DEEP DIVE IOWHEY INGREDIENT

Whey Protein, and the category of protein supplements in general, is one of the most popular dietary supplements available. High protein intake is an important part of any diet whether you’re looking to improve muscle recovery after strenuous exercise or support your body composition.

For many years now, whey protein has been the gold standard for protein sources. Whey protein is a complete protein, meaning it provides all nine essential amino acids that your body cannot produce itself. Whey protein also tastes amazing, making it much easier for us formulators to work with to provide our customers a great product experience. Finally, whey protein powder is incredibly cost-effective. Whey protein isolates are very high potency protein sources for relatively low financial commitment.

With these three benefits at hand, there hasn’t been much of a push to improve upon whey protein in many years. Why take the time to enhance something that’s already so great? Enter ioWhey, a unique patented technology that is set to shake up the “gold standard” and take your protein shakes to the next level. As a performance product formulator, here is the latest whey protein technology deep dive.

WHAT IS IOWHEY?

Contrary to what you might think, ioWhey is not a “new” ingredient. It’s still whey protein with all the same great benefits that make whey popular after all these years. What makes ioWhey unique is how the protein is treated before blending it with other ingredients like flavors and sweeteners. ioWhey is a technology that exposes protein to “cold plasma”, altering the physical properties of the ingredient, thus making it more effective in how it absorbs.

While plasma can be a scary word, it simply means the protein powder is run through an environment with a large electrical current running through it. This electricity creates a charged space that alters the nature of the chemical bonds that gives protein its structure. In doing so, we can significantly enhance the absorption of the amino acids that act as building blocks for protein.

HOW DOES IOWHEY WORK?

The structure of a protein is a complex thing. Here are the 4 steps for protein:

1. Amino acids are bonded together in peptides strands.
2. The strand of amino acids fold into shapes such as sheets or helices.
3. These sheets or helices fold into a three-dimensional patterns
4. Multiple three-dimensional strings bond into larger structures.

Understanding the structure of protein helps us understand how ioWhey works. When your stomach begins to breakdown food (or supplements) you consume, enzymes like pepsin and stomach acid help break the bonds. These work by breaking specific bonds within the larger protein structure to cleave off (basically cut) amino acids for use throughout the body. But sometimes there are limitations to cleaving off amino acids. This is where ioWhey comes into play! Exposing whey protein to the cold plasma interferes with the three-dimensional structure. This means you can digest the amino acids more efficiently and absorb them more quickly than untreated whey protein.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND IOWHEY?

To clear up how ioWhey functions, research was conducted for scientist to find out how the new technology might enhance protein. The first study was a very simple study measuring the physical properties of the protein to better understand how the cold plasma affects its function. In this study, scientist measured a portion of a given protein sample and ran another sample through the IO technology, then compared the two samples. The specific measure they looked at was hydrophobicity, or how water interacts with a molecule. This measurement determines how much a protein has “opened up” (or altered the complex protein structure). The protein exposed to the cold plasma showed significantly increased hydrophobicity, indicating that the interior of the protein structure is more open than untreated protein [1].

In a human clinical trial, a study was run to determine how these structural changes impact the absorption of amino acids when consuming ioWhey compared to standard whey protein. During a crossover trial, a group of healthy men consumed regular whey protein at one visit and whey protein treated with the cold plasma technology at another visit [2]. At various timepoints after consuming the whey proteins, blood levels of amino acids were measured to determine the absorption of protein changes. Participants who consumed ioWhey showed significantly greater levels of amino acids in their blood with both higher peaks and greater sustained levels compared to standard whey. While both the standard whey and the cold plasma treated whey increased the amino acid blood levels. However, when consuming ioWhey protein, the levels of essential amino acids and branched-chain amino acids were significantly higher [2]. In another human trial, a similar study was conducted but used additional types of protein, such as pea protein along with standard whey and ioWhey protein [3]. What was interesting in this study was the use of plasma treated pea protein. Again, amino acid levels rose in all groups after consumption, but the most significant increase was seen when ingesting ioWhey protein. Interestingly, treating the pea protein made the amino acid levels rise to similar level of standard whey protein. Leading researcher to believe there is an important component of treating these protein strands to “unlock” the amino acids. The ioWhey protein still provided a superior rise in amino acid levels compared to the various protein formats [3]. In conclusion, the use of ioWhey protein allows you to get more from the protein compared to untreated proteins [2, 3]. Why is this important? Higher levels of amino acids in the bloodstream are beneficial for muscle health. In fact, muscle protein synthesis is quite dependent on the post-prandial rise (after you eat) and circulating amino acid levels [4].

Read more: How Protein May Help You Get To Your Goals

WHAT PRODUCTS CONTAIN IOWHEY?

ioWhey Protein Isolate is brand new to GNC. This tech-enhanced whey protein is currently being used in the Beyond Raw Dynamic Whey and Dynamic Gainer.

†These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

References:

1. Lightfoot, H. (2018). The effect of atmospheric plasma on the hydrophobicity of powdered whey protein isolate.
2. Sharp, M., Stefan, M., Lowery, R., & Wilson, J. (2019). Postprandial Plasma Amino Acid Responses Between Standard Whey Protein Isolate and Whey Protein Isolate Plus Novel Technology. Ingredient Optimized.
3. Sharp, M. H., Stefan, M. W., Gheith, R. H., Reber, D. D., Ottinger, C. R., Wilson, J. M., & Lowery, R. P. (2020, January). Proteins and Amino Acids Treated with Atmospheric Plasma Show Significantly Increased Bioavailability in Humans. Nutrition and Metabolic Insights, 13, 117863882094923.
4. Fujita S, Dreyer HC, Drummond MJ, et al. Nutrient signalling in the regulation of human muscle protein synthesis. J Physiol (Lond). 2007;582:813-823.