Alpha Prime Supps Vegan: Plant Protein with a Carrot Cake Flavor!

Lately, the AP Prime Bites Protein Brownies have really stolen the show for Alpha Prime Supps. We recently had AP’s Brian Ikalina and Europa’s Justin Weeks on the PricePlow Podcast (Episode #071) to celebrate their retail-exclusive Purple Velvet flavor.

Skipping right over regular old Chocolate, Alpha Prime Supps released this awesome carrot cake flavored vegan protein powder.

But remember, Alpha Prime Supps makes supplements besides protein brownies. Going beyond supplements like the Legacy Pre-Workout stack, they also have some fine protein powders, like the dairy-based ISO-Whey and Whey Blend products and Alpha Prime Supps Vegan Protein.

We haven’t yet discussed AP’s Vegan Protein, but their team is extremely proud of the flavors, and we just got an excuse to dive in:

Alpha Prime Supps Vegan Protein Now in… Carrot Cake flavor!

When it comes to flavors, AP definitely does things different. As we write this, there’s a Vanilla Milkshake flavor, but there’s not a chocolate flavor! Instead, AP’s skipping right to the fun stuff, with flavors like Mocha Frappuccino, Salted Caramel, and now… Carrot Cake!

This, we’ve just got to try. So see our videos below, check prices and availability with PricePlow, and let’s dive into the profile:

Alpha Prime Supps Vegan Protein Macros

Macros will vary a bit from flavor to flavor, but since we’re talking about Carrot Cake, let’s show their stats:

• Calories: 154

• Protein: 22g

• Total Carbohydrate: 4g

  • Dietary Fiber: 1g

  • Total Sugars: 0g

• Total Fat: 6g

  • Saturated Fat: 1g

Also prominently displayed on the label is the amino acid profile, which is helpful.

Alpha Prime Supps Vegan Protein Ingredients

• Pea protein isolate

  The main (and only) protein source in Alpha Prime Supps Vegan is pea protein isolate. This has been the most popular plant-based protein source for the past decade or so, and for good reason – it’s a complete protein source.^[1-3] This means that it has all nine essential amino acids amino acids, which the body cannot create itself (at least not in meaningful amounts), necessitating intake from dietary sources.

  Research on pea protein

  Two well-performed studies have shown that pea protein is an excellent choice, especially for athletes.

  • In 2015, a study was published demonstrating pea protein’s ability to help athletes gain just as much weight as whey protein when following a resistance training program.^[4]
  • The above trial was replicated in a study published in 2019, where the athletes were undergoing “CrossFit” style training.^[5]

  In both situations, pea protein helped athletes maintain and build muscle. The second study provides a nice conclusion, where HIFT = high-intensity functional training:

  We conclude that ingestion of whey and pea protein produce similar outcomes in measurements of body composition, muscle thickness, force production, WOD performance and strength following 8-weeks of HIFT.^[5]

  Long story short – while we love eating meat, eggs, and fish as our primary protein sources (and encourage this wherever possible), a scoop of pea protein in a healthy regimen will operate about as well as whey protein, which is important since whey’s generally considered the gold standard of protein supplementation.

  More on pea protein’s amino acid profile

  But on PricePlow, we love to dive even deeper for the sake of knowledge. As you can see from the amino acid profile on AP Vegan, pea protein is a touch low in the amino acid methionine.^[6] Depending on your personal health situation, philosophy, goals, and the remainder of your diet, this can be either a good or bad thing.

  For instance, methionine restriction has been shown to be effective for controlling blood glucose levels and assisting overall metabolic health,^[7-9] and many argue that lower methionine is better for longevity. On the other hand, athletes who want as much growth as possible will want to know that methionine is the start codon of translation,^[10] so it’s required for all forms of growth — and that can mean both the good and bad kinds.

  So as you can imagine, the amino acid becomes controversial, but we’re likely splitting hairs when it comes to a simple daily scoop of protein powder. Regardless of your stance on methionine, pea protein has been very successful in the above two studies,^[4,5] so as a part of your daily intake, we see it as a great added benefit, and research backs that up.

• Added fats

  Looking at the calories and macros, one thing that stands out is higher fat content in Alpha Prime Supps’ Vegan. This is likely why the taste is so good, but it should also be considered by those who are on low-fat diets or avoid omega-6 polyunsaturated fats. For low-fat dieters, check with your macronutrients to see if this makes sense – chances are, you can make 6 grams of fat work.

  Additionally, note that in the first four flavors released, they all have six grams of fat – it’s not flavor-dependent. So this is likely the make-it-or-break-it addition to Alpha Prime Supps’ Vegan. Those who don’t care about fat absolutely love what it brings to the flavor profile.

• Naturally Sweetened

  Many vegan proteins are using synthetic sweeteners (which are technically vegan but not plant-based) — Alpha Prime Supps is sticking with Stevia Extract here.

• Unique flavors

  In the Carrot Cake flavor, notice that they’ve used both Ginger Powder and Cinnamon Powder in the product, and there’s likely solid doses of it, since it’s above the fat sources. These may provide some additional metabolic benefits in their own right. Note that in this flavor, ginger comes first, so expect a good bit of pop from this flavor profile.

  The other flavors will have different additions, so check each label to see the differences.

Flavors Available

Explained in Episode 071 of the PricePlow Podcast, Alpha Prime & Europa Sports partnered for an exclusive Purple Velvet AP Prime Bites Protein Brownie flavor, so we interview Justin Weeks & Ike Ikalina to tell us about it, and then discuss distribution in the post-2020 era

Below is an up-to-date list of flavors in Alpha Prime Supps Vegan — we hope this list will expand over time:

Alpha Prime Supps Goes Big with Flavor

Anytime a brand launches a Carrot Cake flavor before a straight chocolate flavor, our ears definitely perk up. Having tested so many pea proteins, we understand that what works with dairy doesn’t necessarily work with plant proteins.

You often have to combine multiple flavors, as is the case in Mocha Frappuccino and now Carrot Cake. In this case, it’s not just carrot flavoring – there’s also a big blend of ginger and cinnamon to really drive it home, and AP’s been raving about this one.

Throw down a scoop (or a hundred) of carrot cake protein powder this fall, and thank us later!