Tasting Britain’s resident meathead, Jack, gets his hands on some protein from Multipower – not quite so well known around here but big in Germany (like big German people).
It consists of 4 types of protein and you could drink it for dessert.
Verdict? do you even lift
Overall
What is it?
A blend of 4 proteins that tastes quite convincingly like cookies and cream. Designed to be taken postworkout.
How much does it cost?
RRP of £29 for 750g (25 servings)
Note: at the time of writing there appears to be a promotion, as it’s available for £15 from various places. I’m not sure if this is an overall change in Multipower’s pricing, or a short term thing. Time will tell!
Where is it available?
multipower.com and various online retailers
Suitable for vegetarians?
Yes
Suitable for vegans?
No
Taste
It really is quite delicious. It has a slightly chalky consistency from the casein – and tiny little bits that accurately replicate the ‘cookies’ aspect of cookies and cream. Isn’t it amazing that we live in an age where something that tastes so much like dessert can make us big and strong?
Digestability
Your milage will probably vary on this one, but I found it particularly hard to digest. if you are sensitive to lactose and/or whey you may find this to be the case too.
Why? They whey in this comes from a whey protein concentrate, not an isolate, blend, hydrolysate (etc). Without getting too deeply into the different kinds of whey protein available, whey protein concentrate is the least processed form of whey you can get.
This means that it’s also the cheapest, and the one that contains the most ‘non-protein’ elements: (namely fat and lactose). Because of this, it’s also the one that’s most likely to cause you digestive issues, and, pound for pound, is the one that contains the least amount of protein.
Another thing to remember is that the hormones given to dairy cows are lipophilic (literally “fat loving”), which means that they are present in the highest quality in whey concentrate (as oppose to isolate, hydrolysate, etc). I don’t know where these guys source their whey but since they say nothing about free-range/non GMO (etc) I’m not hopeful!
If you’re new to whey it’s good to remember that, if you have lactose intolerance, this may cause you trouble. And even if you don’t, too much whey can still…whey on you (lol).
Mixability
It doesn’t mix very well with liquid – tending instead to form delicious, annoying lumps.
Value
It’s about £29 for 25 servings, £1.16 a serving.
At the time of writing it was not available in any larger tub size (because as you probably know, serving sizes generally go down as tub sizes go up)
As a comparison, a very similar product from a well known competitor is £63 for 83 servings
(about 0.76p a serving)
Ingredients
There’s a LOT of ingredients in this one. There are also some things in here that you might not want in your protein powder blend (though in relatively small portions, per serving).
Calcium Caseinate (55 %), Whey Protein Concentrate (20 %), Milk Protein Isolate (10 %), Protein enriched Whey Powder, Dark Cocoa Biscuit (Wheat Flour, Sugar, Palm Oil, Rapeseed Oil, low fat Cocoa Powder, Glucose Syrup, Skimmed Milk Powder, Barley Syrup, Malt Extract, Baking Agent Sodium Carbonate, Salt, Flavour, Baking Agent Tartaric Acid), dried Hen Egg Albumen (2 %), Flavour, Magnesium Carbonate, Palm Oil, Sweeteners Acesulfame K, Sucralose; Vitamin C, Niacin, Pantothenic Acid, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2. Contains lactose. May contain traces of soya.
Nutrition Information
Per 30g
Cal: 255 kcal
Fat: 2.6 g
of which saturates: 1.2 g
Carbohydrate: 8.6 g
of which sugars 5.3 g
Protein: 34 g
Salt: 36 g
Use
Postworkout
Mix 30 g (3 level measuring spoons) with 300 ml of semi-skimmed milk (1,5 % fat).
“Take 1-2 servings daily, ideally 1 shake after training.”
The relatively high amount of sugar in this one (8.6g carbs) should help drive the protein into your muscles – but for this reason, it might not be suitable to take on days in which you haven’t trained.
Pros
DELICIOUS: nuff said
Good protein blend: Milk, Whey, Egg & Casein should ensure a good combination of fast and slow release proteins.
Added vitamins and minerals: They’ve added extra things such as calcium and B Vitamins. I’m not quite sure why they’ve added these to a post workout shake, but it’s certainly not a bad thing.
Cons
Digestibility: Consider the lower quality of the whey being used here). if you’re sensitive to whey, you may find this hard to digest.
Value: It’s not cheap. OK, it’s hardly the worst offender in this regard but it could be a lot better.
Asides from the vitamins and minerals, no added ‘extras’: Doesn’t contain any added creatine, glutamine, BCAAs etc. Not necessarily a bad thing, but worth bearing in mind if you have found these things to be useful, or plan to use them in your training.