How to Choose the Best Protein Powder for Inflammation

📌 Overview and Key Takeaways

This is a dietitian’s guide on how to choose the best protein powder for inflammation​.

Discover how to supplement your protein intake without causing inflammation.

Protein Powder for Inflammation

Can Protein Powder Cause Inflammation?

If you struggle with or are concerned about chronic inflammation, you might be wondering if protein powder would be a healthy addition to your diet.

Just like anything else you put in your body, protein powder can contribute to inflammation, depending on the ingredients.

Your gut is home to the largest population of immune cells in your body, which are constantly challenged to respond to pathogens and maintain intestinal immune homeostasis.

And some common protein powder ingredients can disrupt these regulatory mechanisms, causing a persistent immune system response.

Protein powder is particularly problematic because it is something you consume regularly, if not every day.

Knowing exactly what is in your protein powder is therefore essential if you want to avoid inflammation.

It is worth adding that although protein powder is not considered anti-inflammatory, some protein powders contain ingredients that might help reduce inflammation.

Some of the most common anti-inflammatory protein powder ingredients include:

• chia
• cocoa
• coconut
• collagen
• hemp

What you mix protein powder with can also reduce the inflammatory response.

Mixing it with anti-inflammatory foods like fruits and greens, for example, can make a difference.

What Is the Best Protein Powder for Inflammation?

As long as you are eating a balanced diet – getting protein from a variety of sources – there is no advantage to using one type of protein powder over another.

Ingredients do matter, however, especially when it comes to inflammation.

Ultra-processed food additives and protein concentrates and isolates, for example, might contribute to inflammation via your gut.

🚫 Avoid Food Additives

Regularly eating emulsifiers, thickeners, artificial sweeteners, and other additives can alter the composition of your gut microbiome (North Clin Istan, 2019).

Over time, this can lead to gut dysbiosis, which damages your intestinal lining (Biomed Pharmacother, 2023).

Your intestinal lining is responsible for allowing nutrient absorption while preventing the entry of pathogens and antigens into your bloodstream.

Damage to this organ can thus allow harmful substances to enter your blood, triggering an immune response and chronic inflammation.

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

• acacia fiber
• acacia gum
• acesulfame potassium
• artificial flavors
• ascorbic acid
• aspartame
• calcium carbonate
• carrageenan
• cellulose gum
• dextrin
• dicalcium phosphate
• dipotassium phosphate
• erythritol
• gellan gum
• guar gum
• gum arabic
• inulin
• locust bean gum
• maltitol
• maltodextrin
• mono- and diglycerides
• ‘natural’ flavors
• rice bran extract
• rice dextrin
• rice hulls
• rosemary extract
• silica
• silicon dioxide
• sodium alginate
• soluble corn fiber
• sorbitol
• soy lecithin
• sucralose
• sunflower lecithin
• tocopherols
• tricalcium phosphate
• xanthan gum
• xylitol
• zinc oxide

As a rule of thumb, if you could not find an ingredient in nature or make it at home, it is a food additive.

🚫 Avoid Protein Concentrates and Isolates

You also want to consider avoiding protein concentrates and isolates.

Most protein supplements are made from one or both of these protein sources, which have been mechanically and/or chemically stripped of everything but the protein.

This includes the enzymes, fiber, and other natural digestive aids that help your gut break them down.

You therefore do not digest them in the same way that you do whole foods, which can affect your gut health.

In fact, studies show that regularly eating protein concentrates and isolates can disrupt your gut microbiome (Nutrients, 2018) and cause the formation of toxic byproducts in your gut (Mol Nutr Food Res, 2024).

As you just learned, this can create a pro-inflammatory environment.

So instead of ultra-processed protein concentrates or isolates, look for whole food protein sources like egg whites and almonds.

They are easier to digest and absorb.

Order Samples to see for yourself.

Sources

1. Northern Clinics of Istanbul (North Clin Istan). Food additives and microbiota. 2019.
2. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy (Biomed Pharmacother). Immunological mechanisms of inflammatory diseases caused by gut microbiota dysbiosis: A review. 2023.
3. Nutrients (Nutrients). Effect of a protein supplement on the gut microbiota of endurance athletes. 2018.
4. Molecular Nutrition & Food Research (Mol Nutr Food Res). In vitro fermentation of animal and plant protein isolates by the human gut microbiota under low and high carbohydrate conditions. 2024.

Editorial Guidelines

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Our articles are written and medically reviewed by a Registered Dietitian. We rely on peer-reviewed research and trusted medical sources, and we regularly update our content to ensure accuracy and clarity.