Is Premier Protein Good for You?

📌 Overview and Key Takeaways

Is Premier Protein good for you?

Discover whether or not you should add this popular protein shake or powder to your diet.

Last Updated
Jul 21, 2026

Author and Medical Reviewer

Written by Jack, CNC

Jack is a National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Nutrition Coach.

Disclaimer: This article is for general informational purposes only and is not a substitute for personalized medical advice. Consult a licensed healthcare professional before making changes to your diet.

Premier Protein Analysis

Are Premier Protein Shakes and Powders Healthy?

Premier Protein makes some of the most popular protein shakes and powders on the market.

Their shakes and powders are cheap, widely available, and come in a variety of flavors.

But are they healthy?

Although Premier Protein makes it easy and affordable to meet your protein intake, it uses a long list of problematic ingredients.

In particular, it uses ingredients known to cause painful digestive issues and long-term gut health problems.

Before we take a deep dive into the ingredients, however, we should look at the nutrition profile.

Premier Protein Nutrition Facts

Premier Protein is a protein shake or powder, meaning it is designed to help you add protein to your diet.

Like most protein shakes and powders, it is high in protein and low in everything else, including fats, carbs, fiber, and sugars.

A Premier Protein Vanilla Protein Shake contains 160 calories, 30 grams of protein, and only 1 gram of sugar.

From a nutritional standpoint, it looks like an excellent source of protein.

But just because it has a high protein to calorie ratio does not mean that Premier Protein is good for you.

Premier Protein Ingredients

The ingredients list is by far the most important indication of whether or not a protein shake or powder is healthy.

Research shows that if you are eating a balanced diet, the type of protein shake or powder (egg white, pea, whey, etc.) that you use does not matter in the long-term (J Nutr, 2023).

Some people will tell you that you should only consume protein shakes and powders made from complete proteins – those that contain all the essential amino acids.

But the truth is that 99% of people easily meet 100% of their essential amino acid needs without protein shakes or powders (J Nutr, 2023).

There are exceptions – older adults, for example, should prioritize high quality, complete protein sources like eggs and fish – but most people just need to focus on meeting their total protein needs.

The point here is that what makes one protein shake or powder better than another has little to do with the type of protein.

Instead, what you should be evaluating is the ingredients themselves, and whether or not they are artificial or ultra-processed.

Here are the ingredients in a Premier Protein Vanilla Protein Shake:

Milk Protein Concentrate

The main ingredient (other than water) and main source of protein in a Premier Protein Vanilla Protein Shake is milk protein concentrate.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), there is no official, legal definition for a milk protein concentrate.

That said, it is generally understood to be any product made by removing the non-protein components of milk (fats, sugars, etc.), thereby concentrating the protein components to higher levels.

Whether or not this constitutes ultra-processing is up for debate.

But it is possible that it affects how the protein is broken down and absorbed.

Moreover, despite all the processing, milk protein concentrate still contains lactose, a sugar which 36% of American adults cannot fully digest (NIDDK, 2018).

For this reason, it is notorious for causing digestive issues.

You should also consider the possibility that you may be sensitive to casein, even if you are not lactose intolerant.

Casein forms a gel-like substance in your stomach that slows down digestion (Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr, 2023), which can lead to side effects like bloating and constipation.

Calcium Caseinate

Calcium Caseinate is a protein derived from casein, the main protein in milk.

It is chemically modified using acid and calcium hydroxide, which technically makes it an ultra-processed food (UPF).

This is concerning because the consumption of UPFs, generally speaking, has been linked to negative effects on human health (BMJ, 2024).

Food Additives

Aside from added vitamins and minerals, the rest of the ingredients in this Vanilla Protein Shake are food additives.

High Oleic Sunflower Oil, Natural and Artificial flavors, Inulin, Cellulose Gel and Cellulose Gum, Carrageenan, Tripotassium Phosphate, Dipotassium Phosphate, Sodium Hexametaphosphate

Although not necessarily bad for you in small quantities, ultra-processed ingredients like these are notorious for causing stomach upset.

Regularly eating certain additives can also alter the composition of your gut microbiome – the collection of microorganisms living in your digestive tract (North Clin Istanb, 2019).

These shifts, known as gut dysbiosis, have been linked to a number of chronic digestive issues (JGH Open, 2021).

Gut dysbiosis is so problematic because it causes a cascade of problems, including intestinal permeability and systemic inflammation.

Artificial Sweeteners

Among the added ingredients are artificial sweeteners, including sucralose and acesulfame potassium.

This will probably not come as a surprise, but artificial sweeteners are not good for your gut.

Specifically, they can disrupt gut microbiome (Adv Nutr, 2019).

Are Premier Protein Shakes Good for You?

While Premier Protein shakes and powders may seem like a tempting option for your daily nutrition, these protein shakes and powders are not as good for you as they claim to be.

In fact, I would argue that they are not good for you based on the ingredients alone.

They do contain lots of protein and no added sugar, but they are also artificial and ultra-processed.

For what it is worth, protein powders tend to contain fewer additives than ready-to-drink protein shakes, so if you are going to patronize Premier Protein, use their protein powder.

But even that is not something I would ever recommend as a Certified Nutrition Coach.

There are many, healthier ways to meet your protein intake.

Sources

1. Journal of Nutrition (J Nutr). Vegan and Omnivorous High Protein Diets Support Comparable Daily Myofibrillar Protein Synthesis Rates and Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy in Young Adults. 2023.
2. The Journal of Nutrition (J Nutr). Amino Acid Intake and Conformance With the Dietary Reference Intakes in the United States: Analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2001-2018.. 2023.
3. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Definition & Facts for Lactose Intolerance. 2018.
4. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition (Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr). Milk proteins: Processing, gastric coagulation, amino acid availability and muscle protein synthesis. 2023.
5. BMJ (Clinical research ed.) (BMJ). Ultra-processed food exposure and adverse health outcomes: umbrella review of epidemiological meta-analyses. 2024.
6. Northern Clinics of Istanbul (North Clin Istanb). Food additives and microbiota. 2019.
7. JGH Open (JGH Open). Gut microbiota dysbiosis in functional gastrointestinal disorders: Underpinning the symptoms and pathophysiology. 2021.
8. Advances in Nutrition (Adv Nutr). Effects of Sweeteners on the Gut Microbiota: A Review of Experimental Studies and Clinical Trials. 2019.

Editorial Guidelines

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This article was written by a Certified Nutrition Coach and reviewed by a Registered Dietitian. We rely on peer-reviewed research and trusted medical sources, and regularly update our content to ensure accuracy and clarity.