Muscles are made up of around 20 percent protein. There are many products that advertise with slogans such as “high protein”, including yoghurts, fitness bars or special muesli mixtures. However, one should be skeptical about these products, because they often do not really have more protein than comparable products such as a simple low-fat quark. In addition, such protein products often contain a lot of sugar – and so the supposedly healthy snack quickly becomes an unhealthy calorie bomb.
In principle, it is anyway the case that you do not need any additional protein intake under normal loads. The German Society for Nutrition, for example, recommends 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight for adults (view the complete list at dge.de) – and most people can easily achieve this through their normal breakfast, lunch and dinner. Quite often the opposite is the case: you eat far too much protein – and this is known to be deposited as fat.
But what about athletes?
If you train a lot and intensively, you need more protein accordingly. Depending on the type of training, the requirement can therefore increase from 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight to 1.5 or more grams. In principle, this need can also be met with natural foods. Legumes, potatoes, quark and eggs, for example, are very good sources of protein. Dietary supplements such as whey protein, which is very popular among athletes, can also help here.
For many, whey protein certainly has the advantage that it can be consumed quickly and, in concentrated form, one glass covers the protein requirement that one would otherwise only have had with a lot of food. Nevertheless, you should keep in mind that whey protein is not a substitute for a wholesome food, but only a dietary supplement.
To find out which whey protein is the best, we had nutrition coach Kevin Heinrich review the offering. You can see the top products in the following table.
If you would like to find out more about the selection process and the individual products, you should also visit our extensive purchasing advice on the subject.