Kaged Muscle PLANTEIN: Powered By ioPea Protein

Kaged Muscle Naturals is the next series from Kris Gethin.

Kaged Muscle has had some major launches this year, but the arrival of Plantein might be the most highly anticipated drop yet. Flashback to February 7, 2020 — we gave you an exclusive sneak preview and a taste test of Kaged Muscle’s upcoming vegan protein powder. Just from a few samples, we were blown away by the taste, texture, and consistency.

At the time, we didn’t get to see the formula, but knowing Kris Gethin and the rest of the Kaged Muscle team, PricePlow was confident that Plantein was made from high-quality protein and few artificial ingredients. Now that we’ve seen the label and talked with the Kaged Muscle team, our theory has been validated!

At the tail end of September, Kaged Muscle announced that a new series was coming soon, called Kaged Muscle Naturals. It will feature several supplements geared toward health and wellness. Plantein is the first product in the new line. Shortly after, it will be accompanied by a whole-food-based multivitamin and fully-loaded greens powder.

“I have undergone a biological age test for the past 6 years and each year I keep getting younger. My most recent result came back at 25 years young, although my chronological age is 46. One of the reasons why my age keeps getting younger is because I use supplements and food that I believe heal my future and not harm it, and this is what inspired the KAGED MUSCLE Naturals line. I am a typical flexitarian who consumes meat and whey proteins for muscle building but will occasionally go pescetarian, vegetarian, and vegan to take the stress away from my digestive system.

Unfortunately, I haven’t found a plant-based protein supplement that tasted good or with a creamy texture and that provided enough BCAAs, specifically Leucine, for muscle building benefits comparable to Whey……until we created Plantein, which is the first of our KM Naturals releases. We used Organic Quinoa to eliminate the chalkiness, and managed to bring the BCAA count to 4.5 grams and Leucine over 2 grams.

I now include Plantein into my Whey week by mostly adding it to my Oatmeal and Cream of Rice breakfasts because the flavors are so unique and delicious.”

-Kris Gethin, CEO Kaged Muscle

Kaged Muscle Plantein: Loaded with 25 Grams of Plant-Powered Protein!

Plantein will change the way you look at vegan protein powders.

It’s hard to deny that plant-based diets are becoming more popular each year, but getting enough protein on a daily basis is difficult enough—even when consuming animal protein.

Thus, having a high-quality protein powder on hand is extremely useful, especially if you’re busy, on-the-go, or you want to maximize your recovery and performance. Kaged Muscle is all about developing supplements with premium ingredients so that you can get the most out of every product they create and Plantein is no different!

As soon as Kaged Muscle sent over the nutrition facts panel for Plantein, the protein content quickly caught our attention! While the majority of vegan protein powders on the market contain 20 grams of protein per serving, with a very low branched-chain amino acid (BCAAs) content, Kaged Muscle cranked things up a notch and packed in 25 grams of protein with 4.5 grams of BCAAs in every serving.

Brian Rand, Kaged Muscle’s chief formulator, let us know that each serving also contains 2.1 grams of leucine, the amino acid that’s primarily responsible for stimulating muscle protein synthesis (MPS). One of the main issues with other vegan protein powders is that they fail to provide enough leucine to sufficiently activate MPS, which limits your ability to recover, repair, and grow new muscle tissue.

Introducing ioPea from Plasma Nutrition

How Ingredient Optimized Technology compares to enzymes. Image courtesy of Plasma Nutrition.

In addition to making Plantein taste amazing and have a smooth and creamy texture, Kaged Muscle wanted to ensure that the protein, leucine, and BCAA content would be suitable for muscle growth. Thus, Kaged Muscle teamed up with Plasma Nutrition, creators of Ingredient Optimized Technology, to use their ioPea Protein.

The ioPea protein is the first plant protein included in Plasma Nutrition’s ioPlant series that’s been clinically shown to be superior to whey protein.^[1]

Through plasma surface modification (PSM—more information on this topic later) Plasma Nutrition was able to create a more optimized pea protein isolate with the following features:

• Three times more bioavailable than traditional pea protein
• Performs on a similar level to whey protein
• Tastes neutral (no bitter or acidic aftertaste)
• Contains no third-party ingredients
• Supported by five years of research and development^[1,2]

Plasma Nutrition makes several ingredients with Ingredient Optimized Technology, such as ioWhey, ioBCAA, ioLeucine, and ioProtein.

To the best of our knowledge, Kaged Muscle is the first sports nutrition brand to use ioPea in a vegan protein powder.

Keep reading to learn more about Plantein and sign up for Kaged Muscle news and deal alerts to stay up to date on the Kaged Muscle Naturals line.

Kaged Muscle Plantein Macronutrients

Before diving into the science behind Plantein’s innovative formula, let’s first cover its macronutrient profile. It’s important to note that calories, macronutrients, and serving sizes may vary from flavor to flavor. The amounts listed below are for Cinnamon Roll.

It’s rare to find a plant-based protein powder with 25 grams of protein in a 35 gram serving size!

Here’s what one scoop (~35 grams) of Plantein provides:

• Calories: 150

• Protein: 25g

• Carbohydrates: 2g

  • Sugar: 0g

  • Fiber: 1g

• Fat: 4g

For plant-based protein powder, those are some very solid macronutrients. As we mentioned in the introduction, it’s rare to find a vegan protein powder that has over 20 grams of protein in one scoop. When you divide the serving size (35 grams) by the amount of protein per serving (25 grams), you get approximately 70% — meaning 70% is pure protein, and that rivals the majority of dairy-based protein powders.

It’s also important to note that Plantein is:

• Non-GMO
• Lactose-free
• Gluten-free
• Dairy-free
• Naturally flavored
• Informed-Sport Certified (contains no banned substances)

Plantein Ingredients

Pea protein optimized.

Kaged Muscle took a very simplistic approach with Plantein’s formula by only using six ingredients:

• Pea protein isolate: a primary protein source
• Quinoa: adds flavor and texture
• Medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) powder: helps with mixability and adds creaminess
• Natural flavors: adds flavor
• Stevia: sweetener
• Sucralose: sweetener

This list may vary slightly depending on the flavor, but these are the six primary ingredients in every bottle of Plantein. Now, that the macronutrients are covered and you have a general understanding of the ingredients, let’s dive into the research behind pea protein and Plasma Nutrition’s Ingredient Optimized Technology!

• The Power of Pea Protein Isolate

  Typically, when we review any plant-based protein powder, we prefer to see multiple sources of protein on the label because the majority of plants are classified as incomplete proteins. This means that the plant lacks one or more of the nine essential amino acids: leucine, isoleucine, valine, lysine, phenylalanine, threonine, histidine, methionine, and tryptophan.

  

  Kaged Muscle Naturals will feature a multivitamin made solely from whole-foods.

  Essential amino acids are deemed essential because they cannot be endogenously produced by the body. So the best way to get the recommended daily allowance is from diet and/or supplementation. It’s even harder for vegans and vegetarians.

  In order for vegans and vegetarians to consume enough complete protein, they must combine complementary protein sources, such as rice and beans. This works because what one plant lacks, the other makes up for it. Animal protein sources, on the other hand, are complete proteins.

  At this point, you may be wondering why Kaged Muscle only uses pea protein isolate for Plantein. It turns out that pea protein isolate is one of the few plant proteins that is classified as a complete protein — meaning that it contains adequate amounts of all nine essential amino acids.^[3] However, not all pea proteins are created equal.

  Kaged Muscle’s premium pea protein isolate is derived from yellow peas, also known as Pisum sativum, sourced from Northern France and Belgium. Pea protein isolate is approximately 86% protein by weight, whereas other sources of plant protein content ranges from 40 to 70%.^[4] Furthermore, Kaged Muscle’s pea protein isolate is easy to digest, non-GMO, gluten-free, and rich in all three BCAAs (leucine, isoleucine, and valine).

  Pea Protein vs. Whey Protein

  A randomized controlled trial published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition compared the effects of pea protein isolate and whey protein to see if pea protein could be an adequate replacement for whey.^[4] They recruited 161 participants and divided them into three groups — a placebo group, whey group, and pea protein group.^[4]

  

  Outlive 100 is one of the most comprehensive greens powders we’ve seen!

  Each participant performed a resistance training program for 12 weeks and drank either 25 grams of whey protein, pea protein, or the placebo two times per day.^[4] The main outcome measures were strength and muscle thickness using the biceps brachii.

  At the end of the study, all participants increased strength.^[4] However, while there was no significant difference between the pea and whey protein group, those who consumed pea protein saw a significant increase in muscle thickness compared to the placebo group.^[3] This means that the pea protein performed just as well as whey protein for increasing muscle mass.

  The researchers attributed this outcome to the fact that both whey and pea protein have similar amino acid content.^[3] Although whey protein digests faster than pea protein, this did not have a substantial effect on the outcome of muscle growth or strength gains.^[3] Furthermore, based on the Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS), pea protein is classified as a high-quality protein source with an index of 92.8% out of 100%.^[3] In summary, pea protein can be an adequate alternative to whey protein.

“Pea Protein Isolate is the perfect alternative to whey protein for active lifestyle users that are vegan or have allergies to milk proteins. If you are looking for a sustainable source of protein PLANTEIN is your new best friend.”

-Kaged Muscle

Ingredient Optimized Technology

From the available literature, it’s apparent that pea protein isolate is one of the most optimal sources of plant protein in sports nutrition. But by using advanced scientific technology, Plasma Nutrition was able to make pea protein isolate even better.

If you’re a regular reader of the PricePlow Blog, then you already know the importance of bioavailability, but in case not, let us inform you. Bioavailability represents the proportion of protein that the body can actually absorb and utilize. One of the reasons why whey protein is one of the most popular protein sources in sports nutrition is it’s extremely high biological value.

Unfortunately, the majority of plant protein sources don’t even come close to whey protein in terms of leucine content or bioavailability. In order to address these issues, Kaged Muscle sourced a high-quality pea protein isolate that rich in leucine and sent it over to Plasma Nutrition to further optimize the amino acid content and bioavailability.

• What is Ingredient Optimized Technology?

  Ingredient Optimized Technology uses non-thermal plasma technology to enhance the surface area, solubility, and dispersibility of protein molecules (i.e. whey or pea protein). It can also be used with other ingredients, such as citrulline, leucine, BCAAs, citrulline, beta-alanine, and caffeine. Plasma Nutrition first started researching and testing this technology with whey protein nearly five years ago.

  

  ioPea has a similar leucine content to whey protein. Image courtesy Plasma Nutrition.

  After several human clinical trials, Plasma Nutrition discovered that whey protein treated with the Ingredient Optimized Technology was superior to standard whey in terms of enhanced bioavailability for essential amino acids, such as leucine and other essential amino.

  They even found that you can use up to 35% less ioWhey and still get similar amino acid delivery as standard whey. What’s even more impressive is that when subjects consumed 35% less ioWhey, they still saw the same strength and muscle mass gains as a higher dose of standard whey protein.^[5]

  After having success with whey protein, Plasma Nutrition used this same technology with pea protein, since plant proteins have notoriously low bioavailability and often lack a sufficient amount of leucine and other essential amino acids. It turns out that Ingredient Optimized Technology can yield even more significant benefits when used with pea protein!

• ioPea Research

  In a double-blind, randomized, crossover trial, researchers from the Applied Science and Research Institute compared the postprandial plasma essential amino acid (EAA) and branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) responses from various different protein sources in 10 resistance-trained men.^[2]

  

  ioPea expresses much higher branch-chained amino acid bioavailability.

  Here are the four main comparisons of the study:

  1. Hydrolyzed whey protein isolate (HWPI) vs. plasma modified non-hydrolyzed whey protein isolate (PM-NHWPI)
  2. Standard branch-chained amino acids (S-BCAA) vs. plasma-treated branch-chained amino acids (PM-BCAA)
  3. Standard pea protein (S-PP) vs. plasma modified pea protein (PM-PP)
  4. Hydrolyzed whey protein isolate (HWPI) vs. plasma modified pea protein (PM-PP)^[2]

  Kaged Muscle uses the ioPea (plasma modified pea protein), so we’re only going to discuss the third and fourth group comparisons. For the S-PP vs. PM-PP comparison, participants were instructed to consume either 25 grams of powder of S-PP or PM-PP after an overnight fast. The same conditions were used for the HWPI vs PM-PP comparison.

  The two conditions were separated by a seven day washout period. Researchers measured the participants’ branch-chained amino acid and essential amino acid plasma concentrations via blood samples at 30, 60, 90, 120, and 180 minutes after ingestion.

• Comparable to whey protein isolate?

  

  ioPea has a significantly increased bioavailability of all nine essential amino acids. Image courtesy of Plasma Nutrition.

  The results showed that the plasma modified pea protein had a greater bioavailability of leucine, BCAAs, and EAAs, and was up to three times more bioavailable overall compared to standard pea protein.^[2] What’s even more interesting is that the PM-PP and HWPI had no significant differences between their ability to elevate plasma levels of BCAA and EAAs.^[2]

  This means that PM-PP is an adequate alternative to HWPI. For vegans and vegetarians, or anyone with a dairy intolerance who wants to get the same benefits as whey protein but with a plant-based option, it looks like ioPea protein is the answer!

  More human clinical trials are being conducted on this cutting-edge technology, so stay tuned! We will update this article with additional research as soon as it’s available.

  For more information about Ingredient Optimized Technology and Plasma Nutrition, read our article titled ioPea Protein: A Plant Protein With the Power of Whey and check out their website at becomeio.com/

How Ingredient Optimized Technology is Used with Whey Protein

Plantein Flavor Variations

As always, Kaged Muscle only uses natural flavors and colors in Plantein. They’re also releasing some nontraditional flavors, such as Banana Bread and Cinnamon Roll. Be on the lookout for more new flavors in the near future!

Here’s an updated list of all available flavors for Plantein:

Plantein: Plant Protein Innovation

Plantein Cinnamon Roll is hard to beat!

Kaged Muscle has built its reputation on science, innovation, quality, and performance. They’ve offered top-tier sports nutrition supplements since 2016, and continue to push the boundaries of product development.

For years, Kaged Muscle has been solely focused on optimizing customers’ sports performance by producing high-quality supplements, such as pre-workouts, intra-workouts, and fat-burners. Now that the sports performance side is covered, Kaged Muscle is focusing on health and wellness.

By offering a premium vegan protein powder with optimized bioavailability and BCAA content, a multivitamin made from whole-food sources, and a greens powder that’s packed with nutrients, Kaged Muscle is working to bridge the gap between health and performance. No longer do you need to decide between better nutrition and results.

PricePlow is excited for the arrival of Kaged Muscle Naturals and we will be covering each supplement in this new series. So, make sure to subscribe below for more Kaged Muscle news, reviews, interviews, and deals!