tl;dr: I like pea protein isolate, also look at this table I made
The Table:
Ok, so I'm not vegan but I get some sort of allergic reaction with whey-based protein powders, so I've been trying various vegan protein powders which generally tend to be some blend of pea, rice, and hemp.
Taste aside, I wanted to know which powder is the best bang-for-my-buck. I care about getting some amount of BCAAs since my fitness goal is to build muscle, so I've also tried to calculate BCAAs per serving for each of these options.
I made up a quick way of eye-balling "value" by comparing the protein ratio per serving to cost per 20g protein. (Probably not the most statistically correct/rigorous method but I think it works?)
Here's the table.
(As a heads up, Myprotein seems to frequently have coupons online so the value is a little better than what you see on the spreadsheet.)
Why Pea:
Recently, I'm trying pure pea isolates given that pea seems to have the highest PDCAAS among vegan options, and a decent amount of BCAAs (~20% based on Naked Pea, and Men's Health). According to that link, whey clocks in at about 30% BCAAS so the difference isn't anything to lose sleep over. Pea is apparently richer in arginine...which I'm not sure is significant, but there is definitely literature out there touting its value for muscle growth. There's also this study on pea isolate and bicep size increases, but the authors of the study work for a pea protein powder manufacturing company so I'd interpret it with a huge grain of salt.
Opinions on what I've tried:
The Table:
Ok, so I'm not vegan but I get some sort of allergic reaction with whey-based protein powders, so I've been trying various vegan protein powders which generally tend to be some blend of pea, rice, and hemp.
Taste aside, I wanted to know which powder is the best bang-for-my-buck. I care about getting some amount of BCAAs since my fitness goal is to build muscle, so I've also tried to calculate BCAAs per serving for each of these options.
I made up a quick way of eye-balling "value" by comparing the protein ratio per serving to cost per 20g protein. (Probably not the most statistically correct/rigorous method but I think it works?)
Here's the table.
(As a heads up, Myprotein seems to frequently have coupons online so the value is a little better than what you see on the spreadsheet.)
Why Pea:
Recently, I'm trying pure pea isolates given that pea seems to have the highest PDCAAS among vegan options, and a decent amount of BCAAs (~20% based on Naked Pea, and Men's Health). According to that link, whey clocks in at about 30% BCAAS so the difference isn't anything to lose sleep over. Pea is apparently richer in arginine...which I'm not sure is significant, but there is definitely literature out there touting its value for muscle growth. There's also this study on pea isolate and bicep size increases, but the authors of the study work for a pea protein powder manufacturing company so I'd interpret it with a huge grain of salt.
Opinions on what I've tried:
- SunWarrior Warrior Blend: Great taste, but that can vary; taste is inconsistent from batch to batch; I ended up gaining 10 lbs working out and supplementing with this daily. This was my old favorite but I thought it got a little pricey
- Garden of Life Sport: Really good with oat milk. Creamier taste/texture compared to SunWarrior.
- Orgain: I hated the taste---too bitter---and sold it to a friend.
- Naked Pea: My new favorite given the great high protein content per serving, and affordability. Taste: My friend said it smells like horse feet and spit it out. My other friend didn't say anything and spit it out. I happen to not have a great sense of smell and can down these shakes all day with no problem. They're so "light" in comparison to other protein powders, which are thicker/creamier. Even with milk. I think it tastes great with oat milk, and with water it's still great with several drops of vanilla stevia. My friends would still disagree.
- Myprotein pea isolate - Vanilla: Made my throat itch (which is what whey does), so I'm allergic to something in it. Probably would be ok with Zyrtec (which doesn't cut it for me with whey protein). It also tasted too sweet and heavy.
- Vega Sport
- Myprotein Pea Isolate Vanilla/Unflav.
- Orgain Organic Protein
- GoL Raw Organic
- GoL Sport
- Sunwarrior Warrior Blend
- NowSports Pea
- Naked Pea
- MRM Veggie Elite