Discover the main benefits of casein for your health and fitness!

Protein powders. There are so many varieties, each with slightly different properties and providing different benefits. If you're just starting out with exercise and healthy eating, you probably don't know what to expect, how each type differs and which one is the best to choose? It may say protein, but not all types are created equal! You need to study the options a bit and find the one that will best meet your requirements, as each type has its own slightly specific uses.

If you can find the type of protein powder that will perfectly match your requirements, you're a winner and there's no doubt that you will certainly benefit from taking it. Whey and casein are two of the most popular types ever of protein supplements available on the market, and for good reason. They are both high quality and highly bioavailable, complete proteins that are particularly rich in branched chain amino acids (BCAAs), making them great for muscle growth and recovery. Even though both of the aforementioned types come from milk protein, there are significant differences between them. For example, milk protein is roughly 80% casein and 20% whey.

Article Content:

• How do casein and whey protein actually work?
• Casein as a fat-burning helper
• Casein is a high-quality source of protein!

How do casein and whey protein actually work?

Whey protein is known as the "faster" brother of casein because it is quickly digested. Casein, on the other hand, is therefore logically a slow digesting protein. Both types of protein are high in amino acids. Whey protein is considered anabolic (muscle building) and casein is anti-catabolic, helping to maintain muscle during catabolic states, i.e. their breakdown. In order to achieve muscle growth, protein synthesis must occur at a greater rate than muscle breakdown. Since whey increases protein synthesis and casein prevents muscle breakdown, both types of protein can help you build muscle if you know how to use them properly.

Whey protein under the microscope

It only takes 20 minutes for this type of protein to be digested, absorbed into the blood, taken up by body tissues and metabolized. Within an hour, it will be used either for protein synthesis or oxidation. This is an absolutely astounding rate of absorption compared to casein or even a solid diet. It is this sudden increase in amino acids that stimulates muscle protein synthesis. Whey actually helps you quickly transition from a state of muscle breakdown to protein synthesis, thus getting you out of a catabolic state. I'm sure most of you know the benefits of whey protein, so let's focus on casein.

Casein protein

When you ingest casein, you will reach peak blood amino acid levels and maximum protein synthesis between 3-4 hours of ingesting it. Therefore, the rate of absorption doesn't even come close to that of whey. But that doesn't mean it's bad! While casein won't raise your amino acid levels fast and high compared to whey protein, it does slow down the rate of protein breakdown quite significantly, thus protecting your already built muscles. What other benefits does casein offer?

Muscle protector

When you enter into a calorie deficit phase with the goal of reducing fat and cutting your calorie intake, quite often the deficit makes your muscles disappear along with the fat. This happens as a result of not giving the body enough calories in the form of food and forcing it to reach into its "own stores". At best, of course, it will reach for fat stores, and at worst it will take some from muscle. In normal cases, weight loss is a combination of both - fat and muscle loss.

One study looked at the variation in muscle gain and fat loss at the same time on two groups taking different types of protein - subjects in one group took hydrolysate and subjects in the other group took casein. All subjects were simultaneously in a caloric deficit and engaged in strength training. Both groups lost fat, but the losses were more pronounced in the group taking casein , and at the same time, the chest, shoulders and legs were significantly stronger in this group. It can also be seen from the overall results of the study that the group taking casein protein ended up having a greater proportion of lean muscle mass compared to the previous measurement.

The truth is that if you maintain a sufficient protein intake in general, not just from casein, during calorie restriction for weight loss, you are much less likely to lose muscle mass. Higher protein intake is one of the prerequisites for successful fat reduction.

Casein as a fat-burning helper

While we've established that higher protein intake is an overall important prerequisite for maintaining muscle mass, casein is a form of protein that is ideal for aiding fat burning. Why? I'm sure you've heard that whey protein leads to a pretty significant stimulation of insulin secretion. And likewise, it won't be news to you that whey protein plays a prime role in rapidly increasing serum leucine, isoleucine and valine levels.

But... In addition, whey protein also causes massive increases in glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1). There may evenbe a greater stimulation of insulin after consuming whey proteinthan there is when consuming white bread or pure glucose. However, if whey protein is supplemented with a quality casein protein source, the postprandial insulin response is significantly reduced. This is definitely a compelling reason to include this combination. In addition, casein offers anti-catabolic action and muscle protein synthesis support that is comparable to whey protein.

Casein supports gut function

Another very important benefit of casein protein powder is that it helps support colon health. Another of the studies we reviewed for this article examined the health benefits of different types of protein sources and concluded that casein protein and dairy products containing it are much more beneficial to our body's intestinal system than meat or soy. This is another fairly significant reason that plays in favor of taking casein protein.

Casein is a high quality source of protein!

Finally, we must not forget to mention the fact that casein is one of the best protein sources ever. Using a quality protein source should be one of your top nutritional priorities. In fact, if you emphasize quality protein sources that have sufficient availability, you will need much smaller amounts to meet your necessary daily intake and keep your muscle mass from reducing or gaining volume.

If you were to use only some of the less-available sources, it will possibly have a negative effect on meeting your goals. For example, if you are a vegetarian, or follow some other diet where you do not consume enough meat and other sources containing casein, it is very advisable to include this supplement, unless your diet does not mind dairy products, as casein is part of milk protein.

What to take away from the article?

Today we have briefly explained the differences between casein and whey protein. They both offer specific benefits, and we focused on casein in particular. Although casein is a slower digesting protein, it is one of the highest quality protein sources ever, and as we noted above, it is highly recommended to combine it with whey protein to reduce postprandial insulin response. Casein is an ideal protein to include in the diet as it helps maintain built muscle mass and has the ability to support fat burning. Both types are suitable for virtually everyone, except those with dairy allergies.

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