Is Grass Fed Protein Better Than Non Grass Fed Protein. EndurElite Chief Endurance Officer Matt Mosman has your answer and busts the BS!
Grass Fed vs Non Grass Fed Protein Fast Facts:
- Grass fed protein is NOT superior to non grass fed protein in terms of amino acids, stimulating muscle protein synthesis, promoting recovery, and overall protein quality.
- Grass fed protein is often claimed to have more omega 3 fatty acids, CLA, and other beneficial compounds. This is NOT TRUE.
- The reason for this is during the filtration process of converting milk to whey the majority of the fat is filtered out.
- Thus it follows that most of the omega 3's and CLA is filtered out as well.
- Save your money and skip buying grass fed protein. Instead, buy a high-quality whey protein isolate.
Full Video Transcription:
Good morning, family of fast. Matt Mosman, the chief endurance officer over at EndurElite, and welcome to another episode of Busting the Bull. But more appropriately, maybe we should say busting the cow today, because today we're gonna tackle the claim that grass-fed whey protein is better than non-grass-fed whey protein.
Now when I say better, we're not talking about the ethics of it. If you like the ethics behind grass-fed whey protein, that's fine. We're gonna talk about more so the overall quality of the protein and some of these other claims grass-fed whey protein make.
What Is Grass Fed Whey Protein?
So obviously, the difference between grass-fed and non-grass-fed is the grass fed-is where Bessy's out, roaming around, eating grass, giving your milk, making that milk into a whey, and you have some protein. So that's the difference between grass-fed and non-grass-fed. I know, mind-blowing.
What Claims Are Being Made About Grass Fed Whey?
So a lot of times, the people who make grass-fed whey protein will say it's better than non-grass-fed because it has more omega-3 fatty acids. It has higher concentrations of conjugated linoleic acid, lactoferrin, immunoglobulins, whoa, that's a big word, for immunity and so on and so forth. So all these things are kind of found in the fat of these grass-fed cows that give you the grass-fed whey protein.
Why Grass Fed Whey Doesn't Live Up To The Claims
But here's the real kicker and where it's a little tricky. So most proteins even grass fed on the market are either a whey isolate or a whey concentrate. So whey concentrate usually implies the protein is at least 80% pure protein, where whey isolate is basically assuming the protein is 90% pure protein. And here's where the trickery begins with the grass-fed whey protein.
It's All About Filtration
When the grass-fed whey isolate or concentrate is made it goes through a lot of filtration steps and basically filters out all the good fat, the lactose, the milk sugars, things of that nature. So when you're all done, you get a protein whether it's grass-fed or regular with low amounts of fat. And guess what? When you had that low amount of fat in a grass-fed whey protein, that pretty much filters out a lot of the omega-3s, the conjugated linoleic acid, the lactoferrin. So total bull. Yeah, I said it.
I know a lot of people aren't going to like this but grass-fed whey protein is no way superior to regular non-fed grass protein unless, again, you're talking about the ethical part about it. It's not higher in certain good fats like the omega-3s and conjugate linoleic acid. The BCAA, our branch chain amino acid are essential amino acid composition of grass-fed whey protein is not better than a non-grass-fed whey protein. It's not gonna help you put on mounds of muscles and recover quicker from grass-fed to non-grass-fed.
The Bottom Line On Grass Fed Whey Protein
So what's the whole point about this? Well, move over Bessy and all you people who sell grass-fed whey protein. Well, I shouldn't say that. That's not fair. All you people who sell grass-fed whey protein saying it's better quality than a non-grass fed whey protein, total bull.
So that is all I have for today, my friends. If you have a buddy who's preaching to you that grass-fed whey protein is better than non-grass-fed, please share this video with them. If you want other videos like this on endurance training, nutrition, supplementation, and other random musings, subscribe to the EndurElite YouTube channel or head on over to the EndurElite blog at www.endurelite.com. Get social with us on Facebook and Instagram. And until next time, stay fueled, stay focused, stay fast, and stay informed.
