Why a Whey-and-Beef Mix Protein Shake Makes Sense

Opinion · The Better Supplement · October 19, 2026

Our original idea was to find an answer to the question "Which is better—whey protein or beef protein for training?" When we started comparing them side by side based on their actual amino-acid profiles, it turned out that there is no "best". They are too different in composition to actually substitute for each other, but each has its own benefits. So we thought: why not both?

Now our goal became making a daily shake with a richer balance of amino acids than either powder would provide on its own. The idea was to combine whey’s essential amino acids, including leucine, with the greater amounts of glycine and proline supplied by a collagen-pattern beef isolate or collagen peptides.

Whey protein would make up the bulk of the mix, while the smaller addition could be a beef protein isolate with an amino acid profile closer to collagen, or collagen peptides—broken-down collagen, the structural protein in tissues such as skin and tendons.

Why use whey protein as the base?

We chose whey as the base because it supplies all nine essential amino acids—the ones we must obtain from food—in useful proportions, with a substantial amount of leucine. It gives the daily shake a complete-protein foundation, so we would keep it as the larger share of the mix.

We chose beef isolate with a collagen-like profile, or collagen peptides, to add more glycine and proline. Those powders offer a different balance of amino acids from whey, which is why we wanted to combine them. The aim was to bring both profiles into one shake. “Richer” here means a different balance: at equal total protein, the addition raises some amino acids and lowers others, as the table below shows. A different profile alone does not establish better muscle or joint outcomes.

The beef isolates we looked at

The Codeage Beef Isolate facts panel lists 23 g protein in a 25 g powder serving, despite nearby website advertising saying 25 g protein. Its typical profile gives 1,010 mg leucine, 4,950 mg glycine, 2,930 mg proline and 47 mg tryptophan per serving.

The OstroVit Hydro Beef raspberry page lists 27 g protein in 30 g powder, with 770 mg leucine, 6,890 mg glycine and 3,620 mg proline per serving.

Both declared profiles have a collagen-like pattern.

Compare equal protein grams, then the whole shake

Here is an illustrative comparison at 35 g of declared protein.

The whey reference is the NOW unflavored isolate that has 24 g protein per 28 g powder. For Great Lakes unflavored collagen peptides, we used a label listing 11 g protein per 12 g serving and its corresponding amino-acid profile. If you plan on making a similar blend for yourself, even if it's based on the same products, we suggest comparing the exact profiles on the product you intend to mix, as product compositions may change over time.

The calculation scales each amino-acid amount by the proportion of its serving needed to supply those protein grams, then adds the two portions. 25 g of protein from NOW whey contributes about 2,599 mg leucine, while 10 g of protein from Codeage adds about 439 mg. Together, that gives approximately 3,038 mg leucine. We applied this to all other amino acids that were listed on the products, and the results are in the table below:

Amounts are rounded to the nearest milligram after calculation. Not calculable means at least one contributing powder does not supply the corresponding field; it is not a zero. In particular, whey supplies some tryptophan to the OstroVit shake, but the whole-shake total remains unknown. Cysteine and cystine are kept separate rather than treated as identical label entries. The whey protein's amino-acid profile does not state amounts of hydroxyproline or hydroxylysine, so their full totals are also unknown.

At the same total protein, each mixture has less leucine and more glycine and proline than all whey.

What if you want vegetarian or vegan options?

Soy and pea offer another way to make a 35 g protein shake. They change the amino-acid balance, but do not recreate the whey-and-collagen mixture above.

For a vegan version, we compared soy alone with a soy-and-pea blend. NOW describes the exact unflavored soy and pea products used here as vegan; their listed ingredients are soy protein isolate and pea protein isolate, respectively.

For readers who include dairy, we also calculated whey plus soy. Whey contains milk and is not vegan. The whey label did not resolve the origin of processing aids or establish vegetarian certification, so its suitability depends on your vegetarian criteria.

How much powder makes 35 g of protein?

These are protein contributions, not powder weights. The current NOW labels list 20 g protein per 24 g soy powder, 24 g per 33 g pea powder, and 24 g per 28 g whey powder.

Sources checked November 2, 2026: ^[1], NOW pea protein^[2] and NOW whey isolate^[3]

How do their amino acids compare?

The calculation uses the same method as the earlier table. For example, 25 g protein from soy uses 25 ÷ 20 servings; 10 g from pea uses 10 ÷ 24 servings. Multiply each listed amino-acid amount by those fractions, add the contributions, then round once.

These are estimates from manufacturer typical profiles, not measurements of the finished shakes. Soy's listed amino acids sum to 21,075 mg per serving despite its 20,000 mg declared protein. We retained the published numbers rather than forcing them to add up to the protein claim; the source does not explain that discrepancy. Consequently, the table should not be read as laboratory precision. Hydroxyproline, hydroxylysine and cystine are unlisted and remain unknown, not zero; cysteine is a separate listed field.

The tradeoff is visible. Soy alone supplies approximately 3,159 mg leucine, 1,425 mg glycine and 1,866 mg proline. In the earlier whey/collagen example, the corresponding estimates were 2,894, 2,840 and 2,849 mg. Soy gives more leucine but substantially less glycine and proline in this comparison.

Adding pea to soy barely changes glycine here, lowers proline and leucine slightly, and raises lysine. Adding soy to whey raises glycine compared with whey alone, but its roughly 836 mg still falls well below the collagen mixture's 2,840 mg. A blend therefore does not automatically improve every amino acid or reproduce the original reason for adding collagen.

For a vegan shake, soy alone is the simpler of these options; soy plus pea offers a different balance if you prefer a blend. For a dairy-containing shake, whey plus soy offers another balance. These are composition choices. Neither the amino-acid totals nor the presence of all nine essential amino acids establishes equal digestibility, a tested muscle-building advantage or the effects reported in collagen-peptide trials.

The bottom line

For a daily shake, we would use whey as the larger portion and beef isolate with a collagen-like profile, or collagen peptides, as the smaller addition. The proportions in the animal-protein table illustrate the amino-acid balance we wanted to compare. The soy and pea options provide alternatives for different diets, with the tradeoffs shown separately above. If the purpose is simply to reach enough daily protein, making a blend instead of drinking a single-source protein shake is a personal choice after all.

For context on overall protein intake, Morton’s review of 49 resistance-training trials found that protein supplements added modest gains, while training itself had the larger effect. The analysis suggested that gains in lean body mass—body mass excluding fat—might level off around 1.62 g/kg/day.

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