Will Brink on the different wheys:
The pros and cons of isolates, and the micro filtered vs. ion exchange debate
Whey Protein Isolates (WPIs) generally contain as much as 90-96% protein. Research has found that only whey proteins in their natural undenatured state (i.e. native conformational state) have biological activity. Processing whey protein to remove the lactose, fats, etc. without losing its biological activity takes special care by the manufacturer. Maintaining the natural undenatured state of the protein is essential to its anti-cancer and immune-modulating activity. The protein must be processed under low temperature and/or low acid conditions as not to "denature" the protein. WPIs contain >90% protein content with minimal lactose and virtually no fat.
The advantage of a good WPI is that it contains more protein and less fat, lactose, and ash than concentrates on a gram-for-gram basis. However, it should be clear to the reader by now that whey is far more complicated than simple protein content, and protein content per se is far from the most important factor when deciding which whey to use. For example, ion exchange has the apparent highest protein levels of any isolate.
Does that make it the best choice for an isolate? No, but many companies still push it as the holy grail of whey. Ion exchange is made by taking a concentrate and running it through what is called an ion exchange column to get an "ion exchange whey isolate." Sounds pretty fancy, but there are serious drawbacks to this method. As mentioned above, whey protein is a complex protein made up of many sub fraction peptides that have their own unique effects on health and immunity. Some of these subfractions are only found in very small amounts. In truth, the subfractions are really what ultimately makes whey the unique protein it is.
Due to the nature of the ion exchange process, the most valuable and health-promoting components are selectively depleted. Though the protein content is increased, many of the most important subfractions are lost or greatly reduced. This makes ion exchange isolates a poor choice for a true third-generation whey protein supplement, though many companies still use it as their isolate source due to the higher protein content. Ion exchange isolates can be as high as 70% or greater of the subfraction Beta-lactoglobulin, (the least interesting and most allergenic subfraction found in whey) with a loss of the more biologically active and interesting subfractions. So, the pros of an ion exchange whey is for those who simply want the very highest protein contents per gram, but the cons are that the higher protein content comes at cost; a loss of many of the subfractions unique to whey. Not an acceptable trade in my view, considering the fact that the actual protein differences between a micro filtered type isolate is minimal from that of an ion exchange.
This segues us nicely into looking at the micro filtered whey isolates. With the array of more recent processing techniques used to make WPIs-or pull out various subfractions -such as Cross Flow Micro filtration (CFM®), ultra filtration (UF), micro filtration (MF), reverse osmosis (RO), dynamic membrane filtration (DMF), ion exchange chromatography, (IEC), electro-ultrafiltration (EU), radial flow chromatography (RFC) and nano filtration (NF), manufacturers can now make some very high grade and unique whey proteins.
Perhaps the most familiar micro filtered isolate to readers would be CFM®*. Although the term "cross flow micro filtered" is something of a generic term for several similar ways of processing whey, The CFM® processing method uses a low temperature micro filtration technique that allows for the production of very high protein contents (>90%), the retention of important subfractions, extremely low fat and lactose contents, with virtually no undenatured proteins. CFM® is a natural, non-chemical process which employs high tech ceramic filters, unlike ion exchange, which involves the use of chemical reagents such as hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide. CFM® whey isolate also contains high amounts of calcium and low amounts of sodium.
To sum this section up:
- The pros of ion exchange isolates are extremely low fat and lactose levels, with the highest protein levels (on a gram-for-gram basis). The con-which outweighs the pros in my view-is the loss of important subfractions in favor of higher amounts of Beta-Lac.
- The pros of well-made micro filtered isolates are a high protein content (90% or above), low lactose and fat levels, very low levels of undenatured proteins, and the retention of important subfractions in their natural ratios. There really are no cons per se, unless the person wants the additional compounds discussed in the next section.
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