Protein Preferences - Forum Discussion

T-Men, I have a forum question I would like to propose to all. I want to do this out of both curiosity as well as the fact that Im working on a couple of things.

My question is this…

Since you all probably tear through protein powders and MRP’s like tornadoes through oklahoma countryside, what are your appraisals on the taste, solubility, and overall enjoyment of the following 2 categories of product. Rules are this…one, be honest (i.e. dont just say Grow rocks and everything else sucks…i personally like the taste of Grow the best but that doesnt mean the others are crap)…and two, rate on taste and solubility and mouth feel only. Not percieved quality. Rate them on a 1-4 scale and give comments if you want to also. I just wanna know what you guys think.

Category 1: MRP’s (Products: MetRx, Myoplex, MetRx Pro 50, Grow, Optimeal, MesoTech, GNC’s MRP)

Category 2: Protein (Products: Precision Protein, NitroTech, Keto Pro, Protein Plus, Nexus, GNC’s protein -ultimate whey, Designer)

Im interested in seeing what you guys think of these proteins/MRP's. Thanks.

When it comes to taste, creamy texture, and mouth feel Met-rx (Vanilla flavor)is #1. Grow is very close, it ranks 2nd and Myoplex is last.


Caegory 2: I’ve only tried Designer and EAS simply Protein 5Ibs. Designer is still #1 and the EAS brand sucks big time.

MRPs - Chocolate GROW! is the best ever. I love the fact that it mixes very easy. That is a huge bonus. The taste is chocolaty and has a smooth texture in my mouth. Grow is 10 out of 10.

Second would be Myoplex chocolate. I would give this about a 7 or 8 out of 10. the taste is good but not great.

Protein - Precision Protein chocolate and Human Development Mocha Cappuccino. I like the Mocha tast and they both have that. Mixes very well and texture is very light. I would give both of these a 9.

The other protien that i have tried are Protein Plus. Chocolate is ok, but the other 2 flavors are terrible.

Thanks for the feedback guys. Keep it coming. I dont want this to turn into a protein quality discussion. We will take care of that on another posting. I just want to hear about taste, solubility, etc. Let me know the ones you really like to drink and the ones that taste like butt.

  1. MRP’s- for taste and grams of protein per serving I’d have to say Meso-Tech. We had some tested and it tests out fine. (fav flavour was chocolate followed by strawberry). Labrada was a distant second, I found it to be pretty watery, but the taste was okay. You can trust Labrada as far as quality. After that I prefer Met-Rx, Myoplex, Grow! and Isopure. Grow was sweet but it was a bit thick and I felt it contained a bit too much casein/sweet dairy whey and it upset my stomach.

  2. Protein Powders- That’s a tough one since there are literally hundreds. I liked Prolab (great taste), NitroTech (choc. was great), Precision, and Designer (to a lesser extent). I didn’t like Optimum, the taste was horrific and well you know the quality story on them…

Grow! = 4


Met-rx = 3


Myoplex = 3


Designer = 3


Precision Protein = 2

Grow! has my vote hands down. I chug a 3-scoop serving after my workout in about 20 seconds. An hour later I have another. I’ll drink chocolate until I get used to it then I’ll switch to vanilla, then back to chocolate. Bring on the Grow! bars. I have little time between class and these would make it so easy for me. When are they coming out fellows??

MRP’s -

Taste wise I like both Grow and Myoplex and would give a slight edge to Grow. As for solubility it’s no contest as Myoplex wins hands down. I tire of hearing from all the companies how easy it is to mix their products “with a spoon” but only Myoplex pulls it off. I get so many “protein balls” when I mix Grow that I might as well chew it instead of drink it.

Protein Powders -

Have only tried Precision and Designer and think Precision is the best although neither taste worth a darn but I expect that from a pure whey protein product.

I’ve never used a straight protein powder, so I can’t rate those. Of the MRPs, both Grow! and Myoplex have excellent mouth-feel and soluability, and both are easy for me to digest, both by themselves and with other stuff (Glutacene, fruit juices, peanut butter, etc.) added. Flavor-wise I’d have to say that chocolate Grow! is pretty much perfect, beating out choc. Myoplex although Myoplex is good too. With vanilla it’s the opposite. There’s something in the vanilla Myoplex that makes it a little creamier and better tasting than the Grow!. Myoplex has one other advantage overall: it comes in three flavors instead of just two. Strawberry Grow! would be a welcome addition to the T-Mag stable. Also, gotta second Scott’s comment here: bring on the Grow! bars!

MRP–champion nutrition’s heavyweight gainer 900 (chocolate flavor) is INCREDIBLE…it smells like hot chocolate!! i also like prolab’s nlarge. both mix incredibly well in milk and tastle great. im not a big fan of metrx because i think their drinks are way too $$$ and are way too thick. i also feel that chocolate is the only way to go in terms of taste (vanilla and any type of berry just taste weird) i have not tried grow yet, but plan to.

protein–i like the taste of designer and used it constatnly until i found out about their quality problems. now i use ISP’s protein powder…this tastes superb and mixes very well. it is one of the best products i have ever tried. just a side note, a friend of mine convinced to try one of those GNC brand soy proteins (you know, the ones in the blue packaging), HANDS DOWN the worst thing i have ever put into my mouth!!!

just a side note, ive found that for a great tasting post-workout shake, i use 1 scoop of champion’s hwg900 (the directions say 2, but 1 is good), then add 1 scoop of ISP protein (both powders are chocolate, obviously). mix it in milk and you have a great meal which has roughly 40 g protein and 60 g carbs. IMHO, this combination is one of the most effecient, cost-effective, and best-tasting drinks i have found.

EAS makes some good stuff, i tried some myoplex and myoplex mass, but both upset my stomach for some reason. also, i tried the gnc pro-performance stuff one time, i never had to shit so much in my entire life!!

taste

Choc Grow 4


Vanilla Myoplex 3.5


Vanilla Grow 3


Choc Myoplex 2.5


Met Rex Vanilla 1

I generally prefer vanilla products. And
strictly in terms of flavor, I think Grow has
the best vanilla flavor I’ve tried. In terms
of mouth feel, I like the texture of MetRx
or Myoplex better (but I don’t like all the
unhealthy crap - like hydrogenated oils - that
they add to acheive that). I prefer to eat
protein powders or MRPs like pudding, rather
than a shake (easier and faster too). I
typically don’t use MRPs, though - I typically
only use protein only products because carbs
are easy to get. If I want the extra carbs, I
can just eat/add them. As far as protein only
products go, I think the MetRx Protein Plus
(not MRP) is by far the best - both in flavor
and quality. The Dorian Yates approved protein
only product (not MRP) would be second,
followed by my own blends that I have made by
Protein Factory. As a side note on quality,
the only two “branded” protein products I have
ever used that don’t cause me gastro-stress
are MetRx Protein Plus and the Dorian Yates
approved protein only products (even Grow
doesn’t sit well like those two do). Both of
these use primarily a blend of milk protein
isolate and miscellar (sp?) casein. When I
order from Protein Factory I order a blend of
milk protein isolate, casein, and glutamine -
which I’ve found to work best for me. (For my
body, whey only protein products are just
aweful.) Those are my favorite products
because I digest them very well, and they
taste good. Although my opinion is
that the MetRx is a slightly higher quality
protein. My ultimate protein product would be
one that had the nutritional profile,
digestability and mouth feel of the MetRx
Protein Plus product, with the vanilla flavor
of Grow. Sorry if I went off topic a bit, but
that is my personal protein preferance
overview. (In case Tim and the other Biotest
guys are reading.)

I agree with most others–GROW is the best for flavor. The only major drawback is that purchasing a 3-lb tub for the same price as 5 lbs. of a competitor still doesn’t yield as much protein (three scoops for a serving?!). I’d like to see a higher protein content, and I’m still waiting for the low/no-carb version.

So what I do is buy Grow, and combine it with less expensive whey like Optimum Nutrition (21 grams per scoop). That way I get Grow’s flavor and casein, and more protein without all the cost.

Myoplex feels mealy and unpleasant, except for the chocolate-peanut butter flavor.

But the WORST I’ve found is HDT whey. It doesn’t taste all that good, and it’s the gassiet (i.e., poorest digestion) brand I’ve found.

I kinda like champion nutritions shakes, they mix easy and is easy on the wallet. they are thick and the chocolate tastes like a chocolate shake.

Being based in New Zealand, allot of the protein whey is provided for your guys markets by our country’s large dairy based industry. A local manufacturer here “Pro-active Nutrition” markets one of the best tasting protein powders I’ve come across to date yielding per 30gram serving: 116 kcal. 1.7g Carbs & 25.4g of Protein. It comes in multiple flavors (chocolate rocks!) and mixes very well i.e. don’t froth in either water (quick absorption) or milk by simply light hand shaking (the bottle). My general gripe with US based products is that they taste (sickening sweet) and usually have large serving sizes to boost the claimed protein content (50-85grams).

One protein that has not been mentioned is Beverly International’s Muscle Provider. The taste is excellent (alot sweeter than any of the other proteins), it mixes really well, and has a decent texture to it when you drink it. As for Designer Protein, chocolate is okay but their vanilla is very, very bland.

the best mrp i have ever tried is isopure peanut butter chocolate
as far as powder, i use 60/40 cas whey from proteinfactory. mixes and tastes good.

I don’t know if Met-RX has altered the formula from when I used to buy it dirt cheap a few years back, but that stuff made me want to lose my lunch! If I wasn’t able to get it for $22 per box back then, I wouln’t have spent the money on it. I was a cheap bastard and sacrificed the pleasure of taste for price. Big mistake. I always liked Myoplex when I used it, but it was nothing great. Haven’t touched the stuff in a few years, so I don’t know how it is these days. All I use now is Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey - Mixes easily with a spoon better than any other whey, tastes great in my opinion, and cheap as hell! Honestly, I think that the whole “I heard their quality sucks!” thing is a crock! Where is there substantiated testing proof of the lack of quality of their whey protein? When I see it, I’ll believe it, but I will continue to pay half of what some of you are paying for things like Designer for something that has given me consistent results over the years. It’s your buck, and if you want to spend it on overpriced whey, be my guest! Oh yeah, ProLab Whey is pretty decent, but I didn’t think it mixed as easily as it claimed to on the label. Taste was pretty strong for a protein powder, but I guess some people are into that. I prefer something I can swig down 50g of protein in 5 seconds and be on my way without having a bitter taste in my mouth.
In any case, that’s my opinion on the few things I know about.

John, for the most part, I’ve hated most MRPs and protein powders I’ve tried, so much so
that they got only one try. So I can’t remember
much about most of them except that they sucked. Usual problem for MRP powder would
be some kind of off taste, and sometimes
solubilizing ability would be annoying; and
for protein powders, the same or another
problem could be gritty texture.

I was a die-hard Met-Rx fan for about 7 years… I’ve gone through THOUSANDS of
them. Nothing else compared until Grow.
Grow beats Met-Rx on flavor by quite a lot
– actually I am wondering if Met-Rx did
not change their formula 'cause I can’t
believe that all along it was like what
it seems like now – but Met-Rx beats Grow
on mouth feel and texture.

For protein powder, far and away the best
is Met-Rx Protein Plus. Good taste and texture.

The best tasting Mrp is chocolate Mesotech then any isopure then Grow!.
The Best protein powder is Designer and the worst is vanilla NitroTech it’s enough to make you puke.

I use Sportpharma Just Whey. I believe Poliquin said at his fat loss seminar in NY that it is a good protein. I’ve used both Vanilla and Chocolate, they both taste great and are a mix of whey isolate and concentrate. 25g protein and only 2g carbs and no fat. Anyone have info on Sportpharma and this product. I can get the 5lb container for $40.