Go Good

Start with whether you want dairy in it. If dairy is fine, the choice is between the concentrate and the isolate. The concentrate carries around 22 to 24 g of protein a 30 g scoop along with a little more fat and carbohydrate, which gives it a fuller texture and the lowest price per serve. The isolate is filtered further, so you get 25 to 27 g a scoop with almost no fat, carbohydrate or lactose.

If you are avoiding dairy, the pea protein isolate gives you around 22 to 23 g a scoop with no milk in it at all. It carries more fibre than the whey, so it sits a little heavier and fuller.

It depends on why you would be paying it. Per gram of protein the gap is smaller than the shelf price suggests, because a scoop of isolate carries a few more grams of protein than a scoop of concentrate.

Where it is clearly worth it is if whey normally leaves you bloated, because most of the lactose has been filtered out, or if you are counting fat and carbohydrate closely. If neither of those is true, the concentrate is the better buy.

Thaumatin is a sweet protein from the fruit of a West African plant, katemfe. It is used in tiny amounts because it is intensely sweet, and it carries no bitter or metallic aftertaste, which is the usual complaint about stevia and sucralose.

It is a food ingredient rather than an artificial sweetener, which is why the packs can say no artificial sweeteners and still taste of something.

The Australian and New Zealand nutrient reference values put the recommended dietary intake for most adults at roughly 0.75 to 0.85 g of protein per kilogram of body weight a day. For a 70 kg adult that is somewhere around 55 to 60 g.

Adults over 70, people recovering from illness or surgery, and people training hard are usually advised to aim higher. A 30 g scoop gives you 22 to 27 g depending on which base you pick, so it is a top up rather than the whole day's worth. If you are working to a target, come and talk to us.

Quite possibly, if you use the isolate. Whey protein isolate is filtered further than the concentrate and very little lactose survives that, which is why many people who react to milk handle it without trouble.

The concentrate keeps more of the milk sugar, so it is the more likely one to cause a problem. If you have a diagnosed milk allergy rather than lactose intolerance, neither whey is suitable and the pea protein isolate is the one to use.

Yes. Go Good's plant protein is a pea protein isolate, and pea protein contains all nine essential amino acids. Pea is relatively low in methionine compared with whey, which matters much less than it used to be claimed, because almost nobody eats a single protein source all day.

It also brings fibre that whey does not, between 0.6 and 1.7 g a serve depending on the flavour.

Protein powder is food rather than a supplement, and a plain whey or pea protein is usually fine, but two things are worth checking first.

The coffee flavoured plant protein carries 90 mg of caffeine a serve, roughly a small flat white, which counts towards the daily caffeine limit in pregnancy. And if you are using protein to replace meals rather than to top up, that is worth a conversation with your midwife, doctor or our pharmacy team.

Each sample pack holds ten 30 g sachets, which is ten single serves, in a mixed selection of that base's flavours. There is one for the whey concentrate, one for the whey isolate and one for the plant protein.

They are the natural place to start. Work through the ten, find the flavour you look forward to, then buy that one in the size that suits you. The sachets keep earning their place afterwards too, because they travel a great deal better than a tub.

Go Good is a New Zealand company and the whey is New Zealand whey, from pasture raised cows. The plant range is built on European pea protein isolate, because that is where the pea protein is grown and processed.

Everything in the range is third party batch tested, including for heavy metals, and the tubs are plastic free.