Core Power vs. Muscle Milk: Nutrition, Cost, & Taste Compared

This reappraisal article does neck and neck nutrient & product choice comparisons of two pairs of ready-to-drink protein shakes from Muscle Milk and Core Power. The first base couple sized up are their “ regular ” formulas, Core Power ’ s Performance v. Muscle Milk ’ s Genuine. And in the second comparison are the companies ’ high-protein judder products, Core Power ’ s Elite volt. Muscle Milk ’ s Pro Series ®.

Science resources included As is my custom here on heydayDo, I will provide links to all of the relevant sports science & medical resources, clinical studies, and nutritional data used in this article .

What are we looking at?

To figure out which shake might be a better choice to include in our diet, I think it ’ mho important to evaluate & compare these areas :

• Calories
• Macronutrients (protein, carbs, fats)
• Sugar & sodium content
• Vitamin & mineral content
• Artificial &/or unwanted additives
• Protein source
• Cost
• Taste

So we ’ ll expression at all of these factors while comparing the four protein shakes featured in this review .

Rise of the RTD protein shakes

It wasn ’ t all that farseeing ago when an RTD ( r eady- t o- d rink ) protein shake wasn ’ t a thing. If you wanted a high-protein drink after a exercise, you made one yourself : RTD shakes weren ’ metric ton in the fridges of appliance stores or on grocery storehouse shelves. The early players — Premier Protein & Muscle Milk — made their debuts in 1999 & 2004, respectively.

Before RTD shakes, there was Ensure

I ’ megabyte barely estimate, but I think somewhere along the cable fitness addendum & beverage companies took a discriminative stimulus from pharmaceutical powerhouse Abbott Labs, who brought Ensure® to market in the early 1970s. ( 1 ) nowadays understand, Ensure is no high-protein beverage. ( 2 ) A bottle of its Original recipe gives you precisely an egg & a half of protein in a corn whiskey starch & canola oil vegetable oil bathtub that has about the like sum of sugar as 3 ½ Krispy Kreme donuts. ( 3 )

How to hype a supplement

But it was aggressively marketed as a ready-to-drink healthy nutritional supplement to doctors & hospitals, who in turn pushed it onto their patients. ( 4 ) It sold like hotcakes, and the marketing model for RTD shakes was born :

• stuff it full of stuff, including vitamins & protein;
• paraphrase sports science lingo into catchy hype;
• have a great photoshoot. 😉

(Now they throw in a sweaty fitness model or well-known athlete swigging an RTD shake to “aid recovery”. Back then it was a smiling dude in a white lab coat with a stethoscope draped around his neck. I know, ’cause I was there…) evolution of health supplement market, 1970s vs. 2020s

RTD shakes are everywhere these days

A quick search on Amazon ( “ ready to drink protein shakes ” ) revealed dozens of companies selling pages ’ deserving of drinks marketed as either high-protein or meal replacement beverages : Keep in take care the quality out there varies ampere widely as the product choice does, thus being able to well parse through Nutrition Facts labels is a handy skill to have .

Benefits of RTD protein shakes

I think the chief thing that a ready-to-drink protein tremble offers is convenience. Whether you get them by the case from Costco, Amazon, Walmart — or pick one improving at the memory after your exercise or whenever — you can equitable pop it open & protein up .

RTD shakes: easy way to get protein’s benefits

adequate amounts of protein is one of the more authoritative things you can do for yourself & your exercise course of study. ( 22 ) The benefits are numerous, and below I list a few of them .

Lose weight, keep muscle

Higher protein intake boosts your metamorphosis, which increases your calorie burn off rate. This not only helps with weight unit loss, but it besides helps preserve your muscle during a weight unit loss program better than a low-protein diet can. ( 5 )

Sends satiety signals

Protein can keep you feeling fully for longer periods than carbs or fatness can. ( 6 )

#1 for muscle

Protein is the most effective macronutrient for building lean body weight unit. ( 7 )

Core Power vs. Muscle Milk review #1

OK, let ’ s compare their two regular formulas that come in 11 snow leopard sizes, Core Power ’ mho Performance and Muscle Milk ’ s Genuine. They’re both chocolate: I snagged a 12-pack of each at Walmart and went with my go-to spirit .

Buyer satisfaction ratings

Core Power Performance –  89%, 4.6⭐  4,500+ online reviews Muscle Milk Genuine –  87%,  4.5⭐  5,800+ online reviews

Important note:

For some reason, Core Power has two different Performance formulas on the market these days. The nutrition info below is for their 11.5 oz. container that you see in my pics, since that’s what I bought for this review article. Their other Performance recipe comes in a 14 oz. bottle and has a different nutritional profile.

Macronutrient comparison: Core Power vs. Muscle Milk

My takeaways:

• Core Power has 50% more calories than MM
• Protein’s about the same
• Core Power has 4x the carbs
• CP has a boatload of sugar
• Fat’s about even
• MM’s sodium is a bit high for an 11 oz. drink

Macronutrient %s

here ’ second my breakdown of the percentage of each macronutrient in these protein shakes. I ’ m basing it on their calories, and using the standard approximate calories/gram for fat-carbs-protein of 9-4-4. ( 8 ) (Since the FDA’s 9-4-4 guidance is only approximate, the numbers below don’t equal 100%. They’re both a little over 100% due to the fiber type in the Carbs.)

My takeaways:

• Muscle Milk has a much higher protein content %
• Core Power is mostly carbs
• Most of those CP carbs are added sugar

Macronutrient bottom line:

As you can see, even though they have basically the like gram of protein they are quite unlike nutritionally. Core Power Performance is about half carbs, with 93 % of them coming from added carbohydrate. Muscle Milk Genuine is about ⅔ protein, with low carbs that are largely roughage additives made from corn. Muscle Milk’s sodium level should be noted by those who need to restrict their salt intake due to senior high school rake pressure issues. ( 9 )

Ingredients

Core Power

here ’ s a photograph of the ingredients in Core Power ’ s 11 oz. Performance protein trill : Note: Core Power protein shakes are lactose-free, even though they use actual low-fat milk. This is due to the ultra-filtration process that Fairlife® — the makers of Core Power — use on all of their milk products. ( 10 ) Below is a comparison from Fairlife ’ s web site of their ultra-filtered milk compared to regular milk .

Muscle Milk

And hera ’ s what ’ sulfur in Muscle Milk ’ s Genuine protein shake .

Vitamins & minerals

Both companies have added Vitamins A & D to their shakes, and this fortification has been a common rehearse in the dairy industry for decades. ( 11 ) Vitamin D is added to prevent soft bones, and a celluloid vitamin A is put in low-fat milk or isolates to replace the vitamin A lost in the skim action. ( 12 ) And Muscle Milk goes far with more vitamin & mineral supplement, adding vitamin C, potassium, morning star, & magnesium .

Any unwanted ingredients?

We each have our own standards regarding the different artificial food additives we ’ ra will to tolerate ( or not ) in processed products like these. then I ’ ll just list the ingredients in each protein shake that some people prefer to avoid .

Core Power Performance

* Natural Flavors – since they ’ re not truly natural ( 13 ) * Carrageenan – a thickening made from seaweed that ’ south been linked to cancer & other health problems ( 14 )

Muscle Feast Genuine

* Canola oil – it ’ s genetically modified, heavily processed, & linked to ignition ( 15 ) * Natural & Artificial Flavors – as mentioned above * Carrageenan – as mentioned above * Sucralose – artificial sweetening some nutrition experts say international relations and security network ’ triiodothyronine good for us ( 16 ) * Acesulfame potassium – same issue as Sucralose, it besides has some health experts questioning its safety ( 17 )

Protein source

Core Power

core Power merely uses real low-fat milk for their milk protein. As mentioned earlier, it is lactose-free milk thanks to their filtration procedure .

Muscle Milk

These are Muscle Milk ’ s protein sources :

• calcium caseinate (18)
• milk protein isolate (19)
• sodium caseinate (20)

They use no very milk in their Genuine protein shake — these are all hydrolyze powders — and they say therefore on the bottle .

Cost

Note: Keep in mind that online prices change often, and it’s likely you’ll see numbers a little different from the ones I see today. For this cost comparison, the 11.5 oz. Core Power Performance current price I used is here. And Muscle Milk ’ s 11 oz. Genuine current price is here .

Fairly similar prices, tho’ Muscle Milk’s cheaper

As of nowadays anyhow, Muscle Milk Genuine is 3¢ brassy ( per snow leopard ) than Core Power Performance, 11¢ vs. 14¢. That comes out to a deviation of 33¢ a bottle ( 11 ten 3¢ ), or about $ 4 per every 12-pack .

Taste

Disclaimer:  1. My taste buds are very finical and sensitive to artificial anything. 2. I believe we each have our own unique taste preferences. 3. My opinion on taste doesn ’ t matter a lot anyhow. ( admonisher : I bought the chocolate-flavored for both. )

My bias smack buds find core Power Performance to be a better taste RTD milkshake than Muscle Milk ’ s. I ’ megabyte certain it ’ s caused by the artificial sweeteners sucralose & acesulfame potassium in Muscle Milk ’ sulfur shake, since I know both of those artificial sweeteners bug my taste buds a little. well, plus the fact that Core Power Performance is stuffed full of boodle, and whose taste bud can resist sugar ’ second temptations ? 😘

Review Summary

Core Power Performance vs. Muscle Milk Genuine

* They have the same amount of protein per serving & cost the same, but they’re not the same. * While protein is almost ⅔ of Muscle Milk’s macros, it’s less than half in Core Power Performance. * That’s because Core Power’s “high-protein shake” is actually almost 50% carbs, most of which is from added sugar. * Muscle Milk Genuine uses more processed ingredients including artificial sweeteners, and its sodium content is on the high side. * Irony of the day: Muscle Milk Genuine uses no real milk and yet is not lactose-free, while Core Power products use only real milk as their protein source and are lactose-free. * Their buyer satisfaction ratings are identical. See Core Power reviews & current price See Muscle Milk reviews & current price

Core Power Elite vs. Muscle Milk Pro review

here we ’ ll compare the “ next-level ” versions of protein shakes from these two companies. The independent remainder between Core Power & Muscle Milk ’ s regular formulas and these Elite & Pro Series convention is the extra protein that ’ sulfur been added. Both Core Power Elite & Muscle Milk Pro Series have 60% more protein than their regular formulas, Performance & Genuine , respectively.

Buyer satisfaction ratings

Core Power Elite Chocolate –  94%,  4.7⭐  10,000+ online reviews

Muscle Milk Pro Series Chocolate –  88%,  4.5⭐  11,000+ online reviews

Macronutrients

These are their Nutrition Facts panels side by slope, with Core Power Elite on the forget & Muscle Milk ’ mho Pro Series on the correctly. I bought the chocolate versions of each of these again. Note: And I ’ thousand using Muscle Milk ’ s 40g of protein version of their Pro Series for this comparison, since they have two formulas of this extinct on the commercialize — one with 32g of protein & this one with 40g .

My macros takeaways

• Both are definitely high protein drinks
• Their protein amounts are about the same
• Core Power has 20% more calories
• Carbs are about the same
• Their fats are about the same too
• MM Pro Series’ sodium is a little high again

Macronutrient bottom line: These two “ upgraded ” RTD protein shakes are much more alike to each other than their regular formulas were. The bigger differences are actually between their respective even shakes and these ( in truth ) high protein drinks, as you ’ ll see below .

Core Power Elite vs. Performance

• Elite has big increase in protein, big fell in carbs
• Carb drop is from removing the sugar
• Elite is the real protein shake here

And here ’ s the like comparison between the two Muscle Milk RTD shakes .

Muscle Milk Pro Series vs. Genuine

• Big increase in protein raises it to 80% of macros
• Carbs are about the same
• Fat cut by more than half, likely from less milk fat

Ingredients

here ’ s a movie of the ingredients in the Core Power Elite protein stimulate : And hera ’ s what ’ south in Muscle Milk ’ second Pro Series shake :

Vitamins & minerals

once again we see Core Power & Muscle Milk fortify their RTD milk shakes with Vitamins A & D like most milk product makers do. Note: On MM ’ sulfur Pro ingredients label you won ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate see “ Vitamin D ” written because they ’ re listing it under its chemical name, vitamin d. And like they did with their Genuine formula, Muscle Milk supplements their protein swallow with extra vitamins & minerals. This time they went all out, putting in 20 different vitamins & minerals. (You can tell which ones they added by looking at the Nutrition Facts panel – it’s all of the vitamins & minerals with Daily Values of 25% or more.)

Any unwanted ingredients?

Core Power

For Elite, Core Power has the lapp two “ not universally loved ” ingredients that were in their Performance formula — Natural Flavors & carrageenin. Plus they add two more since they ’ re using the artificial sweeteners sucralose & acesulfame potassium in Elite excessively .

Muscle Milk

Muscle Milk ’ mho Pro Series has the lapp five potentially undesirable ingredients that were in their Genuine protein drink. They ’ re the like four Core Power puts in Elite plus canola oil oil .

Protein source

Core Power Elite

• 100% low-fat milk, just like their Performance drink we looked at earlier

Muscle Milk Pro Series

• The same 3 milk protein powders we saw in their Genuine formula

Cost

Core Power Elite ’ s current price is here. Muscle Milk ’ s Pro Series ’ stream price is here. Core Power Elite Chocolate & Muscle Milk ’ s Pro Series Knockout Chocolate have pretty like prices as expected. This clock though, it ’ sulfur Muscle Milk Pro that ’ s presently 4¢ an ounce more, which works out to being 56¢ a bottle more expensive than Core Power Elite. The likely reason? Core Power Elite has two more grams of protein in it than the Muscle Milk Pro, 42g vs. 40g.

Taste

I ’ ll call this one a draw, with advantage given to Core Power ’ s Elite RTD milkshake .

Real milk > processed powders

I think the reason Core Power ’ s Elite taste a little better to me is their function of 100 % veridical milk for their protein informant, compared to the 3 hydrolyzed milk protein powders in Muscle Milk. Core Power ’ south Elite has none of the carbohydrate that was in their regular version, so it doesn ’ thyroxine taste arsenic good to my preference bud as that sugary milk concoction they call Performance. The carbohydrate was swapped out for the lapp two artificial sweeteners that Muscle Milk uses in both of their protein shakes featured here. so there ’ s some sample similarity between Elite and MM ’ s Pro Series as a leave .

Review Summary

Core Power Elite vs. Muscle Milk Pro Series

* These two upgraded high-protein shakes are similar in a bunch of ways, very similar. * Both have:

• exchangeable amounts of protein
• similar macronutrient balance
• similar artificial sweeteners
• similar monetary value
• roughly similar sample – slight edge to CP ’ s real milk
• alike battleship gray color on box
• similar buyer satisfaction ratings

See Core Power Elite reviews & price See Muscle Milk reviews & price

Wrapping Up

Related protein articles here on heydayDo The Hunt For The Best Optimum Nutrition Flavor Dymatize Elite Whey Review MyProtein Impact Whey vs. Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard legion Whey Plus Review Muscle Feast Grass-Fed Whey Isolate & Casein Review MusclePharm Combat Review Syntha-6 Stone Cold Creamery Protein Powder Review I hope that my article on the comparison of the ready-to-drink protein shakes from Muscle Milk and Core Power is useful to you, and I wish you well on your seaworthiness travel. Let ’ s sound. – greg June 2021

<

informant : https://nutritionline.net
Category : Healthy