Supplement Guide · Whey

Whey Protein: How to Choose a UK Whey Powder

Whey protein is the workhorse of any supplement shelf: a fast-digesting, complete protein that makes hitting your daily target easy. Most lifters do not need anything more exotic than a good whey concentrate, but the gap between a great-value tub and an overpriced one is wider than the marketing suggests.

Aim for roughly 0.8–1g of protein per pound of bodyweight across the day from all sources. A whey shake is just a convenient way to top that up, typically delivering 20–25g of protein per scoop. What matters is the protein per serving and per pound of powder, not the flavour range.

Whey concentrate is around 70–80% protein by weight and is the best value for most people. Whey isolate is more filtered (90%+ protein, lower carbs and fat, lower lactose), which suits those watching calories or sensitive to lactose, but it costs more per gram of protein. Hydrolysed whey is pre-digested for marginally faster absorption and rarely justifies its price.

The biggest red flag is amino-spiking (also called nitrogen-spiking), where cheap free-form amino acids like glycine or taurine are added to inflate the protein number on the label without delivering complete protein. We award an automatic zero on our purity metric to any product that does this, because it misrepresents what you are paying for.

Informed Sport certification matters if you are a tested athlete, as it screens batches for banned substances. For everyone else, focus on a clean ingredient list, a fully-disclosed protein content, and the lowest cost per 25g of protein. Our scores weight purity and true value above all.