Why WPI?

In this episode, we talk about the history of Amino Charged WPI, it's International Protein's bestseller and there’s a very good reason why. Find out what makes this product superior and how it improves your recovery.

• What makes Amino Charged WPI your bestseller?
• The perfect post-workout for recovery
• What’s in Amino Charged WPI?
• 3.6g of Leucine, the right amount 
• Peptides cause more muscle growth 
• Grass-fed protein from New Zealand

Muscle Talk - Bodybuilding podcast by International Protein

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Transcript

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Ash Horton:
Welcome to Muscle Talk, where you'll get well champion advice about nutrition and stacking on muscle. Our host Christine Envall, she's at three time world champion bodybuilder, an IFBB professional, a food scientist, and a founding co-owner of our podcast sponsor International Protein

Ash Horton:
In this episode, we talk about the history of Amino Charged WPI. It's International Protein's bestseller, and there's very good reason why. Find out what makes this product superior and how it improves your recovery.

Ash Horton:
Christine, today I would like to speak about Amino Charged WPI, it's one of your bestseller... In fact, it is your best seller.

Christine Envall:
Absolutely.

Ash Horton:
The chocolate flavor is your best seller-

Christine Envall:
The chocolate flavor is only just a touch ahead of the vanilla. It is really, really close

Ash Horton:
I'd get chocolate all day everyday. But, look, the taste is what International Protein has concentrated on for a lot of their products. And it does taste great, but surely it's not the reason why it's one of the biggest WPI's out there. One of the amazing sellers, especially in the communities like the bodybuilding circle.

Christine Envall:
It's funny that you say we concentrate on the taste. That's actually the secondary. We actually concentrate on the nutritional side of it and what's in the product-

Ash Horton:
I do know that.

Christine Envall:
... and a reason for being. But we obviously insist that they must taste good. Because, again, being from a competitive background in bodybuilding, I would spend up to 10 months a year on a diet, restricted and not able to eat a lot of treats and things like that. So, obviously protein making up a large... So protein powder, making up a large proportion of the protein that I ate, I wanted it to be something that would taste good and taste good for everybody. So, there's nothing worse than being on a restricted diet, having to eat protein and having to really force that stuff down because it's really unpalatable.

Christine Envall:
So, nutrition was always number one for us, and it's just because of my background as a food scientist in product development. So I'm not a biochemist who just throws a whole bunch of things together and doesn't consider the taste. I always was very mindful of flavors working well together and what actually tasted good. So, that obviously is the by-product. The main reason, obviously with WPI is what's in it. But, I'm just going to take a little step back because we want to talk about the history of Amino Charged WPI.

Christine Envall:
So, it wasn't our first product launched. It didn't launch... I could actually be wrong here, but I think it was 2009. And it was kind of like I think maybe with children after your first child, you stop counting. So, Synergy was our first product, and it's Synergy and Carbs. And we actually had another product called Trieffects or Tri-Whey, because it had three different types of whey in it. So it had the whey peptides, it had WPI and it had whey concentrate. And the reason I had that was because you had to get that immediate influx of proteins coming from the whey peptides. You then had your WPI, which made up the bulk of it. And then we had a little bit of PC because the time-release on that is a little bit longer than WPI. And there's a two hour window of opportunity post workout, where your body's more receptive to taking up proteins, carbs. So I wanted to have something that was feeding into your body over that entire period of time.

Christine Envall:
Now, serious bodybuilders got it, and most people didn't get it. They were just like, "No, we just want WPI". So, I was kind of stuck with a product which was technically better, but people just didn't understand it. So, that's why we ended up ultimately launching Amino Charged WPI. Because people were looking for that specific profile. They didn't want the extra fat and lactose that came in with that little bit of PC. And also, they wanted something, again, that was just very quickly digested. And it was also very well known. Australia, other companies had done a massive job of marketing WPIs. So when I went to launch it or develop it, I wanted to create something that was different. So not just, okay, let's put some WPI in a tub, flavor it up. That's very, very easy to do. But I wanted to make it something which was even more specific or more useful post-workout, which was when most people should be taking a WPI.

Christine Envall:
And for some people who only take protein post-workout, then, that's the protein to take. But, if you look at the nutritional profile, the Amino acid profile of the WPI, it's very strong in its branch chains. About a quarter of the amino acids come from your branch chains, which is your isoleucine, leucine and valine. But it's a little bit weak in your glutamine and your arginine, which are two very, very important amino acids for recovery-

Ash Horton:
So does that mean you need your amino drink on top of it?

Christine Envall:
Yeah. In the strictest sense, if you've got access or you want to be performing at the absolute ultimate, you may know the Complete Aminos. What's different about that is that, majority of those aminos are either in free-form or hydrolyzed peptide form. Which means they're digested instantaneously basically. WPI, you still have a 10, 15 minute period until your body starts to break that down and use it, which to take that during a workout is kind of uncomfortable. Most people probably wouldn't choose to do that. It's also kind of milky, and nobody really wants that when they're working out. Whereas the Complete Aminos is a more of a... I call it a water base, because the aminos was coming from Casein, coming from milk. They aren't Milky. It's more like a cordial with all of the aminos. So what that does is it basically provide your body with an amount of amino acids, which helps to protect it while you're working out.

Christine Envall:
But there's not really enough to do significant muscle growth. So, it's a recovery product. It's a help you get from one workout to the next workout, but it's not going to have a lot to do with actually synthesizing your muscle. So, you do really need to take both. You'll feel the difference if you take both. But if you had to just do one or the other, then most people would probably take the protein, because it's giving them the calories and it's giving them the major amount of protein. So, a 10 gram serving, which is your Complete Aminos, versus a 40 gram serving obviously, is going to be different in how much protein you get. Amino charged WPI has about 35 grams of protein, which for a person who weighs anywhere above 150 pounds, and eating five meals a day, and they're breaking their protein up evenly throughout that period, then 35 grams isn't an unrealistic amount that you would need to have.

Christine Envall:
So, you're getting everything that you need in that one [inaudible 00:06:24], basically in the Amino Charged WPI. But, just coming back to what I put into it, the glutamine and the arginine were very, very important, because that was where I felt like on the amino acid profile, it kind of was weak compared to something like casein, except when it's hydrolyzed, like in Complete Aminos, is traditionally a slow digesting protein. So, just to not confuse people there, casein in its native form is very, very slow to digest, but it has an amazing amino acid profile for recovery. Because it has more glutamine and arginine than a WPI, that obviously goes into the Complete Aminos, but that's at a much lower level. Because it's more of a quick recovery protection, feed the muscle while you're training, not an actual food source, high source of calories. High source like a major amount of protein.

Christine Envall:
So, we decided we would fortify or charge up with extra aminos, hence the name Amino Charged WPI, to bring that profile up so that it was more suited to recovery, and made the product... To me, it made it a much stronger amino acid profile. So it was perfect for recovery. And as I said, that's when most people say, "I only take protein once a day," that's when they should be taking it, is post-workout. And that's what Amino Charged WPI is designed for.

Christine Envall:
So, that's part of it. The other part, as I said, it's very, very high in branch chains. And one of the most critical branch chains for recovery is leucine. And in each serving of Amino Charged WPI, we have 3.6 grams of leucine. Now that's really important, because you need a minimum of three grams to actually kick off those muscle synthesis process. So if you get two grams of leucine, the process for growing muscle is much slower. It's almost like, it's not like it goes on a gradient, it's like there's nothing, and then you hit that three gram mark, and then it starts to, almost like triggers a response within the body and then creates that process and makes it go.

Christine Envall:
So, a lot of the proteins on the market nowadays, I see them dropping the serving size down to 30 grams, and not getting that three grams of leucine in that serving. So, that's why we've stuck with 40 grams, giving you that right amount of leucine so that post-workout, you get that sense of muscle sensitive process going, which is absolutely critical. As I said, we did put a little bit of the peptides in, and again, that's because they do get in so quickly. So if you haven't had your immuno recovery or Complete Aminos... As I should call it, now, if you haven't had those or you don't use those, then we've got you covered basically, with the peptides. Peptides also stimulate the liver to produce growth factors, which then cause more muscle growth. So, I feel that, that's very important to have that in there, as well as just having the WPIs. So we put a little bit of that in there as well.

Christine Envall:
Just looking at the macros. I mean, each serving has got a 0.3 gram of fat, which is next to nothing. That has 1.4 gram of carbs, which is coming from the naturally occurring lactose and the flavors, obviously the flavoring goes on a carbohydrate base, but to put that in context, that's six calories. That's-

Ash Horton:
That is very low lactose.

Christine Envall:
... Low lactose. Well, the lactose is 0.3 grams per serve. And we find that most-

Ash Horton:
That's so easy to digest, I guess. Doesn't it?

Christine Envall:
Well, it just isn't in there to give you a problem. So most people who have lactose intolerance who try the Amino Charged WPI, tell us that they have no issue with it. So, it's very, very rare that people still have an issue. Because there's just not anything in there to cause the body to have to break it down. That 0.3 gram just goes through without too much of an issue. So it is, as I said, it's really there for the protein, it doesn't have much else in it. So when you're on a low calorie diet, obviously, you're not getting excessive calories for the protein that you're taking in, as opposed to something like Superior Whey, which has a higher natural fat and lactose content.

Christine Envall:
So, a serving of each, there's more calories obviously in the Superior Whey and a little bit less protein. So if you're just after that protein, as I said, particularly people who are on low calorie, or who just want to put protein into their diet to help them recover. And they don't really want to start to gain a whole bunch of extra weight, or if you are trying to grow muscles and you'll be putting other calories, you'll probably be putting extreme carbs with it in your recovery shake.

Ash Horton:
You mentioned leucine before. Do I remember correctly that you got lysine in it as well?

Christine Envall:
Lysine is another amino acid, which is naturally... As a dairy protein, it does contain all of the amino acids, period. As in, there's essentials, non-essentials and there's branch chains, and lysine is another amino acid. So, it does have everything. There's not anything that it doesn't have, if that makes sense. Which is naturally occurring in the products. So, we're only adding the glutamine and arginine. That's not saying they aren't in there, naturally. They're just at a, I guess, a proportionately lower level than what might be in a different protein, like a casein.

Christine Envall:
So, yeah. Every protein has its own unique amino acid profile, I guess you should say so, certain things are strong in certain ones. Glutamine and arginine also very good for muscle sparing, well, what we call, gluconeogenic amino acids. So, if you're at a point in time where you need energy, you need obviously glycogen for energy, glucose for energy, and you're dieting and your body isn't getting that from the food, then it will take those amino acids and turn them into energy. So, almost like the sacrificial lamb. So if you don't have enough of those in your protein, and your body takes those, and then it actually creates a situation where that protein is now potentially, hasn't got enough of those amino acids to create new protein. I'm getting a little bit sciencey here on you.

Ash Horton:
And I'm trying to keep up.

Christine Envall:
You are, you're actually doing good job, Ash. Normally you'd be just kind of like, whatever.

Ash Horton:
Glazing over. Yeah.

Christine Envall:
But that's, I guess, the nutritional side of it. Just in terms of the history, again. As I said, we launched it really due to demand. People were kind of saying, "You don't have anything in this space". And, as much as I was kind of saying, "Oh, there's so many things around". I decided to make something which was a little bit different, but it so quickly became our top seller. It really, really was something that obviously did strike a chord with people. I remember being at different competitions, sampling it out. And just... The feedback that we were getting, because it was light, it wasn't heavy. As I said, post-workout, you want something that's maybe a little sweet, because your insulin's high and you're normally kind of craving something like that.

Christine Envall:
So we made it so that had it wasn't too sweet, but it was definitely not tasteless. But it was a fairly light drink. So people could get it down easy and not feel like they were going to upset their stomach, or it's all kind of hanging around in your mouth after you've had it, which is sometimes what happens if you've had a particularly heavy workout, you get a little bit dry.

Christine Envall:
Going to the shows and getting that feedback, that people just absolutely loved it. They loved the profile. As you said, the chocolate is ever so slightly, number one seller over the vanilla. Banana used to be third, but caramel popcorn... Which is one of the newer flavors, has kind of swooped in and taken third place. And that is actually a very strong flavor. It's, a little bit out of character of the rest of the range. It's it is very, very strong. It's very delicious.

Ash Horton:
But my experience... I've tried all three, I prefer the chocolate. But again, exactly what you said, it's a light protein, it tastes good, and it's easy to take.

Christine Envall:
Yeah, it would depend on the product, but a lot of WPIs, because it is a thin protein, people tend to put stabilizers in there to help give them a little bit more body. Because some people like a thick drink and it's like your caseins and your custards. And, some people like a thin drink. As I said, this is designed to post-workout. Where most of the time, you don't want something that's too thick and claggy. So, we've left all of that out. But also because when your post-workout, you want that protein in quickly. That's the whole point. Get it in there, get that recovery process started. If you start putting stabilizers, vegetable gums into that protein, essentially that binds in your stomach and it actually slows down the digestion of the protein. So you're not getting it as... You might be taking a WPI, but you're not getting it at the same speed-

Ash Horton:
And you got a better quality protein to start with. Right?

Christine Envall:
Correct, yeah.

Ash Horton:
And where does their protein come from?

Christine Envall:
You want you to make me say it, because you're... Is that the country where you come from Ash?

Ash Horton:
Possibly.

Christine Envall:
Possibly. It's New Zealand cows and it's grass fed-

Ash Horton:
The happiest cows in the world.

Christine Envall:
They are the happiest cows in the world.

Ash Horton:
Yeah. No sheep jokes here, but-

Christine Envall:
I was about to make one, the cows are happy because they get left alone, because of all the sheep.

Ash Horton:
Not all the time, there's been the odd article in the newspaper. But anyway...

Christine Envall:
We digress. Those poor cows. But, no. Coming to the flavor and the quality and that type of thing, if you start with a good base, it's very, very easy to make something taste good. We've always gone with the grass fed, before people were kind of trending on it being grass fed. It was actually more because it was cross flow, micro filtered, which is a particular process that's used to make whey protein isolate, and it leaves more of the co-factors and the good stuff. And it doesn't kind of strip out everything other than just purely the proteins. So there's a lot of other factors in protein. When we talk about WPI, there's actually like five different subsections of subtypes of that, and different processes strip out different ones. So you only have one particular type.

Christine Envall:
And they all do different things in the body, but I'm not going to go into that because, I guess in a way there's still a lot of research being done around it. I know a company was looking at all the different stands and the different... And there was one better for satiety, was one better for muscle growth. But unfortunately, I ended up stop making the protein at all. So, I don't really know where the research ended up, but that was actually an Australian company, when they were making WPI, but now they don't. No Australian company is making WPI in Australia.

Christine Envall:
Recently, a couple have started doing that. I believe some may even be claiming to be grass fed, but we've looked at them and they are horrible. There's three quarters froth, no liquid, just not something that you would want to drink. And it's a real shame. Because I would think it would be great to see Australia produce a good quality grass fed WPIs. So hopefully, they'll keep working on that. But as at this stage, no, they don't have one. Hence why it's Australian made product, but not made using Australian material, unfortunately.

Ash Horton:
Well, I mean, it is what it is. You guys source the best ingredients from wherever that place might be around the world, and that's the right thing to do.

Christine Envall:
Yeah. But grass fed... As I said back when we started using it, 10 or more years ago, or even in the other products, we've always had that in there. People weren't kind of conscious of that, they weren't talking about that. And that's something that we've definitely seen change in the last kind of three to five years, where grass fed is becoming more important, obviously. You think about we are concerned about our nutrition, but it makes much more sense that if the nutrition of the source material... Which is your cow, is stronger, then obviously it's going to have better quality milk. So therefore, the protein that's produced from that is better quality with higher levels of vitamin D and beta carotene, which are super important for your immune system. So, that's part of that.

Christine Envall:
They also found that some of the cows in America that were fed off of different, I guess, grains and straws, the amino acid profile was actually affected. We talk about the amino acid profile, but again, that was on that one batch of milk, over a period of time when they weren't fed a good variety or a good quality of the grain, then it was starting to change the amino acid profile, or so I was told. So I've heard.

Ash Horton:
I remember being in China and I wanted to buy chocolate milk, because the cow looked so happy on the chocolate milk packaging. But I just knew it was lies. I knew it was [inaudible 00:17:56] no, I'm not going to drink that. No way.

Christine Envall:
Only a marketer would look at the picture on the thing and-

Ash Horton:
He had this big smile on his face, but no, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. But, yeah, that's interesting. I actually lived on a farm at one point and seeing how the cows actually live in the grass growth, like literally in a week you'd get a foot of growth. And actually, at certain times of the year, I'd have to jump on a ride [inaudible 00:18:23] two or three times a week, just to keep it-

Christine Envall:
Help the cows out.

Ash Horton:
... just to keep it under control. So, if you're in the right parts of New Zealand, they really do get good feed.

Christine Envall:
Yeah. And that's the main... We worry about a nutrition, where our food comes from, and their nutrition, it is equally important. Starting raw materials, start what they go in, what, what comes out. And then as I said, that follows all the way through where it tastes better, it has a nice creamy, rich flavor. And then that's much, much easier to make the product taste really good. As far as the digestability, there's no scientific proof that, grass should digest better than other. That's why I put that down to the stabilizers, but it is something that we hear time and time again with our product. That it just settles so much better in people's stomachs.

Christine Envall:
And what other proteins do or other WPIs do, and I... As I said, I'm always at a bit of a loss to that, because other than that stabilizer factor, theoretically, there should be no difference. But, there often is. But that is something... The mixability of the product, the digestibility is always very, very good. And that's, again, what makes it a much, much easier product to use. As I said, it was designed for post-workout. I'm sure people are using it at multiple times a day. Especially where they're trying to get as much protein as they possibly can for a lower calorie count, when you're prepping for a competition, those type of situations.

Christine Envall:
So obviously, on all of our packaging, we have to put that it's not suitable for kids under 16 years of age, but that is an Australian law. That as soon as you add an amino acid to a product, you have to put that warning on. Even though there is no scientific evidence that there is anything wrong with eating this level of free-form amino acids added to product. But that's just the Australian government. Because we do get asked that question a lot. Like, "Why isn't it suitable for kids under 16? Why is that warning on there?" And it's actually the addition of the glutamine and the arginine, which non-animal source, they're actually vegan sourced amino acids, absolutely part of normal food, but in Australia, that flags us to have to say that you can't give it to kids under that age bracket.

Christine Envall:
So, I believe that it is... Unfortunately, with most things, regulators don't come from sport background. They don't even understand necessarily sport or nutrition, and yet they put down regulations because it's kind of like a fear factor and just in case. But as I keep saying to people, these products and products like these have been on the market for over... Not our particular product, but obviously products with amino acids to carotenes and different things, have been on the market for over 20 years, 30 years. There is so much evidence now of use, but for the regulations to catch up and go, "Oh, hey, yeah, they are actually safe," because people are using them without issue and actually getting benefit from them, it's a little bit too much for them to comprehend.

Christine Envall:
But, as I said, if we have other products in the range, which carry the warning, I guess, because they are sports products, but they just basically are food products. So that we have alternatives if people are very worried about that or people who are pregnant or lactating, who concerned about something which has added amino acids... Even though, like I say, they're things that you find naturally in food anyway.

Ash Horton:
So, do you think that this particular product, Amino Charged WPI is sort of like a really good starting point for a lot of people. I know it's post-workout, but people that are just getting into protein, do you think it's an easy choice for them?

Christine Envall:
It would depend. I actually would say the Superior Whey is actually kind of more of a, I guess, I call it a beginner's protein. Because you don't necessarily start at the peak of where you're going. So, it's very recognizable. So I dare say that they probably are so many people that are starting on this product. And, as I said, it's recognizable, people must trust it because we sell so much of this product.

Christine Envall:
But for me personally, if I was a younger person just getting into it, or I wasn't super serious, but I knew I needed to get a little bit of extra protein, and I didn't have a lactose intolerance problem, I probably would start on Superior Whey, or I would start on Synergy. Because that is still my favorite product. As far as the blend. We'll talk about Synergy on another time. But, as I said, you're not going to go wrong. You're used to taking Amino Charged WPI, you absolutely are not going to go wrong. As I said, post-workout, fantastic. If you're looking at it for something like an in-between meal snack, it's not designed for that-

Ash Horton:
The wrong product.

Christine Envall:
Yeah. And I'd rather people take the right product. So just because it's our most popular, I think, again, because a lot of people only use protein post-workout. So if you put all of those people together, that's potentially who's buying it. And then if you decide you need another one, people tend to just use the products that they already have.

Ash Horton:
And the good thing is a lot of the right kind of people are using this product. So you've got a lot of... It's a popular product, but it's popular in the right areas, the right circles, as I said earlier.

Christine Envall:
Correct. Yeah.

Ash Horton:
So, maybe it's the top-down theory where a lot of people are buying it.

Christine Envall:
If he's using it, I want to use it. And that's right. It's the emulation. I think probably all of our sponsored athletes would take it, a hundred percent. But obviously they would take other proteins as well, because they have access to that. So they will take, Synergy at night time, and maybe between meals, they might be taking some that plant power product as well, as people are switching onto using a little bit more plant-based, as well as just dairy. So, that's the history. As said, not our first product. Definitely dominates our sales, all of the WPIs do. And I said, that's obviously the popularity of people who are just wanting that protein.

Christine Envall:
On the export side of things, the Superior Whey actually sells a lot more. But that's just a fun fact.

Ash Horton:
Okay. So for any of our listeners that are using an Amino Charged WPI, do us a favor, jump onto wherever you buy it from, and give it a review. Because, it is obviously really great for other consumers to read your comments about how you're finding the product. And if you're using it regularly, that would be a little bit of currency for us, that we'd really appreciate.

Christine Envall:
That's right. What do you love about it? Because it's easy, for us to be biased-

Ash Horton:
But, thank you very much, Christine.

Christine Envall:
No worries, Ash.

Ash Horton:
It was an interesting listen. Thank you.

Ash Horton:
Words of wisdom. If you like, what you've heard, recognize that these tips are free. So show your support by becoming a loyal International Protein customer by jumping online, hunt their product down and hit that buy now bar. So once again, like, share and subscribe to our podcasts, so we can continue to bring you these episodes from our one and only Aussie muscle guru, three times world champion, Christine Envall.