What is the best anti-inflammatory protein powder?

drink wholesome is the best anti-inflammatory protein powder.

Written by Jack Schrupp & endorsed by Baylee Reller, RDN

What is inflammation? 

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Inflammation is the response of the immune system to pathogens and tissue injury. There are two types of inflammation: acute and chronic. Acute inflammation occurs when you get sick or injured. If you stub your toe, for example, your immune system will dispatch an army of white blood cells to protect the injured tissue, causing visible redness and swelling. This is a normal, healthy inflammatory response, and without it injuries would be more serious, or even fatal. 

Chronic inflammation, on the other hand, is not normal nor healthy. It occurs when the immune response lingers, and can cause white blood cells to attack healthy tissues and organs. Chronic inflammation is known to play a significant role in the pathophysiology of numerous chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and cancer. 

Making changes to your diet is one of the best ways to reduce chronic inflammation and the risk of chronic disease. Some people adopt the anti-inflammatory diet, which favors fruits, vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats, and lean protein. It also discourages or limits the consumption of processed foods, red meats, and alcohol. Some people also choose to eat a diet high in foods with anti-inflammatory properties (food shown to modify the inflammation response in the body). 

Do protein shakes cause inflammation?

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Like any area of the body, the gut can experience chronic inflammation. In other words, the same persistent activation of the immune system that can occur in your joints (causing inflammatory arthritis) can also take place in your gastrointestinal tract. The gut happens to contain the largest population of immune cells in the body, which are constantly challenged to respond to pathogens and maintain intestinal immune homeostasis.

Certain foods can disrupt these regulatory mechanisms, and the average protein supplement is one of them. Although protein itself is unlikely to cause inflammation, most protein shakes and powders contain added ingredients that are.

What is the best anti-inflammatory protein powder?

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Most protein powders contain additives (emulsifiers, thickeners, sweeteners, flavors, etc.) shown to cause inflammation. As you just learned, ingredients like these can induce dysbiosis, an imbalance of microorganisms in the gut, and increase the onset and progression of chronic inflammatory disorders. For this reason, anyone dealing with chronic inflammation should look for an additive-free protein powder. Keep reading to learn more.

Why drink wholesome? 

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drink wholesome is additive-free.

One of the reasons why we make the best anti-inflammatory protein powder is that we do not use food additives. Even in small amounts, food additives can disrupt regulatory pathways in your intestines, triggering the development of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and systemic inflammatory disorders. 

As you just learned, food additives can also disrupt the balance of your gut microbiome. An imbalanced gut microbiome is a significant contributor to inflammation throughout the body.

Here is a list of the most common food additives in protein powder:

acacia gum, acesulfame potassium, artificial flavors, aspartame, carrageenan, cellulose gum, dextrin, dextrose, erythritol, gellan gum, guar gum, gum arabic, inulin, locust bean gum, “natural” flavors, maltodextrin, rice syrup solids, soy lecithin, silica, sucralose, sunflower lecithin, xanthan gum, xylitol

our ingredients: 

egg whites, coconut, maple sugar, vanilla

the alternative:

Protein Matrix Comprised of (Whey Protein Concentrate,  Whey Protein Isolate, Calcium Caseinate, Micellar Casein, Milk Protein Isolate, Egg Albumen, Glutamine Peptides), Polydextrose, Sunflower Creamer (Sunflower Oil, Corn Syrup Solids,  Sodium Caseinate, Mono- and Diglycerides, Dipotassium Phosphate, Tricalcium Phosphate, Soy Lecithin, Tocopherols), Natural and Artificial Flavor, MCT Powder (Medium Chain Triglycerides, Nonfat Dry Milk, Disodium Phosphate, Silicon Dioxide), Lecithin, Cellulose Gum, Salt, Yellow 5, Sucralose, Acesulfame Potassium, Papain, Bromelain

drink wholesome is made with real foods.

Another reason why we make the best anti-inflammatory protein powder is that we do not use protein concentrates or isolates. Most protein powders, on the other hand, are made with one or both of these protein sources, which are stripped of everything but the protein. The result – protein that looks nothing like real food.

Your digestive system is designed to break down minimally or unprocessed real foods, not artificial protein concentrates or isolates. This is why emerging research suggests that eating refined ingredients like these can significantly disrupt the composition of the gut microbiota. As you just learned, a dysbiotic gut microbiome is the last thing you want if you are trying to reduce inflammation.

Rather than using protein concentrates and isolates, we make anti-inflammatory protein powder with egg whites and almonds. Minimally-processed ingredients like these offer an easily digestible and gut-friendly alternative to protein concentrates and isolates. Moreover, both egg whites and almonds have been shown to reduce inflammation.

Egg whites contain a variety of  anti-inflammatory bioactive compounds, and almonds reduce C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, a marker of inflammation associated with increased heart disease risk. Unless you have a sensitivity or allergy to eggs or almonds, our protein powders may help reduce inflammation. 

★★★★★

simple

“I’ve been dealing with IBD for almost 2 years now, and this is the only protein powder I’ve found that doesn’t contain ingredients known to cause inflammation and tastes good.” – Amanda

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