Hello! I thought I would add my review of SAS Nutrition WPI 80 Whey Protein to the forum for your perusal and comments.

Field Tester – Poolcue

Manufacturer – SAS Nutrition

Product name – SAS Nutrition WPI 80 Whey Protein

Product type – Banana Flavor Whey Protein Powder

Product Test cycle – Scheduled 20-40 days or 5lb tub

Shaker Used – Reflex Nutrition Shaker – Does not contain a wire ball, just a simple leak proof shaker.

Start date – 12 November 2011

Weight – 13 stone 6 pounds – 8.4% Body Fat

Introduction

SAS WPI is a new, innovative protein which SAS have developed to include three separate types of protein, a blend of instantised, de-lactosed isolate and hydrolysed whey. This blend in turn has extremely high levels of BCAA's. It is constantly batch tested and has 80% protein content. The ingredients and the proposed benefits of this protein are detailed below:

During this testing period I will be consuming 3 x 30G serving of SAS WPI protein complex per day. I usually train early in the morning so there will be one scoop on waking, one after training and one prior to going to sleep for evening. During the review, I will detail the different ways that I have consumed the product, whether it be with water, milk, oats and so on.

Ingredients

Each serving is proposed to be 30g and the tub contains 75 servings. In relation to each 30g serving, the breakdown is as follows:

Calories: 117g
Protein: 24g
Fat: 1.56g
(Of which saturates) 0.7g
Trans FA: 0g
Carbohydrates: 2.7g
(Of which sugars) 0g

Sodium: 0g
Fibre: 210mg


From the ingredient list I have decided to detail a couple of the ingredients. The reason being is that a lot of athletes fail to read ingredients properly and there can be some which can anger certain illnesses and medical conditions. The product contains two separate stabilizers (Citric Acid, Malic Acid) and one sole sweetener (Sucralose), as per the below:

Citric Acid which is a weak organic acid found in citrus fruits. It is a natural preservative and is used to add a sour taste to foods. (Citric acid)

Malic Acid is a dicarboxylic acid found in many sour tasting foods and is produced within the human body as part of the citric acid cycle. (What Is Malic Acid?)

Sucralose is a no calorie sweetener used in foods worldwide and is a perfect, low calorie alternative to sugar. (Sucralose, the no calorie sweetener also known as Splendaฎ)


Diet

Having recently sat down and had a really good look at my diet I came to the conclusion that I required to make a few changes if I want to “lean out”, which my goal has been all along. I was eating a lot of bagels, sometimes three a day with various fillings. After receiving some advice from professionals, I started to replace things like bagels with Burgen bread (Soya and Linseed) which has 6.4g of protein per slice. I restricted myself to one coffee and or one can of fizzy drink per day. I also increased my water intake to at least 2 litres per day.

A typical day would be

6AM – 30g SAS WPI protein with water upon waking. Multivitamins + Glucosamine.
7AM – Pre-workout – Physical Edge FURY (Training session)
9AM – 30g SAS WPI protein with water
10AM – 50g oats, two slices Burgen bread with Tesco Light Choices Cottage Cheese, Activia Yoghurt, Glass orange juice
2PM – Two tins tuna mixed with Cottage Cheese, Cup of black coffee
6PM – 200G chicken breast, White fish portions, Beef Strips. If I'm hungry I'll add some wholegrain rice
10PM - 30g SAS WPI protein with water

Snacks during these days would include a handful of bleached almonds or some organic Whole Earth peanut butter on a slice of Burgen bread.


Taste

I was allocated a Banana flavor protein for this trial. I would say that it tastes exactly the same as any sort of Banana flavored milk. I am being very rigid in relation to the instruction on the side of the tub in that I am using a 30g serving with a measured 300ml of water. When this is followed to the letter, you get a perfect, thick, high protein shake. I did find that if the water measurement was exceeded, there was quite a watery taste. I suppose that this is the same with everything.

Mixability with water

There is no issue with the mixability of this product. As I have mentioned above, if the instructions are followed from the side of the tub there will never be any clumps left over in the bottom of the shaker. Once the product is mixed / shaken with water a large amount of foam develops which sometimes needs to be given a bit of time to settle. There is no grainy pieces left over, just a smooth, tasty shake. There is no requirement to use a spoon or a blender to mix the product together.

Mixability with milk

If I am to be brutally honest, I prefer to mix this product with water. It's what I have always done when consuming protein as it is convenient after training. However when I mixed this product with milk I did not find any particular difference with that to mixing it with water, except that it was ever so slightly thicker.


Mixability with oats

Once again as with the above, the product mixes seamlessly with oats. The brand I use is Tesco's own Scottish Porridge oats. The measurements are two small cups, along with a quantity of milk. Once the oats are microwaved I place on scoop and mix the product through. It takes maybe a minute to have the product fully mixed with the porridge but it's worth the wait. It just shows how palatable over time this protein is when it can be taken at all times of the day, through normal consumption, mixed with food and it remains tasty. I never thought I would eat banana porridge, but now I do!


Summary of Product

As I have remarked above I was pleased with the performance of the SAS WPI product. The instruction on the side of the tub are important in my opinion as different manufacturer's have different guidelines. I found when I used a bit more water, maybe 100ml, the product became watery and weak tasting. I must stress that I did this on purpose to check out the validity of the instructions.

I found the SAS WPI protein very palatable over time. I am literally just finished the tub after 30 days of continual consumption. I didn't ever feel that I was going off the flavour. I know this is an issue for athletes who sometimes decide against buying larger tubs of protein. I am looking forward to trying out the other alternative flavours of this protein.

During this trial, I ensured that I followed the previous advice that I had been given and made sure that the protein was consumed in whatever form I could at appropriate times of the day. I train most days, through a mixture of strength and conditioning, power lifting, running and boxing classes. In the past I have experienced some muscle fatigue due to the amount of training that I do, especially when trying to increase on any PB's. I mus admit that I did not experience any muscle fatigue whatsoever during this trial. In turn, this also meant that I was able to train as hard as I wished, knowing that if I continued to maintain my rigid protein consumption, I would not experience any after effects. If you look at it a different way, maybe I wasn't training hard enough!