As IronBar Fitness’s first supplement review, I have chosen to go over the top supplement in my diet and in a lot of opinions’ on of the top protein supplements out there. Everyone knows if you are going to take a supplement you might as well start with protein. Which protein should you take? I recommend Optimum Nutrition’s 100% Whey Gold Standard.

Most proteins are based on a few factors. 99% of people looking for supplements look for taste. Generally if it taste good it is not good for you right? Wrong in this case, every flavor I have had of ON’s whey protein has been delicious. Well that is except for the cookies and cream, steer clear of that.  How well does it mix, does it leave clumps. I will state right now, all of my proteins are mixed with milk for added flavor and guess what more protein.  How about what they contain for protein and other ingredients. Sad to say some people will sacrifice a bit better protein profile for taste.

First off ON’s whey protein is concentrated, ultra-filtered and isolated using ion exchange and cross-flow filtration. This removes nearly all of the cholesterol and lactose making it great for people on low fat and low carb diets. This also makes it a great combination as whey protein can come in all forms from protein concentrate and isolate, cross flow micro-filtered isolate, and hydrolyzed whey peptide. Lucky for us ON’s whey has all of these. When searching for a protein you want to get one that has a higher number of protein isolate vs. concentrate as it size makes it easier to digest and it has a high biological value which means your body absorbs more of it.

It also has a great BCAA to EAA ratio, which means that you are going to get your amino acids with it.  Let’s run down the supplement nutritional chart real quick.

• 24 Grams of Protein (mostly isolate)
  
• 5.5 Grams of BCAA’s
  
• 4 Grams of glutamine and precursors 1
• 20 calories 10 from fat
  
• 1g Fat
  
• 30 mg Cholesterol
  
• 60 mg Sodium
  
• 3 g Total Carb
                1 g sugar

Overall not such a bad profile for the protein supplement.  You can also judge a supplement on its companies advertising budget. Optimum Nutrition’s is low, why because their supplements work and word of mouth works great for them.  I would give ON’s 100% Whey Gold standard a 4.5/5 and would highly recommend it to anyone.

Combine with ON’s BCAA 5000 for an even better shake.

Train Hard, Knowledge is power

Brandon Braner
www.ironbarfitness.com