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How much time whey protein takes to digest?
Different types of proteins digest at different speeds. Whey typically digests withing 1-2 hours of consumption. Let us take a closer look-
1. Fast Digesting Proteins: These proteins are digested within 1-2 hours of consumption, meaning broken down into individual amino acids. Whey Protein Concentrate (WPC), Whey Protein Isolate (WPI) and Whey Protein Hydrolysate (WPH), all 3 types of whey proteins are considered as fast digesting proteins.
Note: Whey protein hydrolysate is a broken down or partially digested form of whey protein so it somewhat even quicker digesting, however the difference in the speed of digestion is not considerably or statistically significant.
2. Slow Digesting Proteins: These proteins take longer time to digest. Casein (the other milk protein) taken upto 7-8 hours for complete digestion and is considered as a slow digesting protein.
3. Other sources of proteins such Egg protein and plant proteins all fall somewhere in between whey and casein.
Know that faster absorption/digestion is not the only reason why people choose whey proteins for recovery. Whey and Casein (both dairy proteins) have been popular amongst athletic community due to following reasons-
1. Whey is a Complete Proteins
Casein Protein and Whey Protein (dairy proteins) naturally contain all the Essential Amino Acids (EAAs) in sufficient quantities to help support muscle recovery. EAAs cannot be made in the body, therefore must be taken though diet. Which is why any protein that contains all EAAs in sufficient quantity is considered as a Complete Protein.
2. Whey is a High-Quality Protein
Protein quality is measured depending on the availability of essential amino acids in each protein source. PDCAAS (Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score) is one way to measure protein quality. Based on both the amino acid requirements of humans and their ability to digest it. Foods are ranked on a scale of 0-1 where 1 means high quality
