Research
Macro partitioning
Concentrated Whey Protein (WPC) with 51-80% protein content is specifically effective for fat mass loss, whereas Hydrolyzed (WPH) and Isolated (WPI) forms did not show statistically significant fat loss effects in subgroup analyses.
If you are using whey for fat loss, Concentrated Whey (WPC) with 51-80% protein content appears to be the most effective form. Isolated or Hydrolyzed whey did not show significant fat loss benefits in this specific subgroup analysis.
ModerateQualifiesLOW confidence
in the analysis of subgroups, this effect was maintained for the WPC (WMD = −0.63, 95% CI = −1.19, −0.06, p = 0.030), with protein content between 51% and 80% (WMD = −1.53; 95% CI = −2.13, −0.93, p < 0.001)
Why this rating
Subgroup analysis of a meta-analysis with generally low methodological quality.
Source
Comparative Meta-Analysis of the Effect of Concentrated, Hydrolyzed, and Isolated Whey Protein Supplementation on Body Composition of Physical Activity Practitioners
Luis Henrique Almeida Castro et al. · Nutrients · 2019
DOI 10.3390/nu11092047
Meta-analysis · 8 studiesCited 26×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Whey protein supplementation (concentrated, hydrolyzed, or isolated) significantly reduces fat mass compared to isocaloric carbohydrate placebos in healthy adults undergoing resistance training, but does not significantly increase fat-free mass.Moderate
- Whey protein supplementation significantly reduces fat mass only in 'regular physical activity practitioners' and not in 'sporadic' practitioners or 'athletes' in subgroup analyses.Moderate
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