Protein is pretty much a staple for building muscle and there are a lot of new "natural" products appearing on the market. Typically this means they use natural instead of artificial sweeteners. Kaizen Naturals has added New Zealand Whey - touted as the cleanest and purest whey on the planet.
The Natural Whey line is a whey blend meaning it is a mixture of whey isolates and whey concentrates. I purchased a single serving pack since essentially a review is based on the nutritional profile and the flavor.
Ingredients
The ingredients are listed as: New Zealand Protein Blend (cross flow micro filtration whey protein isolate, ultrafiltered whey protein concentrate), natural flavours, enzyme blend, soy lecithin, stevia leaf. That's a pretty short list compared to most commercial powders.Nutritional Profile
The nutritional profile is actually quite good. In a 29.4g pack it's broken down as.Calories: 115
Fat: 1g
Carbs: 2g
Protein: 24g
Which calculates to 81.6% protein by weight, and 83.5% protein by calories.
Note that typically natural wheys require move flavoring than non-naturals so the percentages tend to be a little lower, but the numbers above are good numbers for any type of whey blend.
Taste and Mixing
I mixed the protein in cold water using a ball shaker cup. The powder dissolved easily but there were something that looked like fat globules floating around.&The protein powder had a very pleasant vanilla flavor though not particularly strong when mixed with a full 8oz. I’d say a double concentration would be better, although the globules would be more prolific.
I'd say the flavor is a very accurate Vanilla taste without any excessive sweetness, probably the closest to true vanilla I've ever tasted.
Rating
Being a whey blend I think price is an important factor, since you give up some protein to achieve a better price. That being said I say this product on sale at the supermarket for $25.99. Being in Canada where protein costs more than in the USA this is a very good price. Typically a whey blend is around the $35 mark and naturals tend to have a small premium attached.
So based on price, taste, mixing and nutrition I give this product:
8.5/10
Decent amount of protein, tastes good, great price but has some mixing issues.
