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How Long Will Whey Keep? | Ask The Fitness Nerd

How Long Does Whey Protein Last For? We Take A Look At The Shelf Life of That Cannister of Whey Protein

Dear Fitness Nerd,

I have a quick question about the shelf life of whey protein powder.  My ex boyfriend left a 5lb tub of Optimum Nutrition 100% whey protein powder in our apartment, but I can’t seem to find an expiration date on it. We’ve been broke up for about a year, so I know it’s at least 12 months old. It still has the seal on it, so I think he may have bought it right before we split. Is it safe to use? And do you have any idea how long it will keep?  Thanks! –  Tasha (Las Vegas, NV)

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Does Whey Have Casein? | Ask The Fitness Nerd

Does Whey Protein Also Contain Casein? We Sort Out The Milk Protein Mystery Once and For All.

Dear Fitness Nerd,

I’m a little confused about whey and casein protein. Does whey also contain casein? And vice versa?  All I know is that both whey and casein are in milk.  Can you help me sort this out? — Janine (Dunwoody, GA)

You’re right that both whey and casein are proteins in milk.

But the important thing to grasp is that they are two totally different kinds of protein.

So in their purest form – isolated from the milk itself (for example in protein powder supplements) — whey typically doesn’t contain meaningful amounts of casein. Same goes for casein in regards to whey content.

Understanding Milk Proteins: Whey vs. Casein

The easist way to think about this is in the context of milk.

Milk contains about 80 percent casein protein, and 20 percent whey. Under normal conditions, you would never be able to differentiate between the whey and casein in milk visually. It just looks … well … liquid and “milky.”

However, when you add an acid or enzyme like rennet (which is used in cheese production), the milk will curdle. This literally separates the whey from the casein proteins.

The result is that the whey — which is a semi-clear liquid — will rise to the top, while the casein (which is heavier and coagulates in the presence of an acid or enzyme) will usually sink to the bottom.

In cheesemaking, the whey is siphoned off from the casein, and the solids are then drained through a cheese cloth, further extracting any residual whey or water and leaving the firm casein solids, which are then shaped into blocks of cheese (there are more steps, but I won’t get into them here.) 

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Can You Mix Whey Protein Isolate in a Blender? | Ask The Fitness Nerd

Does Mixing Whey Protein Isolate in a Blender Make It Less Effective?

Dear Fitness Nerd,

I’ve been drinking whey protein isolate for a couple of years. Usually I mix it up in a blender with some juice or milk after I workout or for a smoothie in the morning. But a guy at the gym recently told me that it’s better to mix your whey in a shaker bottle and not in a blender. He said it has something to do with the blender messing up the whey proteins and interfering with absorption. I’ve never heard that before. Is there any problem I should know about with mixing whey in a blender? Tony — Staten Island, NY

Tony, I’m always fascinated by how myths like this get started.

After looking at hundreds of these types of questions, I’ve come to the conclusion that 90% of them start with some “guy at the gym.”  

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Bodybuilding Supplements: Do They Really Work? | Ask The Fitness Nerd

Do bodybuilding supplements really work, or are they just a waste of good money? The Fitness Nerd dissects body building supplements.

Dear Fitness Nerd,

I have a question: 

I’m 41 years old, and workout 5 days a week. I use a lot of bodybuilding supplements and spend a lot of money on them.

Unfortunately, I’m not gaining muscle like I want.

Currently, I take Masstech protein 2x a day. But I’ve also tried  Anabolic Pump, NoXplode, SuperPump 250, Universal Animal Stak, Size One, and Vitrix. But I don’t see many results.  Am I  doing something wrong? Can you help me on it? Thanks — Gleidson

Thanks for the question Gleidson.

I’m afraid that what you just discovered is probably discovered every day by countless bodybuilders and fitness buffs who are hoping to get an edge at the gym by downing expensive shakes, powders and pills.

Just browse the myriad of bodybuilding supplement discussion boards out there and you’ll find plenty of mixed opinions on whether supplements actually result in better performance at the gym. Some people swear by them, others shrug their shoulders and say all supplements give you is really expensive pee.

it’s often hard to sort out what really works, versus how many of the reported results are just the product of the placebo effect.   

While there are some supplements out that may be effective for helping more highly-conditioned trainees overcome plateaus, unfortunately, the majority of bodybuilding supplements and sports supplements marketed in fitness and bodybuilding magazines (and increasingly, online) are more sizzle than substance.

Bodybuilding Supplements: Big Demand, Big Promises … and Big Money

The first thing to realize is that bodybuilding supplements are a huge business.  

In 2007, sales of sports, diet and bodybuilding supplements — as well as energy/sports drinks and specialty diet foods —  topped $19.6 billion. That’s a lot of dough. So there is plenty of demand out there and lots of money to be had. With all that blood in the water, it’s bound to attract sharks, unfortunately.

The second thing to understand is that supplement manufacturers have figured out what nearly every other good direct marketer has discovered: That people want quick fixes. And they are capitalizing on that.

The idea that you can down a shaker of “clinically-formulated” protein powder, or the latest NOS booster and suddenly build that beach body or killer physique is very attractive. I mean, if it really worked, who wouldn’t do it?

And supplement manufacturers pull out all of the stops and use every clever trick in the book to make you really believe that they’ve cracked the code to “insane anabolic pumps” — whatever the hell that actually means.

Anatomy of a Bodybuilding Supplement Ad

There is a pretty standard formula to marketing bodybuilding and fitness supplements, whether those supplements promise to help you burn fat and get “ripped” or help you add pounds of lean mass fast.

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Skim Milk | Healthy Food of the Day

Learn how adding skim milk to your diet can help you build muscle, strengthen bones and maybe even lose some body fat along the way.

“Milk - it does a body good” has a new meaning for people looking to add muscle, stave-off bone loss and reduce body fat.

A flurry of research — albeit, mostly funded by the dairy industry — over the past few years has suggested that including skim milk or fat-free milk into your diet can actually help you lose weight. But aside from the weight loss claims (which we’ll take a look at later), there are additional reasons that including skim milk in your diet can keep you fit, trim and healthy.

What is Skim Milk?

Skim milk is whole milk from dairy cows that has most or all of it’s fat removed. 

Traditionally, this was done by letting milk settle, and then “skimming” the fat off the top of the milk. What is left is the protein-rich, low-fat liquid below the layer of fat. In modern milk processing, the de-fatting process is done with centrifuges (basically the milk is spun around inside a big stainless steel tank and the fat is separated and drained off.)

Skim milk (also labeled as “fat-free milk” or “non-fat” milk) generally has less than 0.5 percent milk fat. Low-fat, semi-skimmed milk or “1% milk” has between 1 and 2 percent fat. For comparisons sake, whole cows milk has around 3.5 percent fat, or 7.9 grams of fat (4.6 grams of which are the “bad” saturated type of fat) in a 1 cup (16 oz) serving. In terms of calories, whole milk weighs in at 147 calories, in comparison to the 91 calories in skim milk.

Clearly choosing skim milk over whole or even 2% milk makes the most sense from a fat and calorie perspective.

But what about the difference in nutrition between skim milk and whole milk? Does the skimming process remove any nutrients?
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What is Whey Protein Powder and Do I Need It? | Diet and Nutrition

Find Out How Whey Protein Powder Went from Dairy Underdog to Nutritional Superstar

Whey protein seems to be everywhere. 

One of the top selling (and most heavily-marketed) nutritional and sports supplements on the market today, whey protein turns up as an ingredient in everything from smoothies to nutrition bars to high-protein cereals.  Personal trainers often include whey as part of their clients’ diet plan, smoothie bars offer it mixed with ice and fruit, and aspiring bodybuilders and soccer moms alike seem to have found a permanent place for a tub of whey protein powder in their pantries.

But what exactly is whey protein powder? Where does this stuff come from? And do you really need it?

A Brief History of Whey Protein

Whey is a natural by-product of the cheese-making process. Milk contains two primary proteins: casein and whey.  Whey composes about 20% of milk proteins, and casein comprises the remaining 80%. So when you drink a glass of milk, you are consuming both casein proteins and whey proteins.

During the cheese-making process, an enzyme called rennet is added to milk to curdle it. The curds are used to make cheese, and the remaining liquid is whey.

Historically, this liquid was considered more-or-less useless. Indeed, the dairy industry had so much excess whey that they struggled with disposing of the surplus. Some of it found its way into swine or cattle feed, where it appeared to produce larger, meatier cows or pigs, but a great deal of it also ended up in the landfill.

Which was really a shame, because the cattle farmers were on to something. It turns out that whey is extremely rich is three milk proteins – specifically beta-lactoglobulin (~65%), alpha-lactalbumin (~25%), and serum albumin (~8%) — which are more easily digested by the body than any other protein, including the holy grail of protein, eggs.

There was just one problem: Whey in its naturally occurring form is a sloppy, liquid mess.  It also has very little flavor. Trying to sell the world on a great protein source that has to be refrigerated and doesn’t have much taste would challenge even the best marketer.

Enter modern technology.  Scientists figured out a way (no pun intended) to “dry” and powder-ize whey, while still maintaining it’s basic nutritional profile.  The result was whey powder, which could be reconstituted in liquids while still preserving its protein values.

The rest, as they say, is history.

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