How Sports Nutrition Forgot 80% of Milk’s Protein

In June 2026, the Related Press reported that whey protein isolate was about 150% dearer than a yr earlier,[1] as meals and beverage manufacturers piled into high-protein launches and fought over the identical provide. PricePlow’s personal information verified this, digging even deeper.[2]

There is not any scarcity of milk, although. FrieslandCampina’s 2026 half-year report describes a market the place world milk provide was excessive whereas demand for commodity dairy lagged. The pinch is in whey, which makes up solely about 20% of milk’s protein, and within the processing capability wanted to show it into focus and isolate.

The opposite 80% is casein.

Is It Time for a Casein Comeback? It Is.

For those who skilled within the 2000s or early 2010s, you bear in mind it: whey after the exercise, casein earlier than mattress, and a bath of every within the cupboard. Then casein pale from complement advertising and marketing, although a lot of its finest analysis was printed after the hype died down.

So what occurred? We went by means of the research, the market historical past, and our personal archives to seek out out. For this text, we have partnered with FrieslandCampina Components, a significant caseinate producer, to indicate the place casein matches in 2026. Its Excellion® caseinate line covers all the things from heat-stable ready-to-drink (RTD) shakes to soft-textured protein bars.

Here is the quick model:

Casein’s decline got here from advertising and marketing. But the analysis saved supporting it, particularly for lengthy gaps between meals.
Most pre-sleep protein analysis used casein, and people research maintain holding up.
Caseinates resolve formulation issues: warmth stability in RTDs, softer bars over shelf life, and a provide chain that does not rely on cheese whey.
How a caseinate is made modifications how briskly it digests.

Need to know when our FrieslandCampina podcast and future casein protection go dwell? Join information alerts under, then let’s get into the complete story:

What Occurred to Casein?

The Sluggish-Protein Period

Casein’s sports activities diet id traces again to a 1997 research by Yves Boirie and colleagues. They fed volunteers milk proteins tagged with a steady isotope, which allow them to comply with the amino acids from the drink into the physique.[3]

Whey produced a quick, tall spike in blood amino acids that pale shortly. Micellar casein produced a decrease plateau that lasted for hours, in all probability as a result of it takes longer to move by means of the abdomen. Casein additionally minimize whole-body protein breakdown by 34%, which whey did not, and left a extra optimistic leucine steadiness over seven hours.[3]

Whey spikes close to the 100 minute mark then falls off, whereas casein holds a flat plateau out previous seven hours.

Word that loads of the analysis above and under was on micellar casein. This can turn out to be some extent in a while, as we talk about different types of caseinate.

A follow-up from the identical group matched the amino acid content material of quick and gradual meals and adjusted solely how shortly the protein arrived. The gradual meals led to extra protein retention, exhibiting that digestion velocity itself issues.[4]

That gave entrepreneurs a simple story: whey is the quick protein for after coaching, and casein is the gradual one which retains you “anabolic” in a single day. Most main manufacturers offered a nighttime casein, and we lined loads of them all through the 2010s. Solely, this decade, issues went a bit quiet. Why?

Then Got here Leucine

In 2009, a research by Jason Tang and colleagues in contrast whey hydrolysate, soy, and micellar casein at matched important amino acid doses. Whey produced the most important rise in blood leucine, and muscle protein synthesis after whey was about 93% larger than after micellar casein at relaxation and about 122% larger after resistance train.[5]

A 2011 research in older males pointed the identical approach, with 20g of whey producing practically double the muscle protein synthesis price of 20g of casein.[6]

A research by Daniel West and colleagues then gave males 25g of whey both unexpectedly or as ten small drinks spaced 20 minutes aside, mimicking a gradual protein. Whole amino acid publicity was equivalent, however the single dose produced extra muscle protein synthesis each early and later in restoration.[7] The takeaway that unfold by means of the trade was easy: “sooner and spikier is healthier.”

Leucine made that case stronger. Leucine is the amino acid finest recognized for switching on muscle protein synthesis by means of the mTOR pathway, and casein has much less of it than whey. Within the labeled proteins utilized in one 2011 research, whey contained 11.8g of leucine per 100g of protein versus 8.8g for calcium caseinate.[8]

Caseinate tops each comparators in methionine, phenylalanine, histidine, and valine, whereas whey retains its lead in leucine and lysine.

Then got here a 10-week coaching research in leisure bodybuilders, the place hydrolyzed whey isolate produced 5.0kg of lean mass achieve versus 0.8kg for casein, together with larger energy good points.[9] It was a small research (13 folks), but it surely match the story completely.

The Market Moved On

That analysis confirmed whey was sooner and better in leucine, which no person disputes. Nevertheless it did not present casein was ineffective. Sadly, advertising and marketing follows the best story, and two product tendencies did the remaining:

RTD shakes moved towards milk protein concentrates and isolates. These maintain milk’s pure ratio of roughly 80% casein, so casein by no means left many of those shakes. It simply stopped getting high billing.
Clear protein took off, and casein cannot be clear (a minimum of not simply). Casein precipitates in acidic circumstances (that is one of many methods it is separated from whey), so acidic, see-through drinks belong to whey isolate and collagen.

We see the identical drop-off in our personal archives. PricePlow’s casein protection runs heavy from 2014 by means of 2022, principally nighttime proteins and taste launches. Since 2023, casein has principally appeared as a supporting ingredient in mass gainers and multi-source blends, and we have by no means printed a deep dive on casein itself. This text fills that hole.

Casein nonetheless has a loyal base, although. One top-selling protein model’s buy information, shared with us privately, confirmed that about 80% of its collagen patrons additionally purchased its whey, whereas solely about 30% of its casein patrons did. Casein clients have a tendency to stay with casein. Those that love this texture appear to have a tricky time going again to skinny whey drinks.

So whereas casein misplaced a advertising and marketing struggle it by no means provoked, researchers saved finding out it, and most of what they’ve discovered since then is nice information for casein.

Casein 101: Micelles and Caseinates

Casein makes up about 80% of the protein in cow’s milk, whereas whey makes up the opposite 20%. In milk, casein exists as micelles, that are clusters of protein held collectively partly by calcium phosphate. Whey proteins are compact, globular proteins that keep dissolved, which makes them straightforward to filter into an isolate. However whey clumps and gels when heated, which limits how a lot of it could go right into a shelf-stable, heat-treated drink.

In line with FrieslandCampina, casein’s looser, non-globular construction provides it significantly better warmth stability.

There are three important methods to separate casein from whey:[10]

Renneting, the cheese-making course of, which retains casein micelles intact and leaves whey behind
Filtration, which additionally retains micelles intact and produces micellar casein isolate
Acidification, which lowers the pH till casein precipitates out of skim milk. Neutralizing that acid casein with sodium, potassium, or calcium hydroxide produces sodium, potassium, or calcium caseinate.

That final route is necessary to us within the 2026 panorama. Most whey comes out of cheese manufacturing after which wants additional plant capability to turn out to be focus or isolate. Caseinates come from skim milk. FrieslandCampina’s Excellion EM 9 calcium caseinate, for instance, is made out of contemporary skimmed milk, so its provide would not run by means of the cheese vat.

The GLP-1 Market Has Flipped Whey Upside Down

But with whey costs at file highs, and fewer cheese (and pizza!) being consumed because of the GLP-1 growth, caseinate is changing into the cheaper protein to formulate with currently! Whey is experiencing a double-ended squeeze on each provide and demand, the previous of which impacts casein a lot much less.

Why Casein Digests Slowly

As many people realized through the 2000s, casein gels within the abdomen. Micellar casein coagulates in response to each abdomen acid and the digestive enzyme pepsin, forming a curd that empties slowly and releases amino acids over hours.[10] Curiously, warmth processing modifications that curd. In rat and lab gastric-model experiments, UHT-treated milk shaped fragmented, crumbly curds that broke down sooner than the extra cohesive curds from pasteurized milk.[11]

The distinction reveals up in human tracer information. A pooled evaluation of 18 trials and 602 folks discovered that over 5 hours, 45% of the amino acids from casein had reached the bloodstream, in contrast with 57% for whey and 65% for milk protein.[12] Casein merely takes longer to complete!

Micellar casein tracks complete milk protein for eight hours whereas the soluble isolate burns off roughly twice as a lot nitrogen.

Nevertheless, processing can velocity casein up. Pre-digesting casein into peptides (hydrolysis) raised the speed its amino acids appeared within the blood by 27% in older males.[13]

The Science By no means Left

Head to Head With Whey

As talked about above, the leucine-era research pitted whey in opposition to micellar casein. However calcium caseinate produced totally different outcomes.

In 2011, Danish researchers gave younger males whey or calcium caseinate (0.3g per kilogram of lean mass) proper after heavy resistance coaching. Whey produced larger spikes in insulin and branched-chain amino acids, and its impact got here early: myofibrillar protein synthesis reached 0.123%/hour within the first 3.5 hours, then dropped to 0.071%/hour. Calcium caseinate held regular at about 0.10%/hour by means of each intervals. Over the complete six hours, muscle protein synthesis was equal between the 2 proteins.[8] The authors even famous that the kind of casein might clarify why their outcomes differed from the 2009 micellar casein information.

Whey leads within the first 3.5 hours, casein takes over from 3.5 to six, and the 2 tie throughout the complete window.

The identical group discovered the identical end in older adults. Caseinate and whey produced equivalent muscle protein synthesis (0.09%/hour) after resistance train, and taking caseinate earlier than coaching labored in addition to taking it after.[14]

Coaching research additionally agree:

In NCAA Division III girls’s basketball gamers, 24g of whey or casein earlier than and after coaching for eight weeks produced no variations in physique composition or efficiency.[15]
In chubby law enforcement officials on a reduced-calorie eating regimen with resistance coaching, a casein hydrolysate group misplaced 7.0kg of fats versus 4.2kg with whey hydrolysate, gained twice the lean mass, and elevated energy 59% versus 29%.[16]
Smaller head-to-head coaching trials principally land in the identical place, with one caveat: protein of both kind would not at all times beat coaching alone.

In older males doing 12 weeks of energy coaching, 30g/day of whey or casein produced related outcomes, and neither added a measurable profit over placebo in males who already ate sufficient protein.[17] Two four-week research from Florida State College in overweight girls doing train coaching discovered related energy good points with whey, casein, or a carbohydrate management.[18][19]

Whey nonetheless wins some matchups, particularly on those requiring velocity. In a 135-day resistance coaching trial in older adults, a cysteine-rich whey isolate produced about 10% better relative energy good points than casein, although lean mass did not change in both group.[20] The honest abstract is that whey is after all a superb protein, however casein holds its personal in most head-to-head coaching research.

The In a single day Window

Casein’s bedtime fame began as advertising and marketing, however the analysis truly caught as much as this, a lot of it from analysis carried out at Maastricht College within the Netherlands (notably with grant cash from a number of meals and dairy corporations, together with FrieslandCampina).

4 meals drive synthesis peaks, then breakdown climbs by means of the in a single day hole that pre sleep protein is supposed to fill.

Delivered by feeding tube throughout sleep, casein was digested usually in older males and raised in a single day muscle protein synthesis versus placebo (0.045% vs 0.029%/hour).[21]
Younger males who skilled within the night and drank 40g of casein half-hour earlier than mattress had larger whole-body protein synthesis and a optimistic in a single day protein steadiness in contrast with placebo. Blended muscle protein synthesis was about 22% larger, a borderline end result (P=0.05).[22]
Over 12 weeks of coaching, younger males who drank a nightly shake with 27.5g of protein (half casein, half casein hydrolysate within the type of PeptoPro) gained extra complete energy than placebo (+164kg vs +130kg) and extra quadriceps dimension (+8.4cm² vs +4.8cm²).[23]
In older males, 40g of casein earlier than mattress raised in a single day myofibrillar protein synthesis, however 20g (with or with out added leucine) did not produce a statistically vital improve.[24]
Exercising within the night boosted that in a single day response by 31% in older males taking the identical 40g dose.[25]

The group’s evaluate concluded that about 40g of protein earlier than sleep is required for a powerful in a single day response, and that prior train lets extra of it attain muscle.[26]

Surprising Consequence: Improved VO2max!

The analysis is not restricted to lifters. In a 10-week endurance coaching research, younger males who drank 29g of calcium caseinate after every session and each night time earlier than mattress improved VO2max greater than a carbohydrate management group (from 49.9 to 55.4 vs 50.8 to 53.9mL/kg/min) and gained 1.5kg of lean mass versus 0.4kg.[27] Whereas the lean mass good points aren’t shocking, seeing VO2max enhance over 10% is spectacular and one thing most individuals would not have thought of.

You Can Use Extra Than 25g Protein at a Time… and Casein Helps

Then there’s the 2023 Maastricht research that challenged the concept that your physique can solely use about 25g of protein at a time. Younger adults recovering from resistance train who ate 100g of milk protein (about 80% casein) had a bigger anabolic response lasting greater than 12 hours in contrast with 25g, with a negligible impact on amino acid oxidation.[28] Whereas the impact in all probability is not essentially distinctive to gradual proteins, gradual digestion definitely is not a downside, particularly for an extended hole between meals.

A Pre-Quick Protein Supply

Lengthy fasting home windows maintain exhibiting up within the casein analysis. Amongst fight sport athletes fasting throughout Ramadan, micellar casein taken on the pre-dawn meal (sahur) restricted the fasting-related drop in anaerobic energy higher than whey isolate or placebo.[29]

What About Satiety?

Casein’s gradual digestion has lengthy been linked to staying full, and the reply is dependent upon the time window. In a 2003 research, a 48g whey drink lowered how a lot folks ate at a buffet 90 minutes later in contrast with casein, and whey raised the intestine hormones CCK and GLP-1 by 60% and 65% extra.[30] Within the quick time period, whey wins.

Over longer home windows, nevertheless, casein pulls forward. In a 5.5-hour crossover research of high-protein meals constructed on whey, casein, or soy, contributors rated casein and soy as extra filling than whey (whey had a barely larger thermic impact).[31] In a four-week trial in overweight girls doing train coaching, a nightly casein drink raised next-morning satiety greater than whey or a carbohydrate drink.[19] A evaluate of managed trials summed it up: whey tends to be extra satiating within the quick time period, and casein in the long run.[32]

For a nighttime shake, pre-fasting state of affairs, or a meal alternative that has to hold you to the following meal, that lengthy tail is strictly the purpose.

Caseinates: Processing Adjustments Digestion

Researchers lengthy assumed caseinates digest sooner than micellar casein, since they’re extra soluble and do not clot in response to pepsin the best way micelles do.[10]

In 2020, the Maastricht group put that to the check. Fifteen younger males drank 40g of protein as micellar casein, calcium caseinate, or a cross-linked sodium caseinate (handled with an enzyme that bonds the proteins collectively), and the researchers tracked blood amino acids for six hours. They anticipated the caseinate to digest sooner than micellar casein and the cross-linking to gradual it down. Curiously, each predictions missed:

Cross-linked sodium caseinate was the quickest, with larger blood amino acids from 15 to 90 minutes and about 13% extra complete amino acid publicity over six hours than calcium caseinate.
Calcium caseinate was the slowest, with a smaller early rise than even micellar casein.
From about three hours on, calcium caseinate produced barely larger branched-chain amino acid ranges than the cross-linked sodium caseinate.[10]

Sodium caseinate clears quickest over 5 hours, micellar casein sits within the center, and calcium caseinate trails because the slowest of the three.

The Calcium Query

The researchers pointed to calcium.

Casein tends to precipitate within the presence of calcium, so calcium caseinate probably clots extra within the abdomen and empties extra slowly. Solubility additionally diversified broadly (99% for the cross-linked sodium caseinate, 53% for calcium caseinate, and 5% for micellar casein), and the authors say extra work is required to type out how solubility impacts digestion.[10]

Casein elements behave in another way relying on how they’re made. On this research, calcium caseinate acted like a gradual protein and the sodium caseinate acted like a sooner one, which matches how FrieslandCampina positions them: sodium caseinate for faster amino acid supply, and calcium caseinate or micellar casein for prolonged launch.

The caveat is that the sodium caseinate right here was cross-linked, and the authors name for extra head-to-head testing of normal caseinates. For transparency, FrieslandCampina’s Innovation Centre produced the calcium caseinate and cross-linked sodium caseinate for this research.

Extra Variables: Drying and Storage

Drying is one other processing variable. The Maastricht staff lists drying alongside heating, added salts, cross-linking, and glycation as steps that may change how a protein behaves,[10] and FrieslandCampina makes each spray-dried caseinates (like Excellion Calcium Caseinate S) and roller-dried ones (like Excellion EM 7, a sodium caseinate).

Storage issues too. Over time, proteins can react with sugars like lactose in step one of the Maillard response (glycation), which ties up the important amino acid lysine. FrieslandCampina says the low lactose content material of its Excellion caseinates retains glycation threat low. Excellion EM 9, for instance, is specified at simply 0.25% lactose.

Excellion Caseinates for Formulators

FrieslandCampina is a Dutch dairy cooperative owned by its member farmers, with roots going again to 1871. Its elements division sells proteins and prebiotics to meals, beverage, and complement manufacturers world wide. As a result of the cooperative controls its provide chain “from grass to glass”, it could flip its members’ milk into caseinates instantly.

The Excellion caseinate line contains:

Excellion Calcium Caseinate S: a really heat-stable, low-viscosity, neutral-tasting grade with a milky look, made for UHT RTD shakes. FrieslandCampina says it would not denature, combination, or flocculate throughout warmth therapy and holds greater than 12 months with out gelling or thickening.
Excellion Calcium Caseinate I: an easy-dispersing grade for powdered shakes, with effective foam and a milky look.
Excellion Calcium Caseinate A: a free-flowing grade for fortifying meals.
Excellion EM 9: a calcium caseinate (92% casein protein, 1.2% calcium, 0.25% lactose) utilized in high-protein bars to scale back stickiness and maintain bars mushy by means of shelf life.
Excellion Textpro: a patented bar ingredient designed for bars above 35% protein that reduces hardening over shelf life.
Excellion Sodium Caseinate S and Excellion Potassium Caseinate S: very heat-stable emulsifiers with excessive solubility. The potassium model fits low-sodium merchandise (about 0.04% sodium).
Excellion EM 7: a roller-dried sodium caseinate made out of contemporary skimmed milk.

In Drinks

Warmth is whey’s weak spot. Its globular proteins unfold and clump below the warmth therapy that shelf-stable RTDs want. Calcium caseinate holds as much as UHT processing whereas staying clean, with low sediment and a milky look. Caseinates additionally add physique and creaminess, which might scale back a formulation’s reliance on gums.

FrieslandCampina’s idea breakfast protein drink, a candy cinnamon RTD constructed on Excellion Calcium Caseinate S, reveals the thought in observe.

In Bars

Protein bars even have a widely known downside: they harden as they age on the shelf. “Bricking”, as we are saying. FrieslandCampina’s functions staff builds idea bars to indicate how its elements deal with that. Two latest ideas:

A Key Lime Pie bar with 20g of protein from Excellion Textpro and Nutri Whey 800F. FrieslandCampina says Excellion Textpro reduces hardening for as much as 12 months and permits bars with as much as 40% protein.
A Dubai Chocolate Crispy bar at 40% protein (25g per bar) constructed on Excellion Textpro and NutriWhey Isolate, designed for a mushy, clean, candy-bar texture with out the standard chalkiness.

Per FrieslandCampina, tender and mushy textures grew from 3% to 14% of latest U.S. sports activities bar launches.

Bars and shakes additionally ship protein on the similar tempo. In a 2023 research supported by FrieslandCampina, 12 younger girls ate 20g of protein as both a bar or a drink, each made by FrieslandCampina Components from Nutri Whey Isolate and Excellion Calcium Caseinate with matched elements. Their blood amino acid responses have been equivalent.[33]

Higher Collectively: Whey Plus Casein

It is not at all times black and white although — it would not need to be one or the opposite! Most protein merchandise are blends, and the analysis helps pairing the 2.

When younger males drank 25g of whey, micellar casein, or a 50/50 mix, the mix’s peak and complete important amino acid response matched whey’s and beat casein’s.[34] Over 10 weeks of coaching, males taking 40g of whey plus 8g of casein every day gained about 1.9kg of lean mass, whereas placebo and whey-plus-amino-acid teams did not.[35] A number of widespread proteins use this technique, bringing the “better of each worlds”.

Who Ought to Skip Casein?

Casein is among the main milk proteins and might set off reactions in folks with a milk protein allergy. Milk protein allergy and lactose intolerance are totally different circumstances. Caseinates are very low in lactose (Excellion EM 9 is specified at 0.25% lactose), which can make them appropriate for a lot of lactose-sensitive folks. Nevertheless, they don’t seem to be appropriate for anybody with a milk protein allergy, since they nonetheless comprise casein proteins.

Some folks additionally report digestive discomfort from A1 beta-casein, one in every of two frequent beta-casein variants in cow’s milk. A scientific evaluate rated the proof for worse digestive signs with A1 versus A2 beta-casein as average certainty, whereas the proof for different well being results was low or very low.[36] Until a product is made out of A2 milk, assume its casein incorporates each variants.

For wholesome folks, excessive protein intakes look secure. Resistance-trained males consuming about 2.5 to three.3g of protein per kilogram of physique weight per day for a yr confirmed no dangerous results on blood lipids or on liver and kidney perform.[37]

Casein By no means Left the Lab

Micellar casein misplaced the advertising and marketing combat of the late 2000s to a easy story about velocity and leucine. These are necessary, after all, however they don’t seem to be your entire story.

And now we all know significantly better: The analysis saved going, and it retains supporting casein’s function. Calcium caseinate matched whey for muscle protein synthesis over six hours after coaching, casein earlier than mattress helps in a single day muscle protein synthesis, and processing provides formulators management over how briskly a caseinate digests.

For manufacturers, the case is sensible as effectively. Caseinates maintain up in heat-treated drinks, assist maintain high-protein bars mushy, and are available from a provide chain that does not run by means of the cheese vat whereas whey costs sit at file highs. When everybody’s in search of whey, however we’re making much less of it as a result of fewer persons are consuming cheese and cheese pizza, it is time to take a look at the “different half” — and by “half”, we imply 80%!

FrieslandCampina’s Excellion line covers each side, from Excellion Calcium Caseinate S for RTDs to Excellion Textpro for bars. We’ll dig into all of this with the FrieslandCampina staff on the PricePlow Podcast, so enroll under to get the alert when it goes dwell: