Review of Nutribiotic Vegan Rice Protein Powder

Nutribiotic Vegan Rice Protein Powder is just what it sounds like - it's a protein powder made from rice, and it's a vegan product. I began to explore the world of protein shakes last year when I had a gastric bypass. Gastric bypass patients needs to eat a high protein diet and are often advised to use protein supplements. I tried a number of other protein drinks first and Nutribiotic was the first one I tried that I didn't hate. It wasn't really important to me that it was a vegan product, although I realize that may be important to some people. I just wanted a protein supplement that didn't taste bad.

Nutribitoic Protein Powder comes in three flavors - chocolate, vanilla, and unflavored. I am not a fan of chocolate drinks, so I have never tried the chocolate. I use both the vanilla and the unflavored regularly, though. Unlike a number of other protein supplements I tried, Nutribiotic dissolves completely, so there are no little lumps in my drinks. It's not gritty, either. It's not overly sweet and there is no chalky aftertaste.

One tablespoon of Nutribiotic Protein Powder provides 12 grams of protein, 55 calories, less than one gram of fat, just under two grams of carbohydrates, and one gram of sugar. You can use two tablespoons of protein powder in a protein shake if you want more protein than that, but if you make your shake with a cup of skim milk or soy milk, that will give you another eight grams of protein, so a shake made with eight ounces of skim milk and one tablespoon of Nutribiotic has 20 grams of protein.

The jug of unflavored Nutribiotic suggests mixing it with water or juice and the jug of vanilla Nutribiotic suggests mixing it with water or rice milk. However, this is rice protein. It's an incomplete protein, meaning it does not have all the amino acids we need. If you mix it with water or juice or rice milk, you're not going to get the protein you need out of it. I mix my vanilla with skim milk, but if you wanted a vegan shake, you could use soy milk. Mixing the rice protein powder with skim milk or soy milk makes a complete protein. I usually mix my unflavored rice protein with things like beans or vegetarian chili, which also makes a complete protein.

Nutribiotic Vegan Rice Protein Powder costs about $19 for a 40-serving jug. That makes it less than 50 cents a serving, which is a very good price for a protein powder. However, it's important to remember that one serving only contains 12 grams of protein, compared to many other popular brands of protein powder which contain an average of 20 grams per serving. To get the equivalent amount of protein, you'd need to use two servings, which would increase the cost to almost $1. But even $1 per serving is not a bad price.

I buy Nutribiotic Protein Powder at the Vitamin Shoppe, although I'm sure it can be purchased other places as well. Being able to buy it locally is a big benefit for me, although if you can't find it locally, I'm sure you can order it online. But I appreciate being able to just run out to the store when I'm getting low, and I definitely appreciate not having to pay shipping charges.