What whey protein concentrate is
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics suggests eating about one to four hours before activity, rather than immediately before, because the meal is still being digested. It also suggests eating again within about an hour after. Have the whey in the gap before you are active, or within about an hour after. If you are active in the morning, the earlier one is with breakfast.
A label may show protein for 100 g of powder, or for the scoop, or both. The scoop is what you mix, so use the protein printed for one scoop when the label shows it. If the label only shows protein per 100 g, use that for the amount you stir in. Do not treat the 100 g number as if it were one scoop.
A concentrate label often sits near 70 to 80% protein by weight. Isolate, filtered further, often sits near 90%. Those percentages describe the powder, not your whole day. A serving of 24 g still leaves the rest of a 54 g day to other meals.
Stir 15 g from a pouch whose full serving is 30 g, and count half the protein printed for that full serving. The percentage on the front has already been turned into the grams on the label. Do not apply it again. Add that protein to the other food you eat that day.
Protein in one serving
If the label shows 80 g of protein per 100 g and you use a 30 g serving, that serving is 24 g of protein in the glass.
For a 65 kg adult, ICMR-NIN's Dietary Guidelines for Indians, 2024, come to about 54 g of protein in the day, at 0.83 g per kilogram.1 At the same weight the UK reference is about 49 g, from 0.75 g per kilogram. A 24 g serving still leaves the rest of the 54 g to other meals.
Horlicks Protein Unflavoured is one pouch that uses the concentrate name. It lists whey protein concentrate along with fermented yeast protein. The sachet weighs 36 g and lists 24 g of protein, and you stir it into 200 ml of cold water or milk. The sachet already says 24 g, so use 24 g. Chocolate and Coffee do not list whey concentrate. They list fermented yeast protein, and you still read the protein grams printed on that sachet.
The benefit is the protein the body uses
People take whey protein concentrate for the protein in the powder. Harvard's Nutrition Source places that protein in muscle, bone, skin and hair, and in almost every other tissue. The page also says protein forms the enzymes behind many chemical reactions, and the haemoglobin that carries oxygen in the blood, and that nine amino acids have to come from food.3 A concentrate serving is the grams printed on the pouch, counted toward the protein for the day.
How concentrate differs from isolate
Isolate starts from the same liquid, but the filtering goes further, and an isolate label often prints about 90% protein by weight. Hydrolysate starts from concentrate or from isolate, and enzymes cut the protein into smaller pieces. When you compare pouches, look at the name, the percentage, and the grams in one serving. A Horlicks Protein milkshake is not whey concentrate. One bottle is 240 ml and contains 20 g of ultra-filtered milk protein.
| Name on the pack | What was done to the liquid | Protein share often printed |
|---|---|---|
| Concentrate (WPC) | Filtered and dried, with more of the original liquid still in the powder | Often 70 to 80% |
| Isolate (WPI) | Filtered further | Often about 90% |
| Hydrolysate (WPH) | Enzymes cut the protein of the powder it was made from | Follows that powder |
The last column is the percentage of protein those labels often show.
A concentrate label often sits around 70 to 80% protein by weight. Take a 36 g scoop at 70%. Multiply 70 by 36, then divide by 100, and you get about 25 g of protein. The same scoop at 80% is nearer 29 g. If the pouch already lists 24 g in 36 g, use 24 g. An isolate label is often nearer 90% protein, and 36 g at that share is about 32 g. The percentage changes from pouch to pouch. For a 65 kg adult, 24 g from one serving leaves about 30 g of the day's 54 g. If the serving were 32 g of protein, about 22 g would still be left.
To conclude, whey protein concentrate (WPC) is liquid whey filtered and dried, and more of the original liquid is still in the powder. You will often see about 70 to 80% protein by weight on that label. People take it for that protein. Isolate is what you get when that liquid is filtered again, and the protein share there is often about 90%. Hydrolysate starts from concentrate or isolate, after enzymes have cut the protein into smaller pieces.
Sources
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ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition. Dietary Guidelines for Indians, 2024.
View ICMR-National Institute of Nutrition. -
British Nutrition Foundation. Nutrition requirements, Reference Nutrient Intake for protein, from the 1991 UK Dietary Reference Values.
View British Nutrition Foundation. -
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The Nutrition Source, Protein.
View Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.