[sharebox4 sharetext=”Share This Page”] [/sharebox4]

Muscle Milk Review – Does Muscle Milk Work?

I’m glad you have found this webpage because I’m about to give you an honest Muscle Milk review. By the end of this Muscle Milk review you will have a very good idea of whether it is worth buying or if you should stay away from it.

You have probably seen Muscle Milk everywhere.  I see it all the time at the gym, convenient stores, supermarkets, and GNC.

The creators of Muscle Milk claim that it “Promotes lean muscle, increased strength, and recovery from exercise.”

From what I can tell most people who take Muscle Milk are people who are active and looking for a post-workout protein supplement to help replenish their muscles.

However, the marketers of Muscle Milk are apparently doing a much better job than their nutritionists creating this product because it is really just junk food.

Ok there I said it!  I’ll explain more of what I mean in just a second but before you go out and buy this stuff because it has a nice label and it’s name makes you think it is nutritionally beneficial…just stop yourself.

How Does It Taste?

Honestly, this stuff tastes great.  It tastes like a milkshake.  I would venture to say that it is some of the best tasting protein type shake on the market.

But…here’s the rest of the story.

The Breakdown

The protein found in muscle milk is a blend and I can only guess that it is a fairly cheap blend.  There is whey protein included in the protein blend but, as most of my readers already know, it is a very very watered down version of whey protein.

How do I know?  Two things are dead giveaways.  The milk used in the production of the whey protein in Muscle Milk is NOT from grass fed cows.  Typically, this means that the milk is from grain fed, feedlot cows treated with rBGH and pumped full of all kinds of antibiotics.  Can you tell I’m not a fan of grain fed milk?

If grass fed cows are a new subject to you let me just give you a quick idea of what is going on here.  About 85-90% of cows in the United States are fed grains and kept in feedlots where they have nothing to eat but corn, soy, and other grains that are not in their natural diet.  They are pumped full of hormones causing them to produce more milk and they are usually milked three times a day rather than two which also causes them to overproduce milk.

The reason many farmers do this and companies buy from them is that it is cheap.  Grains are cheaper for farmers, the cows produce more milk, and the end product is cheaper to sell.

The problem is that the end product is also basically void of any nutritional value.

On the other hand, grass fed cows who are allowed to feed on open pesticide free pastures and get the exercise outside of a feedlot have a much better biological makeup.  Grass fed cows and the milk they produce has a much higher count of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), which is an excellent cancer fighter.  In fact grass fed cows can have up to 5 times the amount of CLAs as grain fed cows.

Also, milk from grass fed pastured cows contains the best ratio of Omega 3 to Omega 6 fatty acids.  Studies suggest that if your diet contains roughly equal amounts of these two fats, you will have a lower risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disorders, allergies, obesity, diabetes, dementia, and various other mental disorders.

The problem is that grain fed cows milk can have 5-20 times more omega 6 than omega 3 which upsets the delicate balance and can cause inflammation in your body.

Ok back to the Muscle Milk review.

A Dead Protein?

The other problem I see is with muscle milk is that it is a highly processed protein supplement which effectively kills the majority of the good nutrients that you could find in the protein in the first place.

When protein manufacturers use high heat to produce their product it denatures the product which means you get cheated out of most of the natural nutritional benefits in the ingredients.

What you want to look for in a whey protein supplement is “Grass fed” and “undenatured” – which means that it has been processed at low heat or cold temperatures.

Oil? Seriously?

I cannot for the life of me understand why you would add sunflower and canola oil into a health product unless you have no clue what you are doing!

Canola oil is highly inflammatory and is simply terrible for you!  End of story there…come on guys you have to get rid of the oil.  On a side note if you want to use oil in your cooking try switching to virgin coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil.  Both of these contain excellent unsaturated fats that are great for you.

Additives

Okay moving on to other ingredients that I can’t understand why they are in here is Maltodextrin.  If you don’t know what Maltodextrin is here is a list of other products you will find it in:

• Soda
• Candy
• Potato Chips

Maltodextrin is a found in a lot of foods and is used as a food additive to help sweeten food.  It is a highly processed food additive that does not occur naturally in nature as an isolate.   Basically, what I mean is that the only place you will find this stuff, other than junk food, is in a laboratory.

Now to be honest, there are a lot worse things out there for you than maltodextrin but if you were trying to create a truly “healthy” product why would you use a highly processed food additive to sweeten your product unless your main goal was for it to taste good.

Artificial Flavors

Again, if you are trying to make a healthy product why in the world would you use anything artificial?  Hell, even soda companies and junk food manufacturers are trying to convince you that they only use natural flavors.  What was Cytosport thinking when they added some of these ingredients?  I have a theory that I will get to in a minute.

Sucralose = Beware

Ok so this was the first ingredient that I saw when I looked at the back of the Muscle Milk label.  The reason is that anytime I see this on a label I run the other direction as fast as I can.

Sucralose (the same as splenda), and other artificial sweeteners for that matter, are commonly found in “diet” or “lite” products that are trying to sweeten their products while keeping the sugar count down.

This stuff is absolutely horrible for you as it is a highly processed sweetener.  It is often said to be a biproduct of sugar but what they don’t tell you is that it is actually a chemically modified substance where chlorine is added to the chemical structure, making it more similar to a chlorinated pesticide than something we should be eating or drinking.

The Conclusion

Well I think you can safely gather that I DO NOT recommend that you ever buy or use Muscle Milk.  If you are looking for a healthy meal replacement then stay far away.  If you are looking for a post-workout protein supplement stay even farther away.  After a workout your body needs fuel to help your muscles recover and it will absorb whatever you put in it very quickly.  And unfortunately I don’t believe that it is a good idea to make your body absorb some of the ingredients found in Muscle Milk.

It seems that all the money that could have gone into natural, high quality ingredients was instead spent on marketing because if there is one thing that Muscle Milk does well it is market their product.  The problem is that it is at the expense of your health.

If you want to find a healthy, nutritious, grass fed, cold-processed whey protein supplement that will actually help to increase your immune system, build lean muscle, provide antioxidants, and even help lower cholesterol then I suggest you look at my best whey protein powder page where I have listed two excellent, high quality whey proteins.

Click here to find a healthy and high quality whey protein powders