Protein Supplements - Hugely overpriced food ?

Sergio, and those of his era, did not use protein supplements they ate egg whites. Egg whites are as good or better than protein supplements and are much cheaper.

Blah Blah. wrote:

Sergio, and those of his era, did not use protein supplements they ate egg whites. Egg whites are as good or better than protein supplements and are much cheaper.

Are you sure?

I use a whey protein isolate that costs $49 for 80 servings, each of which has 26g of protein. That works out to ~61 cents per serving.

Eggs cost about $3/dozen around here. There is 3.6g of protein in an egg white. So 7.2 eggs -- $1.80.

Eggs also have the downside of limited shelf life, being less portable, carrying a very small risk of salmonella, and raw egg white is kind of gross.

I don't know what's better or worse in terms of effect on my system, but I'll save the eggs for omeletes and keep drinking my WPI as needed...

I don't think so wrote:

Blah Blah. wrote:

Sergio, and those of his era, did not use protein supplements they ate egg whites. Egg whites are as good or better than protein supplements and are much cheaper.

Are you sure?

I use a whey protein isolate that costs $49 for 80 servings, each of which has 26g of protein. That works out to ~61 cents per serving.

Eggs cost about $3/dozen around here. There is 3.6g of protein in an egg white. So 7.2 eggs -- $1.80.

Eggs also have the downside of limited shelf life, being less portable, carrying a very small risk of salmonella, and raw egg white is kind of gross.

I don't know what's better or worse in terms of effect on my system, but I'll save the eggs for omeletes and keep drinking my WPI as needed...

BTW, serving measurements are meaningless.

Looks like that product is $9.49, and it would be 8oz to get 26g of protein. So 12 servings total, 79c each. The WPI still wins, price-wise.

What do you mean by "serving measurements are meaningless?" Maybe I will take more or less protein, but the serving size gives us a relative means of comparison -- in this case, a 26g of protein serving. Or "unit of measurement" if you prefer.

Eating too many raw egg whites can lead to biotin deficiency, with subsequent hair loss and issues with skin and nails. Avidin in raw egg whites binds biotin (normally found in yolk and other foods), preventing its absorption in the GI tract. Avidin is partially, but not fully, denatured when egg whites are cooked. Some avidin activity remains, so there is still a chance - albeit much smaller - of developing biotin deficiency with overconsumption of cooked egg whites without additional source of biotin like yolk/other. A few is okay, but don't go crazy with it, and never eat egg whites raw.

My favorite way to consume raw egg whites is in a whiskey sour.

That is completely acceptable and encouraged!

Man that is a lot of words to miss the point that whey is easier to transport, more versatile, and tastier than eggs or egg whites.

They are called supplements... because they are supplements to a regular diet. If you are not getting the protein you need, you take a protein supplement. You aren't supposed to live off if.

Here are some numbers per gram of protein:

calories per gram of protein cents per gram of protein

Isopure whey 4.2 3.5

Skim milk 10.3 2.6

whole egg 11.7 2.6

egg white 4.7 4.6

greek yoghurt 5 8.7

fat free cottage cheese 6.4 18.1

almond milk 40 54.3

skinless chicken breast 4.8

Golden Time wrote:

Eating too many raw egg whites can lead to biotin deficiency, with subsequent hair loss and issues with skin and nails. Avidin in raw egg whites binds biotin (normally found in yolk and other foods), preventing its absorption in the GI tract. Avidin is partially, but not fully, denatured when egg whites are cooked. Some avidin activity remains, so there is still a chance - albeit much smaller - of developing biotin deficiency with overconsumption of cooked egg whites without additional source of biotin like yolk/other. A few is okay, but don't go crazy with it, and never eat egg whites raw.

That would be a great speech if you could only go back to the 1990's when people were still consuming egg whites by themselves. It's 2016 and you basically have to be retarded to be eating egg whites and throwing the yolk away.

This absolutely happens, Modest Mouse!

what's wrong with dried milk? wrote:

Here are some numbers per gram of protein:

calories per gram of protein cents per gram of protein

Isopure whey 4.2 3.5

Skim milk 10.3 2.6

whole egg 11.7 2.6

egg white 4.7 4.6

greek yoghurt 5 8.7

fat free cottage cheese 6.4 18.1

almond milk 40 54.3

skinless chicken breast 4.8

A couple of comments regarding this list:

A) Isopure is one of the more expensive wheys on the market. You're paying for its very slick packaging and marketing. Try BulkSupplements.com if you just want to pay for the actual powder.

B) I'm not sure all of these are equivalent. Whey digests a lot faster than cottage cheese (which is primarily casein), chicken breast, etc. May or may not matter depending on when you're taking it and whether you believe in nutrient timing. (Personally I'm on the fence about the whole thing.)

numbers guy wrote:

A) Isopure is one of the more expensive wheys on the market. You're paying for its very slick packaging and marketing. Try BulkSupplements.com if you just want to pay for the actual powder.

Thanks. Isopure is about 20% more expensive. My wife and kids like it so much better than anything else we've gotten, but I'll try the bulksupplements, a little bit of lactose and other "impurities" don't bother me that much.

Note that the slick and expensive Isopure is still less expensive per gram of protein than egg whites.

Not to say that all proteins are equal, it was just to point out that whey is cheap and low calorie when you reference to g of protein, no matter what the big expensive tub of stuff may imply.

Whey powder strikes the right balance of cheap/convenient/tasty.