Why protein powder instead of just more food?
The reasons for consuming protein powders instead of food are usually due to its high bioavailability, speed of digestion, and cost-effectiveness and simplicity.
Bioavailability (BV)
Bioavailability refers to the body’s ability to absorb a type of food during digestion. At the time of introducing the BV, eggs were considered to have the highest bioavailability of any food source and therefore were assigned a BV of 100. However, since then, as explained in other articles , protein powders have been found to have a higher BV. BV than eggs, with some protein powders rating up to 170 when combined with digestive enzymes. Basically, this means that when you supplement with protein powders, your body absorbs more protein during the digestion process than any solid food source.
digestion speed
As discussed earlier in this article, some protein powders can start to digest as early as 10 minutes after consumption. Of any food source, again the protein in eggs is one of the fastest digesting proteins. However, this protein in eggs will take about 2 hours and the proteins in foods like chicken and tuna can take 3 hours to digest and absorb into your bloodstream.
After a hard workout or strenuous exercise, even 60 minutes can be too long for your muscles to wait for protein. It is well known by exercisers that the most important time to take a protein shake is immediately before exercise. After exercise, your body will have more food absorption to rebuild muscle and replenish energy. If your body doesn’t get the proper nutrition to start this process, it can result in continued muscle breakdown (catabolism) after your workout is over. Due to the much slower digestion rates of food proteins, it is impossible to feed the muscles adequate protein immediately prior to exercise to maximize muscle and physique gains without protein shakes.
Profitability and simplicity
People often complain that supplements are expensive, but when you do the math, you’ll find that it’s much cheaper to use supplements instead of food. Typically, the protein required before and after training to ensure adequate recovery is approximately 30g. Many protein products contain around 30g per serving and can cost less than $1. Getting 30g of protein from the cheapest available food sources is equivalent to about 1 liter of milk or 185g of tuna or 8 eggs. Now, if you are a true bargain hunter, you can buy each of these foods for $1. However, most people would find it very difficult to digest any of these foods (especially in those amounts) immediately after exercise and trying to eat these foods every day will get old very quickly. Not to mention, these foods have a lower BV and much slower digestion rates.
Suddenly, the popularity of supplements is seen in a new light. It’s simple, protein powders are better, faster, and cheaper sources of protein than food, case closed.