As irrelevant as this topic may be to this blog itself, it is a public health issue as well as an issue that a lot of healt-conscious guys are interested in, so let’s give it.

I’ve been getting into my gym spree quite a bit. To get more out of my workout, and to fit more nutrition into my busy schedule, I purchased a gigantic bucket (literally, this package comes with a handle on the bucket) worth 6 pounds of protein shake powder, and 39 grams per serving of 2 scoops. Add the 9g of protein in 250ml of milk and we’re talking 48 grams of protein per glass.

And then of course I read this article about how people shouldn’t waste their money on these protein drinks and just eat real food, because the quality of the protein in real food is not any less, if not better, than the protein in whey protein shakes. It pitched tuna, milk, eggs, chicken, cottage cheese etc. as better and cheaper sources of protein. So, I started doing some detective work.

I picked a few items to compare based on – I ommitted chicken because I didn’t have any in the fridge which meant I had no data on how much it sells for. I picked milk, canned tuna, eggs, and the protein shake as basis for comparison. The key points I picked were these :

• Price – $ per gram of protein
• Fat ratio – Fat/Protein ration to see how much fat you’re getting while you take that protein in.

And here are the figures (lower the better!) :

1. Milk : A 4L pack of 2% partially skimmed milk costs $3.99 CAD, without GST (it’s a basic food item, just like eggs). According to the labels, it has 9g of protein per 250ml serving which works out to 144g of protein in the whole jug.

   $3.99 / 144g = $0.028/gFor every 9 grams of protein there is 5 grams of fat. 5/9 = 0.555 is the fat ratio.

2. Canned Tuna : A larger (150g) can of canned tuna costs, on average, $2.50 and taxes, while containing 29g of protein as well as 30g of fat (this is the type that’s submerged in oil, not water. The tuna in water is so gross, I can’t eat it without draining/mixing with mayo).

   $0.092/g
   1.034 Fat Ratio

3. Eggs : A pack of 12 eggs cost me $2.25 today, and no taxes. Each egg has 6 grams (72g per 12 eggs) of protein to 5 grams of fat.

   $0.035/g
   0.833 Fat Ratio

4. Protein Shake : A bucket with exactly 60 servings in it costs me $80 and GST. Each serving as 39g of protein and only 1 g of fat.

   $0.037/g
   0.026 Fat Ratio

So there it is folks.

Price wise, milk proved to be the best value per gram, BUT you can only drink so much milk at once. The amount of protein per glass is very low, and to achieve 180g of protein a day for me (which is the recommended intake based on 180lbs of body mass that I have) I’d have to drink a lot of milk – excessive enough to get me sick.

Tuna was very expensive compared to the other proteins – not an option for a constant source of protein intake. If I craked 2 tuna cans after working out (day and evening) I’d be spending a lot more money on protein, not to mention I’d be getting in a LOT of fat. Tuna was the only item that had more fat than protein!

Eggs were slightly cheaper (by 0.2 cents) than protein shakes, but the fat ration wasn’t exactly satisfactory. Well, it was almost as much fat as protein. While eggs are considered nutritious, a lot of nutritionists will recommend against too much eggs for its cholesterol content as well as fat content. If you had the Egg Beaters or other equivalent products that eliminate the yolk, that’d be a different story.

So overall, in the price department, protein was somewhat more expensive than milk in terms of protein costs (32% higher) but the concentration of protein as well as how low in fat it is made it the MOST ideal candidate for that extra protein boost.

As much as I am defending the protein shakes as a good supplement, it is only a supplement – I still eat healthy meals with real meat and milk etc., but we all know how busy we are and it’s hard to make sure I get enough protein all the time, and the protein shake is an excellent way to get that missing bit in without hiking up costs too much OR hiking up my fat intake.