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Whey vs Plant Protein: Is One Better Than The Other? | Nutritionist Explains | Myprotein
Jan 30, 2025
Plant protein powders & whey proteins: there are plenty to choose between, but how do they differ and which ones better?
Protein is essential for growth, repair and load of other essential functions in the body. Getting enough protein is also essential if you want to gain muscle mass, but there’s a lot of confusion about whether plant-based protein powders can do it as well as animal proteins like meat, eggs or dairy.
Richie, our nutritionist expert, tells us about the science behind the vegan protein powders and the more common, milk-based powders. On top of that we’ll also learn about some of the latest research on how much plant-based protein powder you should be taking.
Follow Richie on Instagram: @be_more_nutrition
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Chapters:
00:00 - Intro into Whey and Plant Protein
00:59 - What do our bodies use protein for?
01:11 - What is MPS?
02:36 - Vegan plant protein
06:00 - What about mycoprotein?
07:26 - Choosing a plant-based protein over whey?
08:16 - Got any more questions on plant v whey protein?
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0:00
are vegan protein powders the game
0:02
changers they're made out to be and how
0:04
do they compare to good old whey protein
0:06
let's talk about that
0:10
how's it going guys my name is richie
0:11
kirwan and today we're going to talk all
0:13
about the differences between some of
0:14
the most common vegan protein powders
0:16
and whey protein we all know protein is
0:18
essential for growth repair and a load
0:20
of other essential functions in the body
0:22
getting enough protein is also essential
0:24
if you want to gain muscle mass but
0:26
there's a lot of confusion about whether
0:28
plant-based protein powders can do it as
0:30
well as animal proteins like meat eggs
0:33
or dairy today i'll tell you what the
0:35
science says about vegan protein powders
0:37
and if they're as good as some of the
0:38
more common milk-based powders on top of
0:40
that we'll also learn about some of the
0:42
latest research on how much plant-based
0:44
protein powder you should be taking i
0:46
just want to point out that i'm not
0:48
recommending any particular protein
0:49
supplements what i am going to do is
0:52
talk about the science and research
0:53
around some of the most common types of
0:55
vegan protein powders let's get started
0:57
as i just mentioned we need protein for
0:59
a huge amount of different functions in
1:01
our body like making hormones immune
1:03
function and even bone health but if
1:05
you're watching this channel probably
1:07
know that protein is essential for
1:08
building muscle and getting big and
1:10
strong this is because we need protein
1:12
for something called muscle protein
1:14
synthesis or mps mps is when you use
1:16
amino acids from the protein you eat to
1:18
create new protein for growth and repair
1:20
of muscles and other tissues in your
1:22
body you can stimulate mps in two ways
1:25
first with exercise and also by eating
1:27
protein the more you can increase mps by
1:29
eating protein the more likely you will
1:31
be to build muscle over time but why do
1:33
different proteins have different
1:35
effects on mps that all comes down to
1:37
the amino acids they contain in a
1:39
general sense
1:40
proteins from animal sources like meat
1:42
eggs and dairy have all the essential
1:44
amino acids needed to stimulate mps and
1:46
build muscles on the other hand plant
1:48
proteins have lower levels of some of
1:50
those amino acids the lack of some amino
1:52
acids is one of the reasons that some
1:54
plant proteins don't stimulate mps as
1:56
well as most animal proteins in
1:58
particular plants are often lower in the
2:01
amino acids methanine lysine and leucine
2:04
interestingly this is why pea and rice
2:06
protein are often combined together in
2:08
vegan protein blends peas are lower in
2:10
methionine and higher in lysine while
2:12
rice is lower in lysine and higher in
2:14
methionine so combining them gives a
2:17
better amino acid profile they're called
2:19
complementary proteins and while some
2:21
people say combining proteins like this
2:22
isn't important on a vegan diet if your
2:24
goal is to stimulate muscle growth as
2:26
much as possible getting all the
2:28
essential amino acids you need is damn
2:30
important taking all this into
2:32
consideration means it might be
2:33
worthwhile putting a little thought into
2:36
what vegan protein powder to use whey
2:38
protein on the other hand is high in all
2:40
essential amino acids especially high in
2:43
leucine the amino acid responsible for
2:46
starting mps in the first place another
2:48
issue with plant proteins is the form
2:50
that they come in and by that i mean
2:52
they usually come in the form of plants
2:54
obviously enough that's important
2:56
because the structure of plants i think
2:58
of the stems or the leaves tubers or
3:00
grains can often be hard to break down
3:03
as they're made of cellulose and other
3:05
types of plant fibers as well as some
3:07
anti-nutrients which our substances can
3:09
reduce the absorption of nutrients like
3:11
vitamins or minerals these make
3:12
digesting plant proteins harder than
3:14
digesting animal proteins which don't
3:16
have the same fiber or hard structures
3:19
as an example about 85 to 95 percent of
3:21
the protein in eggs or chicken is
3:23
absorbed but only 50 to 75 of the
3:25
protein in whole plant foods like
3:27
chickpeas beans or yellow peas can be
3:29
absorbed from a meal that said when a
3:31
plant-based protein is extracted and
3:33
purified to make a plant protein isolate
3:36
the protein absorbability increases to
3:39
the same level as animal proteins that's
3:40
just a really good example of how
3:42
processing can actually improve the
3:44
nutritional profile of plant protein
3:46
powders this also explains another
3:48
reason why whey is such a great protein
3:52
it's incredibly easy and fast to digest
3:55
which means more of it gets absorbed and
3:57
used to stimulate mps in your muscles
4:00
some of the most common vegan protein
4:01
powders on the market are soy pea and
4:03
rice blends and hemp in the scientific
4:05
research we're also hearing a lot about
4:07
relatively new addition to the vegan
4:08
protein powder category and that's
4:09
microprotein so how good are each of
4:12
them for building muscle one study
4:14
compared to two groups of young men
4:15
taking either 21 grams away or 20 grams
4:18
of soy protein while a resistance
4:19
training for 9 months the whey group
4:22
gained 3.3 kilograms of lean body mass
4:24
and the soy group gained only 1.8
4:27
kilograms of lbm another study had one
4:29
group take 17.5 grams of milk protein or
4:32
the same amount of soy protein oil
4:34
resistance training for 12 weeks again
4:37
the milk protein group gained more
4:39
muscle here's the thing
4:41
we know that a 20 gram dose of high
4:42
quality protein like whey is enough to
4:44
almost maximally stimulate mps in young
4:47
healthy people adding more protein won't
4:49
increase it much further because mps has
4:52
an upper limit we also know that the
4:54
amount of leucine in a protein has a big
4:56
role to play in how much protein you
4:58
need to eat to stimulate mps this is
5:01
called the leucine threshold lower
5:03
leucine in some plant proteins may
5:05
explain why plant proteins in smaller
5:07
amounts aren't as good as whey so what
5:10
if you eat more vegan protein in order
5:12
to get more leucine that question
5:14
changes things a little studies that use
5:16
larger doses of vegan protein powders
5:18
like 33 grams of soy or 24 grams of rice
5:21
protein and similar amounts away
5:24
show no difference in muscle growth
5:26
after a few months of resistance
5:27
exercise in fact a super interesting
5:30
study that was just published showed
5:32
that 30 grams of wheat protein was able
5:34
to stimulate mps to the same amount as
5:37
30 grams of milk protein wheat is known
5:40
for being a very low quality protein but
5:42
it turns out that if you eat enough of a
5:44
lower quality protein it can help to
5:46
stimulate mps as much as a better
5:48
quality protein this is why so many
5:50
studies with low doses of protein around
5:52
20 grams show way to be better than
5:55
vegan proteins it turns out you just
5:57
need to eat more all the research that
6:00
we have at the moment tells us that 1.6
6:02
grams of protein per kilogram of body
6:04
weight per day seems to offer the
6:06
maximum benefit for muscle growth
6:08
so it seems that if you get enough good
6:10
quality plant protein you can stimulate
6:12
muscle growth as well as with higher
6:15
quality animal proteins so if you have
6:16
four meals that's a total of 1.6 to 2
6:19
grams per kilogram per day which falls
6:21
right within the current guidelines for
6:22
building muscle this is very possible
6:24
with vegan protein shakes but it gets
6:26
quite hard if you try to get that much
6:28
protein from whole plant sources and it
6:30
may not be as beneficial because protein
6:32
absorption isn't as good the reason i
6:34
mentioned this is because you need to
6:35
bear in mind that if you try and get all
6:38
of your plant protein from whole foods
6:40
you may need even more than i've
6:41
recommended here and that might not be
6:43
easy this is exactly why plant protein
6:44
powders may be a good idea for vegans
6:47
wanting to put on more muscle so which
6:49
is a better quality protein whey or
6:51
plant protein isolates the easy answer
6:53
is way it's higher in essential amino
6:55
acids especially leucine and it's super
6:57
easy to digest and absorb all essential
6:59
for muscle growth that said if you eat
7:01
more plant protein especially from
7:02
protein isolates you can still stimulate
7:04
mps and grow people go vegan for many
7:07
reasons and some people are never going
7:10
to use whey so it's good to know that
7:11
with well planned nutrition they can
7:13
still make plenty of gains in the gym so
7:15
why would anyone choose a plant-based
7:17
protein over weight well for some people
7:19
it can come down to whey or dairy
7:21
products in general not agreeing with
7:22
them some people can be lactose
7:24
intolerant or even allergic to dairy
7:25
protein in which case a plant-based
7:27
protein may be a better option for them
7:29
on top of that there's the environmental
7:31
argument even if you used processed
7:33
plant protein isolates they generally
7:35
require less land less water less energy
7:39
compared to producing animal protein
7:40
this means it's more environmentally
7:42
efficient to get your protein directly
7:44
from plants without using animals as the
7:46
middleman and results in less greenhouse
7:48
gas emissions so gram for gram plant
7:50
protein produces much fewer greenhouse
7:53
gases than animal protein besides the
7:55
environmental reasons for wanting to eat
7:56
more plant-based protein for some people
7:58
there are ethical reasons too some
8:00
people such as vegans feel that all
8:02
animal agriculture is a form of
8:03
exploitation and don't want to be part
8:05
of that so they avoid all animal
8:07
products vegan protein powders can be a
8:09
really useful way for people who can't
8:11
or won't eat animal products to get more
8:13
protein into their diet so what do you
8:15
think did that clear up the plant
8:17
protein confusion
8:18
as always if you have any questions let
8:19
me know in the comments below and
8:21
remember to like and subscribe to the my
8:22
protein youtube channel for more great
8:24
evidence-based nutrition information
8:30
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