2.8 min,for the whey hydrolysate, casein hydrolysate, casein and whey protein,respectively.
Basically, there was no real difference (maybe a couple of minutes faster for the hydrolysates) between whey isolate and its hydrolysate and casein and its hydrolysate.
Translation: there is no advantage to whey or casein hydrolysates in terms of digestion speed. None. Well, unless you think paying three times the price and accepting an often bitter taste is an advantage.[/quote]
Is it worth shelling out 2-3x more cash for what may arguably provide limited benefits?