Let’s Compare Impact Whey Protein vs. Impact Whey Isolate

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Impact Whey vs. Impact Whey Isolate - heydayDo featured image

This article compares Myprotein’s Impact Whey Protein vs. Impact Whey Isolate, Myprotein’s two most popular sports nutrition products.

I’ll be going over all of the important differences between these closely-related protein powders of course, as well as the common ground they share.

Once I’ve laid all this out for you, you’ll easily be able to determine which product is better suited for your current fitness goals, depending on what you’re looking for in a protein supplement.

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Science Resources Included

As is my custom here on heydayDo, I will provide links to all of the relevant sports science & medical resources, clinical studies, and nutritional data used in this article.

 

About this article

Here are the topics I’m covering today.

 

Similarities between Impact Whey & Impact Whey Isolate

With only one word different in their name, we’d assume they have things in common between them and they do, lots of things actually.

 

Ingredients

I’ll be using their respective Unflavored versions to compare their ingredients and nutrition numbers.

The difference between their main ingredient starts the cascade of all differences that follow afterwards.

 

Nutrition

These are the important nutrition areas we’ll be looking at where Impact Whey & Impact Whey Isolate have their differences.

  • Protein per serving
  • Calories
  • Fat & Cholesterol
  • Carbs & Sugar
  • Sodium per serving
  • Amino acids per serving, including BCAAs & EAAs**

(BCAAs & EAAs** – branched-chain amino acids & essential amino acids, in case you didn’t know)

 

Cost

Impact Whey & Impact Whey Isolate don’t cost the same, thanks to the variations in their ingredients & nutritional components.

The protein powder with the better nutrient profile & the extra step of processing has a higher price tag, no surprise there.

So we’ll go over how much that difference in price is. That way we can each decide if the more expensive Impact protein powder is worth the extra cost.

Myprotein Impact Whey Isolate

Myprotein Impact Whey vs. Impact Whey Isolate

Here’s where I’ll go through all of their comparisons one by one, and I’d like to start by sharing all of the things these two products have in common.

 

Their similarities

Both protein powders are from the same company. Myprotein has built a reputation for excellence in the European fitness supplement industry since their founding in 2004.

Currently the UK’s most popular protein powder, Myprotein’s Impact product line was introduced here in the US fitness market a decade or so ago.

Their commitment to quality is evident in every aspect of their operations, from their manufacturing processes to their customer support.

Their production facilities are regularly audited to ensure that they meet the highest standards of hygiene and safety, and I noticed they’ve now listed some of their certification badges on their site.

Another great attribute of Myprotein I’m familiar with is their prompt order processing & customer support people, who I found to be knowledgeable, friendly, and very helpful.

 

Both protein powders are made using the same high standards. Myprotein has stringent sourcing standards that includes both internal and third-party testing to ensure that their products are safe and effective.

They work with trusted suppliers who share their commitment to quality, and they carefully select only the best raw materials for their products.

Myprotein also conducts strict testing of both incoming raw materials and outgoing finished products to ensure that they meet their rigorous quality standards.

Here’s a link where Myprotein shares their whey-making process: How Myprotein Whey Is Made.

 

Other similarities are that they use the same cows who produce the same milk that gets processed in the same whey processing facility.

Both Impact Whey & Impact Whey Isolate use the exact same flavor recipes too, so all of the ingredients used for flavoring purposes are the same in both protein powders.

The only difference in this area is that Whey Isolate has less available flavors**.

** – As of today while writing this I see the US Myprotein site offers 17 Impact Whey flavors, and Whey Isolate is available in 9 of those flavors. 

 

Impact Whey & Whey Isolate Ingredients

Let’s look at their respective Unflavored versions; you can see that both are very clean two-ingredient protein powders.

Myprotein Impact Whey: Whey protein concentrate, sunflower lecithin.

Myprotein Impact Whey Isolate:  Whey protein isolate, sunflower lecithin.

Their common ingredient — sunflower lecithin — is an often-used emulsifier, meaning it is added to help the protein powder & the liquid you mix it with blend together better.

Bottom line: So our only difference is in the type of whey protein that’s being used: whey protein concentrate vs. whey protein isolate.

Myprotein Impact Whey

Whey protein concentrate vs. whey protein isolate processing

As I mentioned earlier, both of these products start with the same milk and come from the same whey protein.

But their final processing steps are different, one which turns the raw whey into whey protein concentrate & the other which creates whey protein isolate.

This alone is the reason Impact Whey and Impact Whey Isolate have different nutritional profiles & different costs.

It’s important for me to point out here that both the whey protein concentrate & whey protein isolate powders are two of the three highest qualities of whey protein you’ll come across in protein powder supplements.

(The third is hydrolyzed whey protein.)

 

Whey powder processing in a nutshell: Both whey concentrate & whey isolate have gone through a filtering process that raises their protein level while removing milk byproducts like milk fat & the milk sugar lactose.

It is whey protein isolate that then goes through an extra step of filtration to further raise its protein level while further reducing its fat & sugar content.

Bottom line: This extra filtering creates a very clean protein powder that is more than 90% protein with very little (if any) milk sugars or fat.

So Impact Whey Isolate costs more than Impact Whey simply because it contains more protein by weight & needs that extra filtering step to get there.

 

If you’re interested in more details on these processes from a scientific perspective, let me share a few reference links with you:

Agropur.com – How Whey Protein Is Made

ScienceDirect.com – Whey Protein Isolate

NIH.gov – Whey Protein Concentrates & Isolates

 

Whey Isolate vs. Impact Whey nutrition

I want us to look at their Nutrition Facts panels side by side so you can see how the whey protein isolate process changes that powder’s macros compared to Impact Whey’s.

Myprotein Impact Whey Nutrition Facts - heydayDo image 

Myprotein Impact Whey Isolate Nutrition Facts - heydayDo image

Compared to Impact Whey, Myprotein’s Impact Whey Isolate has:

  • 15% more protein per gram of powder;
  • 27% more BCAAs, 5.7g vs. 4.5g;
  • 25% more EAAs, 11.9g vs. 9.7g;
  • no fat, no cholesterol;
  • no milk sugars, no lactose, therefore no milk bloat;
  • no sodium;
  • 10% less calories.

While the differences are small for the most part, the protein & amino acids amounts are noticeable, as is the difference in cholesterol level.

These factors will definitely be meaningful to certain people, depending on their unique health & fitness goals.

 

Impact Whey vs. Impact Whey Isolate cost comparison

So how much does the extra protein & that extra step of micro-filtration cost us, at least as far as Myprotein’s prices are concerned? Let’s find out.

(Remember that fitness supplement prices change any time the wind blows, so you may see different numbers when you check them…).

I’m looking at prices on the US Myprotein website today, & the non-sales prices for their 2.2 lb. bags are:

  • $33 for Impact Whey, $47 for Impact Whey Isolate;
  • That’s a $14 difference spread over 2.2 lb., or 35 ounces;
  • So the price difference is 40¢ per ounce;
  • Which comes out to the Impact Whey Isolate costing 36¢ more per serving than Impact Whey.

 

Side note > Don’t get duped into buying Myprotein on Amazon

Myprotein doesn’t sell their protein powders on Amazon. Amazon doesn’t sell Myprotein’s powders on Amazon.

Q: So who is selling Myprotein on Amazon?

A: 3rd-party resellers that’s who. They buy the Myprotein Impact Whey on the Myprotein website using a discount code, then turn around & resell it to you at a much higher price.

Don’t fall for that crap.

Myprotein always — or almost always — has a sale going on of some sort on their site, & all you need is a discount code.

I have one I can share with you, and it’s for 40% off anything you buy. Just enter it before you check out when you click through to their site; here ’tis:

 

FAQs

Here are answers to a few commonly asked questions regarding whey protein.

How to Use Whey Protein?

There are lots of ways to get whey protein powder into your diet. You can add a scoop to a smoothie in a blender, add it to 8-10 oz. of any beverage in a shaker bottle & drink it or pour it on top a bowl of cereal. Whey powder can be used in lots of cooking & baking recipes too.

Can whey protein cause hair loss?

There is no scientific evidence that drinking protein powder from whey has ever caused hair loss, so beware of the gym misinformation rumor mill. Whey protein does NOT by itself increase the type of testosterone that stimulates male pattern baldness in men or hair loss in women.

Is drinking whey before bed good or bad?

Whey protein before bed has been shown to provide some benefit to muscle growth & recovery, and may also improve quality of sleep in some individuals. It's a good time for a protein supplement because you'd otherwise be fasting for several hours while you sleep.

 

Related articles here on heydayDo

Myprotein vs. Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Comparison

Taste-Test Project To Find The Best Myprotein Flavors

 

Wrapping Up: Impact Whey vs. Isolate Summary

For me, the decision of choosing Impact Whey vs. Impact Whey Isolate comes down to the differences between a whey protein that’s in concentrate form versus protein powder in isolate form.

And whether the extra cost we pay for — caused by the manufacturer’s extra steps to turn ordinary whey into a whey protein isolate — is worth the nutritional advantages that whey protein isolate has over whey protein concentrate.

In my own case the benefits of the isolate process are definitely worth paying a little extra for.

But we each have different health priorities, and there was a time (for years & years) when I was totally A-OK with drinking whey protein concentrate as my main protein supplement.

 

I switched to drinking whey protein isolate 5 years ago or so, specifically Muscle Feast’s Unflavored Grass-Fed Whey Isolate.

It’s one of the cheapest pure whey isolate powders I can find, made by a manufacturer whose product quality I trust.

I hope this article discussing the differences & similarities between these two high-quality sibling protein powders is useful to you, & I wish you well on your fitness journey.

– greg

 

 

 

About The Author

heydayDo author Greg Simon

Hi, I’m Gregory Simon. Fitness training & nutrition researching since 1982. ISSN (International Society of Sports Nutrition) Pro Member. MBA, B.Sc.

Author. Surfer. Organic food grower. Congenital heart disease survivor (so far).

heydayDo.com is my wellness blog that’s about encouraging a healthy lifestyle as we age. 

I share my fitness training experience as well as the sports science research I’ve done on the many benefits strength building, exercise, & good eating habits offer us. 

I also write review articles after product testing and evaluating home gym equipment & fitness supplements.

My hope is that you’ll find useful or encouraging information here on my website that will benefit your unique fitness journey.

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