How to Find the Best Protein Powder for Weight Gain for Diabetics

📌 Overview and Key Takeaways

This is a Dietitian’s guide on how to find the best protein powder for weight gain for diabetics​.

Discover how to safely supplement your protein intake with diabetes.

Last Updated
Feb 3, 2026

Author and Medical Reviewer

Written by Jack, CNC

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

Protein Powder for Weight Gain for Diabetics

Is Protein Powder Good for Diabetics?

You should try to get as much protein as you can from foods like eggs, fish, and meat, but if you need the extra protein, incorporating protein powder into your diet is a great idea.

It can be mixed with just milk or water, or added to smoothies, oatmeal, and other recipes.

Can Protein Powder Help With Weight Gain?

At the end of the day, gaining weight comes down to eating more calories than you burn.

It takes an extra 3,500 calories to gain a pound, and to gain weight at a safe rate (0.5 pound per week), you need to eat an extra 250 calories per day.

Moreover, if you are looking not only to gain weight, but also to build muscle, then you have to eat lots of protein.

Muscle growth can occur only if muscle protein synthesis exceeds muscle protein breakdown, which is a balance regulated, in part, by dietary protein intake.

Adding a protein powder to your diet is an easy way to increase both your calorie and protein intake, thereby helping you gain weight and build muscle.

That said, not all protein powders are created equal.

What Is the Best Protein Powder Diabetes Weight Gain?

Many protein powders contain ingredients that are not suitable for diabetics.

Among these ingredients are added sugars, food additives, and protein concentrates and isolates.

Avoid Added Sugars

Diabetics should avoid protein powders with lots of Added Sugars, as they can trigger blood glucose spikes.

Naturally occurring sugars like those found in fruits and vegetables, on the other hand, are safe to eat.

🚫 Avoid Food Additives

Diabetics should also avoid food additives.

Regularly eating emulsifiers, thickeners, other ultra-processed additives can alter the composition and function of your gut microbiome (North Clin Istanb, 2019).

These shifts, known as gut dysbiosis, have been linked to the development of Type 2 diabetes, as well as reduced efficacy of diabetic medications (World J Methodol, 2022).

Dysbiosis is so problematic because it disrupts your gut barrier integrity, leading to increased bacterial translocation, elevated systemic inflammation, impaired insulin sensitivity, and altered glucose-lipid metabolism.

⚠️ 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

It is worth noting that artificial sweeteners are among the most problematic food additives for diabetics.

Not only have several studies shown that artificial sweeteners may increase cravings toward sugary and sweet foods (Yale J Biol Med, 2010), but researchers have also found a link between the consumption of artificial sweeteners and a higher risk of glucose intolerance, which is a precursor for pre-diabetes and diabetes.

As a rule of thumb, if you cannot find it in nature or make it at home, it is probably a food additive.

🚫 Avoid Protein Concentrates and Isolates

You might also want to avoid ultra-processed protein concentrates and isolates.

Most protein supplements are made from one or both of these ultra-processed 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 could affect your gut health.

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

Moreover, while extremely high-protein foods like these are low on the glycemic index, they can measure high on the insulin index.

As a result, they can cause hyperinsulinemia (abnormally high levels of insulin) because eating large amounts of protein without fats, carbs, fiber, etc. has an insulinotropic effect (it promotes insulin secretion).

This matters in the context of weight management because hyperinsulinemia perpetuates insulin resistance, which can cause muscle wasting and lead to weight loss.

Sources

1. Northern Clinics of Istanbul (North Clin Istanb). Food additives and microbiota. 2019.
2. World Journal of Methodology (World J Methodol). Gut microbiota interactions with anti-diabetic medications and pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus. 2022.
3. The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine (Yale J Biol Med). Gain weight by “going diet?” Artificial sweeteners and the neurobiology of sugar cravings: Neuroscience 2010. 2010.
4. Nutrients (Nutrients). Effect of a Protein Supplement on the Gut Microbiota of Endurance Athletes: A Randomized, Controlled, Double-Blind Pilot Study. 2018.
5. Molecular Nutrition & Food Research (Mol Nutr Food Res). In Vitro Fermentation of Animal and Plant Protein Isolates by the Human Gut Microbiota Under High and Low Carbohydrate Conditions. 2024.

Editorial Guidelines

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