Research

Mixed

Supplementing with 20g of native whey protein twice daily during a 12-week strength training program yields equivalent gains in muscle mass and strength compared to supplementing with an equivalent dose of spray-dried milk.

If you are starting a strength training program, you do not need to buy expensive native whey protein. Drinking milk or consuming standard milk powder provides the same muscle-building benefits as native whey, provided you are consuming enough total protein (around 1.6-2.0 g/kg/day) and training consistently.

GoodRefutesHIGH confidence
Supplementation with milk or native whey during a 12-wk strength training period did not differentially affect muscle mass and strength in young untrained individuals.
Håvard Hamarsland et al. · Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise · 2018

Why this rating

Double-blinded, randomized, controlled trial with adequate sample size for the effect size, though limited to untrained young adults.

Source

No Difference between Spray Dried Milk and Native Whey Supplementation with Strength Training

Håvard Hamarsland et al. · Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise · 2018

DOI 10.1249/mss.0000000000001758

rct · n=40Cited 8×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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