This brand seems to be always displayed when I go to a supplement shop and the owner said it is the most popular selling product. The name itself gold standard is pretty convincing but wanted to check to see if this was just marketing or not. They have several flavors available and the ingredients seem good no?
read what is in the product. don't make the mistake of just looking at the picture on the front, a fancy brand name, or looking at the macros. the ingredients are what matter. look for artificial sweeteners, dyes, HFCS, refined oils, etc. those are tell tale signs of a cheap product
It has been a very popular brand for a long time but you can honestly find better quality. Costco sells a good one with only 5 ingredients in it. In the end it will still always be better to get your protein in from real food.
The owner typically receive some type of additional compensation for pushing one brand over another. In addition, manufactures pay to have their products prominently displayed ahead of others. (supermarket do this routinely)
Your intuition is correct. Its ALL marketing -- and don't let anybody ever tell you different. The base product comes from just one or two source that server the entire industry. After that it gets mixed up according to each brands formula (generally to whatever level of quality they feel is most profitable).
As you probably already know the very best protein is whey protein, and the best of the whey protein is the isolate -- which gives you the highest percentage of pure protein (90%+) by volume. Other lower quality proteins (<80) aren't refined as much and have more carbs left over which you don't need to pay for in your protein.
Choose unflavored, and unsweetened which otherwise would include a lot of other chemicals and junk you also don't need in your protein (you can add your own fruit). If your really want to go out on a limb with purity you can splurge and choose "grass-feed" whey protein isolates and spend an extra $10-$20 for those health conscious bragging right.
Because protein from real food (whey is real food btw) always comes with a penalty -- namely fat. You also have to chew it, then wait for it to digest. Protein shakes are in your blood steam in an instant. You gotta love that.
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