Why are the protein supplements, used by bodybuilders and others, so hard to mix? Why so glutinous? They stick to the spoon I use to stir it. They stick to the glass. As I drink it, the powder separates itself from the milk and forms a layer on top. Although the powder is very fine when I spoon it out of the container, it immediately begins to coagulate once placed in the milk. The milk, FTR, is skim.
Over the years, I’ve found one brand that I could spoon mix–Jay Robb’s, which I can only get at Whole Foods around here. It used to mix really well with just a spoon, but they’ve changed it slightly, and it’s not as miscible as it used to be. Just about every other protein powder I tried could not be mixed at all without getting out the blender, or at least the “stinger” style one that you use in a single glass.
Remembering my college biology, which was ages ago (though I did well in it), protein molecules are huge and shaped in a way that encourages clumping (I think). Or is it something else? What causes the gloppiness?
And, is there any kind of liquid food product that I could add in a tiny amount to the milk, that wouldn’t affect the flavor, but would encourage the powder to stay dissolved? An anti-coagulant of some kind?
Proteins are just that way, especially when they’ve been freeze-dried and denatured. The long amino acid chains bind to and tangle up with each other.
Adding a little salt can help, but for a massive improvement you’d need to add Guanidine hydrochloride, SDS (shampoo), or trivalent aluminum ions. None of these are good things to add to something you’re going to eat.
It’s just a guess, but it may be the relative polarity of the proteins after being dissolved. The proteins used in supplements are usually globular proteins, predominately from whey and casein, which are very soluble in water. However, pure water or skim milk may not offer enough strong polarity for the individual proteins to be neutralized; that is to say, water is highly but weakly polar, which makes it a great solvent but doesn’t provide enough balance to keep the proteins from then seeking each other out, making it hard to keep them dissolved in a colloidal solution. (It probably doesn’t help that milk is already a colloidal solution of mostly weak lipids.) You might try adding just a tiny pinch of salt or potassium chlorate to see if it helps prevent the powder from clumping. Note that this clumping in no way prevents you from digesting the proteins, provided that you are sufficiently hydrated.
The medium (in this case, the milk, or rather, the water in the milk) is more ionized with dissolved salt, and the proteins latch onto the free ions rather than each other (or the glass) to achieve a neutral state rather.
When I went camping when I was little, we’d make hot chocolate using powdered milk and Nestle’s Quik. I found that if I mixed the powders together before adding the water, I got much fewer lumps. Assuming protein supplements are more like powdered milk than like Nestle’s Quik, I’d recommend mixing in some Nestle’s Quik. Technically it fails the “wouldn’t affect the flavor” requirement, but you’ll just have to suffer.
What you may want to try is putting the supplement in your cup first, then adding a small amount of milk to make a slurry or paste. Once you get all of the powder moistened and mushed together, you can add progressively more milk and stir until it becomes smooth.
This works for hot chocolate, fiber supplements, acidophilus, and other powders, and it should work for your protein supplement too.
Sugars and other osmolytes* are well known to protect proteins against denaturation.
In my experience, the stabilizing effect of sugars is not as strong as that of getting the ionic strength (salt concentration) right.
*Not a very good ref, but there don’t seem to be any good ones online.
